"Red Sox make price cuts on concessions to woo fans" by Amalie Benjamin | Globe Staff, March 26, 2013
Faced with the possibility of a dank April, dubious prospects, and swaths of empty red and blue seats, the Red Sox are ripping a page from the strategy manuals of down-market teams across Major League Baseball. They are offering free food and reduced-price beer, though only in April.
Kids under 14 will eat free — well, before the third inning, provided they go to specially designated concession stands to pick up their Fenway Frank, Goldfish, and carton of juice. Around the park, buy one hot dog, get a second for free.
I don't know if I would eat any food at the park.
Hot chocolate will be sold for half-price. And beer, which flows from the Fenway taps like liquid gold and costs almost as much, will be sold for $5 per 12-ounce cup, down from between $7.50-$8.50.
It’s something that’s more likely to be seen in Kansas City, Mo., or St. Petersburg, Fla., or Arlington, Texas, than Boston....
Uh-oh. Old ball team headed south in the standings, 'eh?
But with all that went on in 2012 with the Red Sox, it’s clear that the team is ready to admit to fan dissatisfaction and capitulate to fan demand for a friendlier environment around the Olde Towne Team.
I thought it already was the family-friendly confines of Fenway Park. I mean, the Globe-sponsored pre-game show and NESN broadcasts certainly implied that imagery.
It also needs to sell tickets.
“We recognize that the sellout streak is likely going to be coming to an end in early April, and we’re looking for ways to thank our fans for their incredible support and commitment,” Red Sox chief operating officer Sam Kennedy said.
The Sox expect their home opener on April 8 against the Orioles to be a sellout — though there were tickets available as of Monday afternoon — but beyond that, there are serious questions.
Tickets remain for all home dates in April, and the Sox hope that the fan appreciation discounts will help boost ticket sales.
“We’re looking for ways to fill the ballpark, and hopefully this will help,” Kennedy said. “But more importantly, that it be received as a thank you given everything we’ve been through the last nine, 10 years together. We thought it was an appropriate gesture.”
There’s no question that the Sox have a tough slog in April. Not only is the team coming off a 69-93 season, complete with the Bobby Valentine managerial disaster, but it’s hosting 17 games in the span of 21 days in April, only the second time that has happened in the 113-year history of the club and the first time in 23 years.
And the teams visiting Fenway in April aren’t exactly the iron of the American League. While the Sox do have division foes Baltimore and Tampa Bay on the schedule, they also have the A’s, Royals, and woeful Houston Astros.
In another family-friendly move, or one in response to chilly April evenings, 11 of the 17 home games in April will start before 7 p.m.
That includes eight true afternoon games and three games with a first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.
That’s a rare concession for a team so committed to night games that it often had its players grumbling about not playing day games on getaway days.
It’s all part of the team’s push to be more welcoming to fans, as the Sox have encountered trouble selling tickets for the first time in recent memory.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Tickets to the Game
Season-ticket renewals were down about 10 percent over last season, and tickets remain for many games throughout the year.
The Sox have tried to put together a more fan-friendly team as well, emphasizing chemistry after a season in which the team was widely regarded as both unlikable and unwatchable.
Look for a last place finish, folks.
Perhaps, after a few $5 beers, the team will be able to change that.
HA-HA-HA-HA!
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Related: Selling the Red Sox
There is just something lacking for me, readers, sorry:
"John Lackey, an expensive free agent who didn’t meet expectations, became the surly symbol of all that had gone so wrong for the Red Sox and was at the center of the now infamous fried chicken-and-beer scandal."
Related: Globe Investigates Collapse
Closing the Book on the Boston Globe
I'm resigned to seeing self-serving sports on the front page.
"Group hopes to take homophobia out of sports" by Christopher Muther | Globe Staff, February 22, 2013
Boston College cross country runner Jose Estevez heard the slurs in the locker room. There was, “That’s so gay” or “Don’t be a fag.” Even though the sophomore believes the words were intended as playful profanity rather than hate talk, it was hard to hear.
“When I was in the closet — especially when I was in the closet — hearing things like that would just push me further back in,” says Estevez, now 20, who came out as gay a year ago. “By throwing around homophobic slurs, you’re terrifying gay athletes.”
Now there are signs of change. Straight athletes are supporting gay athletes in public service videos, antigay remarks from prominent athletes are met swiftly by public reprimands, and just this week, one of the NFL’s most visible players, Tim Tebow, cancelled an appearance at a Dallas church because its pastor has described homosexuals as “perverse.”
Helping propel that change is....
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Related: NFLPA president: We're prepping for openly gay player
I'm sure the fans will get a kick out of that.
Here's a heads-up:
"Harvard to lead $100m study of NFL players; Cross-campus research on 1,000 retired players aims to treat, prevent wide health problems" by Kay Lazar | Globe Staff, January 29, 2013
The National Football League players union, alarmed that its members die nearly 20 years earlier on average than other American men, has selected Harvard University to oversee a $100 million accelerated research initiative aimed at treating and ultimately preventing the broad-ranging health problems plaguing the athletes.
Legions of Harvard specialists from across its many schools and affiliated hospitals will team up with the NFL Players Association in an unprecedented study of 1,000 retired players. The researchers will look at everything from their repetitive brain traumas, torn knee ligaments, and arthritic joints to the gnawing effects of long-term exposure to acute pain and chronic use of painkillers.
The 10-year collaboration carries an ambitious goal: begin to transform the health of active and retired players within five years.
The stakes are high — for the players and for the NFL.
More than 100 concussion-related lawsuits have been filed against the league, with thousands of players claiming the NFL did not do enough to inform them of the long-term dangers from repeat brain injuries and protect them.
Public attention has focused on an Alzheimer’s-like condition, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, that is thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head. It has been linked to the erratic behavior, depression, and deaths of several former players, including Junior Seau, a linebacker for the New England Patriots and other teams who committed suicide in May.
See: Saying Goodbye to Seau
But the health problems are much wider-ranging. Countless former players struggle with searing and debilitating joint pain and rely heavily on anti-inflammatory medications and painkillers, say union officials. Many others grapple with heart disorders linked to extreme strength training common in the NFL.
The result is a dramatically shortened life span....
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Related: Sunday Globe Special: Field of Dreams
More like a nightmare.
Brain injuries: Obama punts the football
Maybe it's time to abolish football and give him the boot.
Also see: Economic factors are key as Celtics look to future
Injury revives NBA age feud
That's my game, and my brackets blew up (but the Globe is still in last, and unless Louisville wins it all they may well finish there. It's between them and my mother, and she has Duke).
UPDATES:
Jackie Bradley finally offers Red Sox hope
Pragmatic Red Sox fans ready for a fresh start
Red Sox price cuts should be extended
Finding seats a bit easier for Fenway faithful
At least they won their first game over the hated Yankees!
