- We made the trip from Almonte to Toronto to attend the Back2Back Reunion weekend
- Bob, our host in Toronto, bought a nose-bleed ticket to Friday night's game (published attendance 30,795) so he could try to get Joe Carter's autograph for me. He received the fan hand-out (souvenir Back2Back hand towel). We did not go to the game.
- We attended the game on Saturday, August 8th (published attendance 28,613) -- players were seated at autograph tables (with huge line-ups) positioned outside the stadium; no evidence of programs for sale; no "party" atmosphere; not aware of any fan hand-out
- We attended the game on Sunday, August 9th (published attendance 27,464) -- no evidence of player presence other than Tom Henke throwing out first pitch; fan hand-out (Tom Henke figurine) to first 10,000 fans (we did not get one)
- We came home having attended two of the Reunion weekend games and we have photos to prove we were there -- but we were unable to buy a souvenir program and we personally did not receive a single promotional hand-out (but see my August 9th post to read about the surprise birthday gift I received from Blue Jays management).
Have you ever attended a sporting event and been unable to buy a program as you enter the stadium? Wasn't bad enough that we couldn't buy a program as we entered, but we couldn't buy a program once we entered either. Nope. We actually had to ask where we could find programs. "At the souvenir stand." Of course! Huh? Since when do you go to the souvenir stand to buy a program? Well, that's what we were told! Yup! Except, when we got to the souvenir stand, we were greeted with, "Sorry, we sold out on Friday night." Can you believe it?
We're talking a commemorative issue program, marking the 2009 Back2Back Reunion Weekend, celebrating the Toronto Blue Jays' 1992/93 World Series championships.
Joe Carter worked very hard to put this weekend together and I think that the Blue Jays organization had a responsibility to ensure that every fan who attended any one of the games should have left the ballpark with something more than the memory.
Let's do the math here. The total published attendance for the three days was 86,872 people. Apparently, there were fewer than 30,000 programs printed for this series because they sold out on Friday night. I highly doubt that each and every fan who went to the game bought a program! If your ballpark holds 50,000 people, and you're planning a 3-day weekend commemorating a special time in your history, you should have predicted that you would need more than 30,000 programs for the weekend. And programs should have been available for sale at each of the games over the weekend -- not only at the first night's game.
At Friday night's game, the fan hand-out was a commemorative hand towel. Bob was able to get one because he bought a nose-bleed ticket so he could get in the line-up to try to get Joe Carter's autograph on my jersey (he wasn't successful in that effort, unfortunately.) Bob, being the sweetheart that he is, gave the towel to me since this was my "birthday bash" weekend. Every fan who walked through the gates that weekend should have received one of those towels -- not just those who attended on Friday. There were only 86,872 people attended the entire weekend. It would not exactly have broken the bank to supply that give-away to everyone!
At Saturday's game, to my knowledge, there was no fan hand-out at all. Alumni players were positioned at signing tables in groups of four outside certain gates to provide autographs to the hoards of fans. So here we had people lined up to the ying-yang waiting to get signatures and they didn't necessarily have to have a ticket for the game. So fans who paid for tickets may or may not have been lucky enough to get the autograph(s) they wanted. Buskers were everywhere. But once we entered the gate, there was absolutely NO celebratory atmosphere about the park. It was simply another Blue Jays ball game; just a day at the ball park.
Sunday's game was even lower key. This time, there was nothing going on outside the gates. This was the day we tried to find a program. Unbelievable! The fan hand-out for this game was a Tom Henke figurine -- to the first 10,000 fans only! Now why, on such a weekend, would the organization limit the hand-out to such a low number? When I asked about the lack of programs, I was told, "Yes, sometimes on a Yankess or Red Sox series we often run out too." My point is, this wasn't just a weekend series. This was a series that was also marking a very special time in the Blue Jays history. Apparently, the Blue Jays organization didn't see it that way.
I truly believe that, as the crowds exited the Rogers Centre on Sunday following Roy Halladay's 7-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles, we should have been dancing to the tune of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" -- because that is what this weekend represented, a lament to what Blue Jays baseball used to be. I'm sorry Joe, but Toronto evidently doesn't give a damn!
In other news:
These new meds continue to do their thing. I am tired and sore today and I'm using this day as an R&R day, although I do have "catch up" stuff to do after being away for four days. All in all, I feel remarkably well considering that I was away and the amount of activity I undertook over the course of that time. In the past, I (a) would not have been able to participate and (b) would have been in absolute agony for several days afterwards.
John and I both enjoyed the weekend tremendously and I know that a large part of that enjoyment factor comes from the level of my involvement in the weekend. Usually, when we go to Toronto, Bob and John go off and do their thing while I stay back and wait for them because I can't do all that walking. But this time, I was able to go to back2back ball games (that would never have happened before!) and I lived to talk about it!
This past weekend was a real test of the new meds. And they truly passed. Four consecutive days of demanding physical activity -- and I'm fine! Wait 'til I tell my physiotherapist this one!
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