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JohnU

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I live in NW Indiana, which is Cubs/White Sox area. Very few Reds fans here.
Oddly, my GF is from SW Michigan, about 40 minutes north of South Bend and the split is about 70-30, Chicago teams over the Tigers.

I only get the Reds on MLB.tv because that's the subscription choice I made. Blackouts against Chicago teams.

The Reds gained their fan following in the 50s and 60s on radio. I have no idea what that is now. Folks don't do radio much. Attendance at the park reflects that. I lived in SE Indiana (Brookville. Find the lake and my house was under it!) growing up with Waite Hoyt on radio. He was no smoothie but those were different times. They had an eclectic mix on TV -- George Bryson, Ed Kennedy ... etc.
Moving forward, the team is fucking up by having so many inexperienced (unqualified) people in the radio booth. Being a "Cowboy" or a mediocre former player doesn't make you appealing. When Marty is gone the voice of the Reds will be his blowhard son and Jim Day. There is more to profits than just providing a conduit for local advertisers.

The post-game bozos do nothing but bitch and endlessly rant about the team. WLW is killing the Reds.
But as far as being a fan, I don't think you can switch teams easily. Some folks claim they do but I question that. If your granddaddy was a Reds fan, you will be too -- if you stay somewhere in the area where you grew up.
 

Hit-n-Run

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I agree with the family tradition of Reds fans with a caveat since the millennials came along. I have two sons. One loves baseball and the other loves everything else more. Both are Reds fans from the tradition we're talking about, but the son that loves baseball is a baseball fan first, Reds fan second. ESPN type coverage first and the internet since has expanded the reach of the fan. It's fairly common to see fans wearing opposing teams jersey that live in Reds country. It's more prevalent in football, but I have experienced it at GABP in talking to fans you normally would assume were from out of town. Some are transplants, but some are local and fans of the other team..... at least until that team hits the skids.

I agree with the quality of radio not being what we're accustomed to. But going to a baseball game isn't like what we were accustomed to at Crosley or Riverfront. I'm not sure who they're tailoring the radio and TV broadcast to, but it's not the traditional baseball fans.

Baseball has become like beer at the ballpark. Craft beer is made in the tradional non-mechanized way, but it's not marketed toward the traditional beer drinker. The only similarities I see in traditional Reds fans and the younger generation is they still love beer more than baseball in Cincinnati.

What would kill attendance more, a losing team or not selling beer? In the late 1800's there was a newspaper headline that read "Cincinnati chooses beer over baseball". I think it's still true today.

The Reds offer reduced tickets prices to try and boost attendance. They should try reducing beer prices.
 

eburg5000

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As of this year I can no longer get the Reds on radio. There was two stations near by which carried them. one left the area, and the other just dropped them. Someday probably not that far in the future, baseball on radio, will be a thing of the past
 

JohnU

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As of this year I can no longer get the Reds on radio. There was two stations near by which carried them. one left the area, and the other just dropped them. Someday probably not that far in the future, baseball on radio, will be a thing of the past
I think that is going to go down that path, yeah. Radio for one thing isn't the horse we rode in on. AM has been a desert for 50 years and it's taken over by talkers. No music, unless it's the Polish polka hour. FM is about to go the same way. Their music programming is stuck on trying to sell "oldies" from the 1980s after selling the ones from the 1960s until the jocks got too old to find the studio. Internet radio can do that for free.

I think, though, from my youth watching baseball with 2 cameras and no replays, we went to the ones now that are 15-deep and can detect a fly's gender off the dugout wall. Watching the game is as easy as your phone now.

I can get WLW up this way, but it fades... at night sometimes, it's pretty clear. Mostly AM radio stations, you can't hear when you drive under power lines. We have a local AM station here in Valpo that you can't even pick up on radio. Seriously, it's right here in town.

But I think the MLB subscription is worth it, and you can get radio.

If you are in the market, you probably get Fox Ohio, right?
 

eburg5000

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If you are in the market, you probably get Fox Ohio, right?


