Both Saturday's and Sunday's games, I was busy during the afternoons, and unable to watch the games live, and bask in the player bashing, random subjects, and verbal-through-text camaraderie with the rest of my fellow Braves fans this weekend.  And as much as I enjoyed watching Friday's gem by Jurrjens, I was quite distraught after watching via DVR the two following games.

Normally, at times like this, I try to bring the funny, or the positive, or something to attempt to take the minds off of the disappointment of more one-run, road losses, to yet another below-average team we should've beaten.  But even for me, it's getting difficult.  I'm tired of hearing beat-writers, friends, and ESPN talk about how great the American League is, and how the "Juniors" keep defeating the "Seniors" and so forth.  Personally, I think Interleague is pointless aside from teams with natural, geographic rivals, and the rules of game alignment each year seems to change, and defy explanation.  But it's a proven cash-cow, which means it will be around to stay. 

I'm tired of watching games that seem completely winnable, finish out as losses, and the Braves having left 10+ stranded base-runners every time.  The feeling that when men are on 1st and 2nd, dreading the inevitable pop-fly(s) that will prevent runners from moving over, and/or simply end the inning.  Francoeur just keeps sinking further and further, and I heard on the radio this morning for the first time, the 680AM personalities tearing into him.  And then after the losses, the site will have about six new members sign up just so they can put up fanposts about how much Francoeur sucks, Boyer sucks, Acosta sucks, Norton sucks, the Braves suck, etc, and then never say anything again until they want to voice displeasure.  Nothing personal, but it's quite true - hardly ever do I see the inverse occur; granted, we haven't been winning enough, or in a way that it's worth talking about, but Jurrjens was quite perfect for 4.1 innings on Friday, going 8.0 in all...

So on a change of subject, I hope to bring some discussion - and it goes along the lines of VIP Seating at the Ballpark.

I've sat in 46 degree Opening Weekend cold to see John Smoltz out-duel the Mets.  I've sat in 104 degree July heat to see Tom Glavine out-duel the Braves.  I've sat in 49 degree New England rain at Fenway Park to see John Smoltz make the Red Sox look stupid.  Recently, I sat in the 107 degree Nevada desert dry heat, at a minor league game, wishing that it was John Smoltz pitching.  But only once, have I ever gotten my hands on the really, really good, right-behind home plate VIP seats; believe me, if they were readily available to purchase, I'd be more than happy to pay for them.  But thank Pujols, that one time, John Smoltz was pitching.

For ever Fenway, Yankee, Shea, Camden Yards, and Wrigley Field, where fans pack the house for every game, whether it's against the Nationals or the Red Sox, there are many other parks that can't even sell out a playoff game.

Atlanta's Turner Field is a good example of this scenario - behind home plate, we have the ScumTrust VIP section right behind home plate, now.  Cushy chairs, on-hand food service, and the best seats in the house.  And three-times out of four, the section is practically empty.  I see it at the games, and I see it on television - yes, people do sit there, but the prime-seats, AKA the ones that are on television for 85% of the air-time, are still dishearteningly empty.

Why?  My hypothesis is, being former ScumTrust overhead, that a conglomerate of the 3,217 Assistant Vice Presidents within the company are the ones whom officially have the season tickets to those seats, and unlike they do with their Falcons tickets, don't use them.  It's too hot.  Too much traffic.  Whatever excuse/reason, they go unused, most of the time.

Washington DC, and new Nationals Park is the same way - Boog and Joe were making fun of it earlier this season too.  While Jeff Francoeur slugged his way to a two-homer, seven RBI day (sigh), there was next to nobody behind home plate to see it.

PETCO Park, when I went just weeks ago, their VIP section, deserted.  Dodger Stadium's VIP section, practically empty, while the rest of the covered-areas were practically elbow-to-elbow - heat wasn't a factor that day, it was 67 degrees.

What I'm getting at, is that a lot of parks suffer from having fair-weather/dispassionate/corporate stiffs having the rights to the best seats in the house, while there are hundreds to perhaps thousands of other people, passionate fans, who would be willing to pay decent money for those seats.  The team's already gotten the money for those seats, but do they not see the repercussion of visibly looking poorly attended on television?

If I were a park owner, I would like to do one or more of the following:

1.  The Mark Cuban Approach - after purchasing the Dallas Mavericks, Cuban realized that nobody was going to Mavs games.  He realized that he needed attendance so that the team could generate revenue on its own, instead of having to go out-of-pocket on everything.  So he kinda cheated.  He took stacks of unsold court-side tickets, and went to Dallas nightspots.  He sought and targeted the most attractive, visually appealing women he could find, and basically gave them all free court-side seating to Mavs games.  Sorry gals, pro-sports still are heavily swayed this way.  Lots of these women took advantage of these seats; dolled up, and went to the games, hoping to catch the eye of an NBA player, or something.  On television, male viewers were consistently treated to, along with the basketball, up and down the courts, row after row of gorgeous women in the stands.  The rules of attraction took place here, and soon enough, attendance started to go up.  Revenue increased, the Mavs rebranded, and with their influx of money, they were able to pursue free agents, and sign guys like Dirk Nowitzki to big-money.  And the Mavs have pretty much been upper-tier NBA since.

2.  Guerrilla Ticket Upgrading - VIP seats still unaccounted for in the 3rd inning?  Put them up for grabs.  Like at an airport gate, offer unclaimed VIP seats up-for-grabs at a reasonable, discounted rate after a certain point in the game.  Sure, attendance might look bad on television early on, but when the game gets to the key late-innings, behind the plate might actually look like people give a shit.  Owner of a VIP seat, and don't like the idea of someone sitting in your cushy spot?  Then show up to the game - it's as simple as that.  This benefits the team/park greatly, because it allows the opportunity for more revenue, as well as making the venue look good on television.  I'd like to think that this would work, instead of having security have to pay so much attention to those who try to sneak down to better seating all through the games.

What do you folks think?  Am I just blowing smoke, or can anyone else see some logic in my outlandish ideas?  The point of this is discussion, not arguing, keep that in mind, please.

Tomorrow's today, and unfortunately today's an off-day.  So there's always tomorrow, and good riddance to Interleague, and it's against our rival Phillies.  Kelly Johnson will be two-handing everything this week, I hope.