Opening Jays

It's been awhile since I've posted to be honest hockey, the NBA the WBC and spring training bores me quite a bit. During the week I'm often out 3 or 4 nights so don't have much chance to keep up with that stuff. I was looking forward to an exciting March Madness and there were some upsets, but somehow I just couldn't get into it.

So when Jays opening day came around, I was really hoping this would be the event that got me out of the winter doldrums. Going to opening day on Monday was a bit of a strange experience. Outside the brutal winds and rain reminded me of why we got a dome. Inside the ridiculous mismanagement of the Rogers Centre: long beer and ATM line ups, shady concession stands (some Orthodox Jewish kid jumped in front of me at the Kosher hot dog stand and the server said nothing so I went to another concession stand where they charged me $5 for a Stadium dog although the cash register was showing 4.72, how exactly are they going to account for 28 cent disparity on the cash register tape) reminded me of why I only pay to see 1 game per year. On rare occasions the Rogers Centre will get more than 30,000 fans, unfortunately they don't bother to staff above the level required to deal with the average crowd. Even though I complain about the beer line ups I don't think I could bare to sit through a 3 hr game without at least a couple. An additional aggravating factor was Rogers instituted a new policy that every transaction required identification. This is in response to the 3 day suspension of alcohol sales at the Rogers Centre due to licensing infractions. ICE COLD BEER reportedly got fired for not IDing a 22 year old fan buying beer. If this is really the reason he got fired that is ridiculous in that serving beer to someone of age is not a LLBO infraction. The LLBOs over reaction to people underage being served alcohol is aVictorian and Paternalistic morality. Judgement and discretion should be used by servers, occasionally that judgement will be incorrect. I think lengthy suspensions of alcohol sales is a bit of an over reaction. To me the greater problem is the overserving and unruly behaviour of a few people. It is a ball game so you should be able to get a little tipsy and heckle the opposing team and their supporters. Monday in section 130 the 3rd base line/left field I saw quite a number of overwhelmingly drunk fans. There were a couple fights and some berating of Tiger fans by drunken Jays fans, which I fully support provided it doesn't get personal or violent. What was somewhat frustrating was the late inning delays caused by some fans throwing baseballs, paper airplanes and water bottles onto the field leading to a 10 minute delay. The guys behind me were appalled, personally while not approving the behaviour I was actually pleased to see that a Toronto crowd could get a bit worked up and into the game. I personally feel that the blame has to go as much onto the Rogers Centre security for not intervening earlier. The garbage was coming from the 200 level left field which is apparently one of the rowdier sections of the stadium although I've never really seen any evidence of rowdiness at a Jays game.

The Jays hammered the Tigers in a very entertaining game so definitely worth it. Looking at the schedule the obvious games people want to see are the Red Sox and Yankees, yet they've been labelled premium and super premium games. Also any weekend game is labelled Premium. Sorry but I'm not going to pay a premium to see Gil Meche and the Kansas City Royals play even if it is Rance Mulliniks Bobblehead day. Really if they want to charge premium prices when Jesse Litsch is pitching instead of Roy Halladay they should be handing out coupons for free hotdogs or something to compensate fans who get the crappy games. My hopes for this season would be to see the Jays finish 3rd in the Division. It'd be really nice to see the Yankees underachieve and have the Jays finish ahead of them in the standings. A .500 record and 50 wins at home would be amazing. The Jays look pretty solid defensively and so far they have hit very well. It seems their biggest weakness is a big bat at DH and the lack of switch hitters make them vulnerable to situational pitching changes. It is really sort of comforting to have Cito back on the bench, I think he brings a certain calmness to the clubhouse. Jays fans should be content with mediocrity, I mean being in a division with Boston and NY the only way they can earn a playoff spot would be developing prospects, especially young arms and hope things come together for you the way they did for Tampa Bay last season.