Yes I watch just about every game or record them. I go visit a nursing home a lot. And I feel sorry for the patients there. All their TV is Basic So they can't watch the Reds games. now the radio games are gone.

If it wasn't for radio, I don't know if I would be a baseball fan today. When I was young I would go fishing and listen to the game almost every night. pretty much where ever I was I could and did have the game on.

I believe that baseball is digging a hole fore themselves. I'm not sure how teams are going to draw fans anymore. At least in the small markets. With high ticket prices, games lasting 4 hours or longer, teams putting a mediocre product on the field. kids have so many other options of things to do today. The handwriting is on the wall.
 

JohnU

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I suppose the game will re-invent itself if it dies out.
What was baseball before it was what it is now?
 

chico ruiz

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this is an interesting diversion from reds losing, but -to me- a mostly sad one. the reds only had 2 losing seasons from 61 to 80. that's twenty years of winning. that was back in the days of pride, promise, and corporate statesmanship. that includes baseball.

that's back in the days when we gave a shit about one another and it didn't take a catastrophe for us to care about one another. people talked face to face and you understood the emotional content as well as the intellectual. it was easier to tell if someone was lying, and there were consequences for it. sure, there were liars back then, but today it is a prerequisite for advancement. it is done so wantonly that it has become the norm. part of it is obviously easier communication avenues. part of it is the nebulous nature of virtually all business transaction in the usa. that includes mlb.

you see, i guess i'm old school this way, but -to me- if something is nebulous by design it is a lie. truth and integrity in this country is taking a fucking nose dive fellas. i'm not talking politically. i'm talking culturally. and yes, baseball is a part of that.

not to mention, half the american population, and most likely more, are incapable of critical thinking. i mean actually devoid of the ability to reason. what possible repercussions could come from a particular action an individual takes? if i do 'a' then 'b' happens. if 'b' happens it's possible 'c' or 'd' could follow. there are ways around having to actually think that usually include lying, which leads to massive incompetence and disillusion. that includes mlb.

you see my good fellow posters, i also don't believe the zombie apocalypse is coming. i believe it's here. people walk / shuffle around with their faces in a device like zombies. it even lights them up in a ghoulish fashion. right about dusk time comes the yellowish dulled glow. they are generally unaware of their surroundings. again, there is much less face to face human contact than there used to be. what information are they ingesting? are most capable of critical thought? how are they applying, if at all, this information? is it even useful? they're eating themselves. by god, it's the very definition you find in the dictionary: a person who is or appears lifeless, apathetic, or completely unresponsive to their surroundings. this includes ballparks.

i can't be the only one on this board that sees this happening. we've allowed corporatists to have a stranglehold on us, and we haven't really made much of a peep about it. the idea of a community supporting each other is a diminishing part of american life. and yes, baseball was a part of that. one way or another you have to buy the privilege to view mlb. how fucked up is that?! this is the old lefthander rounding third and heading for home. good night everybody. my fellow posters, those words were comforting. more often than not, the reds had won, but there was more to it than that. there was a community.

my memories of baseball in cincinnati are cherished. growing up i didn't know anyone who wasn't a reds fan. we had nicknames for all of the players. tony perez was beloved. it wasn't all from performance on the field. it was how he was as a man. he came up early and -like the black players- got a lot of shit. we all recognized the grace and dignity with which he conducted himself through all that. there was a community behind that, and i can't think of a better lesson in life, for a young man, than that.

so, gather around the radio, listen to the reds, and share your experiences of the day. or, stick your nose in your personal device and twist the head off the rabbit. i'm done now.
 

JohnU

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Well, I have tried the virtual gathering around the radio for the Reds, usually without much ambition. Just, chatting about the team, the plays, the managing, all these things. There are those who are absorbed by the data and have essentially bulldogged the chat. It stopped being fun because the "eyeball" comment is shot down with a sneer, a snarky comment or something resembling the baseball version of "libtard."

