How Fun is Fun?

I read this article by Jonah Keri. It got me thinking about sports and why people attend games. Is there a way to gauge how fun a game is?

I am no statistician and sabermetrics is beyond me. Not that I haven't tried. Bill Simmons wrote a great article, which I can't find the link for, that broke down Whip and all the other ones I now have forgotten. This may be a product of my disinterest in fantasy sport leagues.

But the idea of a number creating some means of understanding a greater is appealing.

So how do you gauge an experience? Why is that the Cubs can be so horrible yet Wrigley is considered one of the best fan experiences in the majors? How can the Miami Marlins have won two world series and yet only draw fans in for the playoffs?

Here are some factors that I believe work into this, listed in no particular order:

-Home Runs: Is there a player(s) that hits home runs. Of course players hit home-runs, but is there a player that when they come up to bat (David Ortiz, Adam Dunn, Albert Pujols) you believe they could hit a home run. Granted players like Dunn and Ortiz may not be the force that they once were, but that belief is enough. And when there is failure it still gives people something to talk about. All press is good press, and even if a home run force is failing, it gives people something they can connect with other people about.

-Strike Outs: The pitcher that takes over a game. They stare down the batter and everyone can almost smell the blood in the air. More then that it is the Valverde Zambrano intensity that draws that crows in. How do you measure that though?

-Maybe looking at something like this. While blow-outs are fun. Epic collapses can be just as unifying. At this point if you are thinking I am a Keri homer, thats fine. These articles are enlightening.

-Fan Experience: How attentive to the fans is the ownership. Is there a fifty cent hot-dog night. Can kids get in free on Sunday night. Do they let fans run the bases. What are the chances that when you go to a game you are going to have a unique experience? Sometimes it can backfire, but at least they were trying.

-Is there a hometown player. Ichiro in Seattle. Freese in St. Louis. Is there someone that the community can connect. Also how often does the team reach out to the community? Even if the relationship is difficult and volatile. There is a reason that a community responds, because they care.

Not one of these things stands alone to determine the experience of one baseball game. The season isn't one game or one season. But each of these combine to create a broader experience, that in one moment can speak to the value of something greater.

What is missing? Let me know. I am interested in seeing where this goes.

The Florida Marlins and Corruption

I did not watch opening night baseball. I dont have a TV and was busy. None of these are excuses but the storylines of the game werent on TV. So I felt that watching Lohse's no-hitter being broken up by newly aquired Jose Reyes didnt devestate my day, the coverage surrounding the games off the field was.

While Loria's shadow game should have come not surpised me after stories like this, I still am amazed at the level of corruption that is allowed.

But then I read lines like this, "Jeffery Loria unveiled his $515 million Marlins Park to much anticipation." here. I guess the power of the media in its cloaking of corruption is understood clearer. Unless you are telling me that the writers at the Times were unable to find that information.

With a title line of "In Opener, Marlins Park Eclipses Team's Play" I was expecting some possible mention of the amount of general fuck-with-communitiness that this stadium represents to those who have to see it every day. But instead the insinuated beauty of the stadium and its fan experience being greater than the play of the team was disappointing. Which very well may be true, but the teaser headline that a mention of the claims against Mr. Loria's would be mentioned were unmet. Granted I do not live in Dade county and dont own a store in Little Havana, but if half the facts presented about stadium corruption are true then my living location has nothing to do with my disdain for the corruption of business tycoons. After reading the article I was disappointment that the Times missed an opportunity to participate in real journalism.

I will say that I am excited about the start of this experience of following baseball, albiet from a distance. As long as I can some how not think of communities being raped and assholes getting rich off their fuck-toys everytime I hear about the Marlins or the Dodgers.