baseball's falling popularity and its affect on our hobby

[DerekMichael]

For me personally, the reason baseball attendance is down is because it is so effing expensive to go to a game, and it has turned into quite the "to do".

My Dad and I used to go see the Mets every time they came to play the Dodgers, and occasionally the Angels and Padres, but I am older now, and I have to pay my own way. If I want to drink some very crappy beer, it will cost $11 for a taste. More importantly, the atmosphere can be vile at times. I would not want to take my niece to a game, for example. People are screaming obscenities and even getting into absurd and pointless fighting etc. etc. etc. ... it is not all that "warm and fuzzy" anymore.

My Dad and I had gone to almost every game since the Piazza, Fonzie, Leiter days, so maybe since 2000 or so, for years and years and years ... then SNY came around in 2006 or so, and now we can watch the Mets anytime we want, and we can sit in the comfort of our own homes, and listen to Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez. It has been glorious (not the team, the broadcast).

Thats what it is. Television broadcasts have gotten so good, and it is too damn expensive to have a day at the ballpark anymore !!! We still love the game and our favorite teams just as much ... I think ? Sign of the times, maybe ?

Derek