I tried again this spring and 28 games in, nothing had changed. Arguments for the sake of arguing. No concession for having an offbeat comment. We are either morons or enlightened gurus. I gave up trying to convince anyone of anything. We live in our own cocoons, hearing the music that makes us dance, pretending all else is alien or just plain evil.

I await the start of the indy league season in Gary. We should have a nice team this year, better than last when we made the playoffs. That will be a nice summer, I think. By then, at least 4 more members of the government will have either resigned, been fired or indicted ... and I will shrug and say, "it's not my fuckin' country anymore."

I get to drink some craft beer on Wednesdays with my buds. We would talk baseball but they're all Cubs fans are are therefore illiterate in the process.

The Reds are on pace to win 34 games -- or the number generally assigned to a team with a roster full of WAR-0 players. I guess that's OK. I suggested the Reds unload Hamilton, to which I was summarily informed that his defensive metrics are highly regarded. The team is 6-21. Then again, here I am, denigrating Cubs fans.
 

Hit-n-Run

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Proper etiquette is to never discuss religion and politics in polite company. In most forums I've seen you can add baseball to the list. Politics and religion aside, polite correctness isn't what it used to be.
 

chico ruiz

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i don't view any of these posts as political in any way. these things are factual. that's where -unfortunately- the american people get confused, or more accurately spun, into not being able to differentiate, in many cases, between 'political correctness' and basic human decency.

i'm not going after any individual's political leanings or ideology. i'm writing very specifically about american ethos / practical values of thrift, hard work, education, tolerance, and community spirit. what is their place in american life right now, and do any of the more recent changes in mlb reflect that place? you guys posed interesting questions. i thought they deserved an honest response.

so, my apologies, if i offended anyone. that was not my intention. i have no political affiliation or agenda. fuck em.
 

JohnU

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i don't view any of these posts as political in any way. these things are factual. that's where -unfortunately- the american people get confused, or more accurately spun, into not being able to differentiate, in many cases, between 'political correctness' and basic human decency.

i'm not going after any individual's political leanings or ideology. i'm writing very specifically about american ethos / practical values of thrift, hard work, education, tolerance, and community spirit. what is their place in american life right now, and do any of the more recent changes in mlb reflect that place? you guys posed interesting questions. i thought they deserved an honest response.

so, my apologies, if i offended anyone. that was not my intention. i have no political affiliation or agenda. fuck em.
America doesn't do "politics" now; America divides and ridicules. About the only thing I abhor more is people who trash-talk fans of other teams. Up this way, I find it all disconcerting because it's difficult to ignore. I think it's worse with college sports, mainly because the maturity of the average fan is still in the age 20-range. I think the painted face and bare chest would symbolize that.

I did hope to find some refuge this spring in baseball. Alas, my team has deserted me and I see evidence that the repairs are more costly than the vehicle.
 

JohnU

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BTW, Nick Senzel injured his shoulder on a diving play on Saturday. "No structural damage" is code for ... "don't expect him till August."
 

Hit-n-Run

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I don't think anyone is offended Chico.

My point isn't about political correctness. It's about the difficulty of trying to enjoy forums like the old CBS board without someone being intolerant of differing opinions and resorting to imature name calling. It's fine to disagree, but being tactful seems to be a lost art. I don't think posters on this board fall into that category.

Other than that I'm just trying to enjoy my Sunday afternoon. A Reds win would be the cherry on top. Seems to be a shortage of cherries this spring.
 

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Billy Hamilton was pinch hit for yesterday. I thought that was different, But actually I thought he should be pinch hit for a long time ago

The old CBS board, where if you said the ball was round, someone would argue with you and call you names. I don't miss that.
 

JohnU

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I don't think anyone is offended Chico.

My point isn't about political correctness. It's about the difficulty of trying to enjoy forums like the old CBS board without someone being intolerant of differing opinions and resorting to imature name calling. It's fine to disagree, but being tactful seems to be a lost art. I don't think posters on this board fall into that category.

