As far as supply and demand....have you been to a Rangers game lately?  They sell out of very few games.  With the exceptions of the large market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox and their division rivals they have a pretty hard time filling seats.  I went to a Rangers game last year against the Cubs and the Cub fans outnumbered the Rangers fans by more than half.  It was definitely a shock.  Yet when I went to see them play the Baltimore Orioles, only about 75% of the seats were filled.  No one wants to see the Rangers.

I was making a simplification. I know some seats are empty, but clearly the calculation is that the demand for games at this point is fairly inelastic. That is, total revenue will rise when they increase prices because quantity of games demanded won't go down all that much.

red_bus wrote:Video of the new track from Duffy. Grreeeeaaaaaaaaaatttttt old style '60s arrangement.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE2orthS3TQ

 

Pretty good video, don't know her though.

ShaneG.

red_bus wrote:She's from Wales.  And her album isn't out yet (March/April?).  
The dancing is what we call, northern soul - which is what they do up way up from where killjoy is from  

Ahhh.... Well not sure Al's feet have caught on fire, but in those races he runs I'm sure its been close

ShaneG.

 'twas a compliment.  we have northern soul clubs here in London - they are great. One of your better exports I think

Here, for the benefit of our overseas members, is a wiki-page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_soul

VermilionFire wrote:
Looks like a lot of fun and way overdue... thanks for the link!

yeah it looks like a fun film. i always liked the indy character, so lets hope this film does him justice. very long awaited and about the only film that my whole family likes collectively!

Al

bbarsh wrote:
Without getting into "why everyone hates the Yankees" debate, the reason is fairly simple. Ability to spend.

I love it when Yankee-fan chastises small-mark fan because their team can't spend $250 million on payroll per year. Do some owners abuse the system - certainly - look at the Marlins for one. But don't play the tired old song of Yankee superiority.

I'm a Yankee hater (why not). But I think Yankee's fans are caught up in the same hell as the Cowboys fans of the 70s or even Patriots fans now:  If you don't win the superbowl, the season is a failure. QB Danny White, a really great QB that holds most of the Cowboys records (over both Staubach and Aikman) is looked upon as a failure because he simply didn't get the Cowboys to a superbowl in the 80s.  

Everyone now wants the Yankees to fail because they are the big bullies on the block....let's face it, they have never been the underdog, and America loves the underdog.  So if they keep spending a quarter ofa billion dollars a year on payroll and can't win a World Series (note: not even PLAYING in a World Series is enough anymore; it's win or nothing) I predict a slow and steady erosion of the fan base and the support, and even the luster of the Yankees will be tarnished eventually.   Be honest if you are a Yankee's fan have you ENJOYED the last seven years?  Hell no, because you've been picked to win the series every year and then lost in the playoffs.

The best thing that could happen is for Steinbrenner to kick off, someone else take over the team, and have them miss the playoffs the next few years and rebuild.  The Yanks had their most success when they built from within using their farm system and created a lot of home grown heroes....not hiring aged, overpaid and roided up uber free agents that have done nothing the past few years (note that done nothing means haven't won the series, which is all this team has on it's agenda).  

One of my best friends from high school, who I still know, was a band wagon jumping Yankee's fan during the great teams of the 70s, and still is now.  I have to say the last few years have beaten him down immensely.  Is it much fun to be a Yankee's fan lately?  I can't imagine it is.  Since 2001 they have lost two World series, one to the upstart Marlins, and pulled the greatest choke job in MLB history by losing to their arch enemy Red Sox in the 2004 playoffs.

Oh, and as a Texas Rangers fan: YOU WILL NEVER WIN A THING WITH A-FRAUD ON YOUR TEAM!!!  The man is the least clutch, most choking major leaguer in history with HOF stats.  He is the biggest stats-padder in baseball history....he gets all his stats in non-essential, meaningless late season contests when no pressure is on him.  He is such the antithesis of Yankee greats like Mantle, Munson, etc.......you guys have doomed yourself by hitching a wagon to his over-egoed career.  Dump him and you may win a series someday.

Mike B.

Bbarsh- Yes, we are the Evil Empire!  Join us!  Mwhahhahaha!
Actually, the 97 Marlins are an example of how the system is supposed to work.

Small market expansion team, low attendance.  The ownership took their subsidy money plus alot of their own and spent it all on the field.  They laid  out a ton of cash and aggressively pursued and signed some heavy duty talent, and it got them a title.

...Of course, they also went nearly bankrupt doing it.  But hey, it's the world series!  

Badmike - I see what you mean, but I think you under estimate Yankee fandom.  I think the fan base it pretty loyal.  This was tested in the recent past  during the 80s and early 90s, when they Yanks couldn't put a winning season together for a pretty long stretch.  I don't think attendance suffered too much then.  I don't remember there being a fire sale for season tickets or anything.  

And there's two ways of looking at it.  Yeah, you can say, "geez, they spent a billion dollars and didn't win.  What a waste! "

But you can look at it another way, and say, "hey, this guy spends a billion dollars every year on players.  He could just pocket alot of that, but I guess he really wants to win."

Of course it helps if your owner is already an unbelieveably wealthy businessman in his own right,  who doesn't need to rely on profits from the ball club at all for income.  Running a multi-billion dollar baseball franchise is kind of a side hobby for him.  He can afford to plow millions back into the team year after year without it hurting him a bit.  


Killjoy - The Mets are my wife's team.  They're in great shape this season.  I think they're going to do well again this year.

Agent Cooper wrote:Killjoy - The Mets are my wife's team.  They're in great shape this season.  I think they're going to do well again this year.

i think theres a good chance of them having a good season too. they were not too bad last season either, so if they improve, its all good.

its about time they peaked anyway.....will shush them yankee fans up some

Al

Badmike - I have to agree with you there about the band wagoneers.  The yanks attract alot of them when they are winning, and those types are kind of annoying.  I guess it's good if they become long time fans, but the fair weather variety we can do without.

As a Cowboys fan, you must totally get this.  Back in the 70's and mid 90s it seemed like everybody in the world was a Dallas fan, or said they were.  

killjoy - The Mets were really rolling most of last year.  That collapse at the end was kind of a fluke.  I can't see that happening again.  It's the Phillies you have to worry about, not the Yanks.  At least not till October.