Other than that I'm just trying to enjoy my Sunday afternoon. A Reds win would be the cherry on top. Seems to be a shortage of cherries this spring.
There is plenty of snark on the politics forums here. I look at that some and wonder why people are all so angry and hateful now. We've done a pretty good job on the Reds board but there aren't very many of us.
 

Hit-n-Run

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I would guess it's not the topic, but the personality type that enlist such an approach to social interaction. It would seem those that like conflict attempt to create it where otherwise there would be none. Personally I enjoy reading differing opinions without taking it personally. I'll leave the why of phychopathology to the modern day Sigmund Freuds.

Nice win Yesterday. Mahle pitched a nice game and the offense gave him plenty of support. Overall the Reds batting averages got healthy over the weekend with the exception of Hamilton and Duvall. Barnhart has also struggled a bit as of late.

Riggleman looks to be taking a no-bullshit approach to running the team.
 

JohnU

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Barnhart probably needs to play less than he does.
Duvall probably needs to play less than he does.
Hamilton probably needs to play less than he does.
All that being tongue in cheek, the Reds seem to be a team that will make too many silly mistakes to avoid losing games.
Winker takes bad routes to balls, fumbles them ... it almost always costs an extra base.
Scooter chicken-wings throws to 1st base, where Votto (who is NOT a GG) usually fields them.
Bad positioning, overthrows, tootblans, you name it ... but that aside, Winker is looking like a real live hitter. Peraza probably is over his head right now but between Winker and Votto in the lineup, he should still get good pitches. he's cut down on K's, but needs to walk more.
These guys can improve if they don't all cough it up at the same time.
Mahle is right now the best pitcher we've had in 3 years. Castillo's "arm slot disease" probably is a matter of tipping pitches. I read where they "wish" he could skip a turn to get another bullpen. I wondered why they couldn't just do that. A callup, or a Frankenstein pitcher ...
 

chico ruiz

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come on guys, allow me one bad day. my girl just had her 4th and 5th brain surgeries end of last week. i got a belly full of the traits, mentioned in my apparently contentious post, exhibited during her hospital stay. 5 hours of sleep, if you can call it that, in 3 days. the business of health care, with good insurance, was front and center.

i probably was projecting in my post, but it wasn't attacking any of you guys. snark? now there's a political catchword for you. i wasn't trying to put you off your breakfast or enjoyment of the game. when you go through things like that there's a tendency to want to cut through bullshit. the white coats are the world's best dancers. but, i'll tell you this. when you are signing papers at 5am -that are mostly about decisions of death- the dancing stops. as an advocate (which, by the way, most white coats despise), you have to stop their music and grab them by the balls to slow the dancing. i recommend conspicuously carrying a pen, pad of paper, and occasionally say 'lawyer' . you would be amazed at the action you get from the entire hospital staff. if you have to do that to get people to say what the thing really is, there must be a problem.

politics? my post was about the life and death of a culture / society. i tried to apply it to baseball and the previous posts. i failed, but when you hear siblings deciding who's going to go bankrupt, and how they'll help each other through that, in order to pay for their father's remaining hospital bill, things get very focused and real.

what would lead to the current business of health care? what had to happen to get us to the contemporary business of baseball? i'm tired of dancers, fence sitters, go along to get alongs, act as ifs, and basically cowards who use soft meaningless language that never gets to the heart of the matter. maybe, in some cases, they're just scared and don't want to jeopardize receiving their next paycheck. regardless, i won't be venturing this way again. it's strictly baseball between the lines from now on. just chalk it up to a bad day (15 years is more accurate) for chico.

are you guys familiar with this site? redsminorleagues.com |
this doug gray fella does a really good job putting this site together.
 

eburg5000

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Baseball is a game, means very little. What you are going through right now Chico, is as real as it gets.. My heart and prayers go out to you
 

Hit-n-Run

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Sorry to hear that Chico. Good luck to you and your family.

Doug Gray is a good source of information if you want to follow the Reds from the ground up.

To John's point about Castillo and skipping a start to work on some things. Keury Mella has been throwing the ball well in Pensacola and now would be a good time to get him a spot start.
 
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