I agree to an extent Bosco. Your voice of the team is often the face of the team as well. Hawk Harrelson comes across as a surly old bastard. Not a very friendly, warm image.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

I don't mind Hawk like a lot of people. I can't stand Stone. His reputation is that he's very smart and insighful. Score guys tell you this all the time.

LISTEN TO A BROADCAST. HE SAY NOTHING. I'M DEAD SERIOUS. NOTHING AT ALL OF INTERST IS SAID BY HIM. NOTHING INSIGHTFUL. HE'S BORING AS HELL.

It's basically watching the replay and Stone telling you that the guy gloved the ball and threw him out. That's about it.

I don't think it's the entire problem. But to dismiss broadcasting entirely, is not correct.

You aren't going to listen to the announcers at the park.

Why would that deter anyone from going?

If anything, it should encourage people to go so they don't have to listen to the bad broadcast.

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Laurence Holmes upset about how people responded after he reposted Baffoe's piece.

Sox brass have created this situation. Bleacher seats at USCF? 40+ for a Tigers game against the Sox. Same seats at Comerica, same teams? 17 bucks. They've out priced the market place, and have yet to adjust LONG TERM to it. (5 buck tickets with two days notice? Pretty stupid concept, especially if you don't want to piss off the folks who paid five times that earlier for the same freakin' seats.) Teams that have trouble drawing make a point of ALWAYS having a discount of some kind. (The King's Court in Seattle, for example.) But the Sox have yet to embrace that concept.

For being the so-called 'flagship' station for White Sox radio, a number of the WSCR staff take great joy at pissing off White Sox fans. (Who can forget Drinky's "Shut up Sox fans. Wear your wife-beater t-shirts and eat your friend bolony sandwiches. I don't want to hear from you because the Cubs are in the playoffs" in 2008.)

Spiegs, Rosner, Finfer, Baffoe, Loho, and Drinky (although, Matt has mellowed quite a bit since getting married/expectant father. I will always give credit where credit is due.) They all have enjoyed/still enjoy pissing off White Sox fans.

LoHo got so upset with my shots at him, Baffoe, and a swipe at the cancelled tailgate; that I got banned from his Facebook page.

Amazingly, I think he hoped that would upset me, lol.

That's not what i'm talking about. Talking about building a brand. Those who are already fans, will go. Creating new fans (customers) is part of the broadcasters job.

You don't agree?

I think its more of a case that the White Sox/WSCR refuse to acknowledge the fans dislike of the announce team. By and large, the Sox keep doing the same stupid marketing ideas and then wonder why people aren't responding.

I see what you mean, but I can't believe that many fans are influenced by the broadcasters. I would think new fans are created more by the on field product.

But as you pointed out, look at the Cubs.

So maybe people are dumber than I think.

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Look, Sox have sold out half price mondays over the last month or so. They've had 30k + when it's the standard price vs an average or below average team. It's the jacked up prices for the Yankee series. Sox should learn from it. But maybe they'll take 25k at a jacked up price over 35k for a standard price. I don't know.

Bottom line is that Sox fans don't care about the opponent if the price is wrong.

True fans will go regardless. It's the casual fan you want to draw in. If I'm flipping through channels radio or tv and one of the announcers is pouting or I'm bored, I move on. The broadcasting team is a way to generate interest or excitement for people that might go to a game or two but that's how you fill your park. It's meatballish but sports are emotional. It's a memory for a family or a thrill to be a part of an exciting event. That's the draw.

come on... Marketing is much more complex than that. The answer that Cub fans are stupid is weak.

As Keeping Score pointed out earlier, I think the average fan likes the announce teams.

As far as marketing ideas, they do a lot to try and encourage fans to come out.

Dog Day
Elvis Night
Star Wars Night
Halfway to St. Patrick's Day
etc. are always packed. So people enjoy these.

I do agree with you about the flagship shitting on fans. Just don't tell that to spmack.

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Exactly. If the prices were in the right range, fans would be willing to pay. Jack it up just because its Yanks/Cubs/Sawx?

Casual fans don't care to pay more. I'd much rather watch the Tigers/Sox this season versus a Yankees/White Sox game; as that game might make the difference for post season play. Yes, all the wins count, I get that. But considering just how many people HATE the Yankees? Why would you pay extra to see a team you HATE in the first place?

Doesn't really matter. We're talking about pricing and money. If I was a Cubs fan and facing the same situation? Yeah, wouldn't be paying out more to see teams I wouldn't want to pay more to see.

That really wasn't what I meant.

I don't think Cubs fans are dumb (well most aren't, but every fan base has a whistler or an RFDC).

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Hi Ralphus.

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The Cubs made going to a game an event.

They originally started with lower prices to draw, and then when the ballpark was selling out regularly, started to increase prices.

They also marketed the Hell out of the ballpark. The Sox haven't taken that style of approach to marketing. Yes, hard to do with a 20 year ballpark, but there are other ways to market. The event nights are a start, but even those get increased pricing (and I'm sorry, the Dog Night is a stupid one. Part of the fun for me is the noise, fireworks, music, etc. Get rowdy, not "don't spook the mutts!") The rest of the nights are a lot of fun.

My wife and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary at USCF with our friends on Hawaiian Day; but we didn't know that until we actually ordered the tickets. We had a lot of fun, more than we planned on, but the Sox seem to have a really hard time promoting these events somehow. Yeah, having an on-air read during a broadcast is one thing, but that's like having a commerical for a TV show air DURING the same TV show.

They need to get a good marketing/PR team in and rework how to attract fans. Kenny Williams does the team ZERO favors when he starts complaining about lack of attendance as a reason he might not be able to make a move.

I've heard Goff rip the Sox fans for not going. I've heard Goff say he's a Sox fan. But I never hear him say that he's went to a game. I have heard him cry about being poor.

So maybe this article was directed at him.

I'm not gonna read a Score blogger ever, by the way.

Like I said in the other thread, if you think the Sox get it bad, look at how the Cubs and Blackhawks are treated.

Also, lol at Matt telling Sox fans in wifebeaters to shut up for a while. Hey, they needed to be told!

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"The average or casual fan" is someone that does not watch or listen much and they dont care much for Hawk. I didnt say they dislike him, but most of his time on the air is spent doing.
A. Nothing
B. Complaining
C. Telling stories about the same 3 guys, that are not interesting...especially to a casual fan
D. Yelling STRETCH...when the ball is 20 feet short the wall.

It's not the only reason, never said it was but to deny it does effect the team is fooling themselves.

Hawk and Stones Bash!

Harry sold the shit out of the cubs everyday on the air, all across America for years. They didnt put a statue up of him because he was a great play by play guy!

I do love Sox fans arguing this but still offering no real explanation. OKC used the traffic issue, thats fine, but I dont think people even consider that when buying a ticket.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I've explained it a million times.

Sox fans as a whole are the whiniest, most fickle fans in MLB.

They look for any reason to not go to games.

"It costs too much." - It's comparable to other big city teams.
"It takes too long to get there." - It's accessible from two highways, not to mention CTA and Metra.
"I don't like ownership/the strike/whatever." - Grow up.

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It's not that the announcer is going to keep those that already go away, but rather that a good announcer/promoter can put people in the seats who otherwise would never have thought of going. Harry did that on both sides of town.

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Don't take it personally.

What's up 312Speeps?

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

You're very passionate when you really believe something strongly.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

It takes two hours to get there from Lake County on a weekday. It's accessible from one highway...not two. That's like saying I could take I-80 to get there. I can get to Milwaukee faster than Chicago on a weekday and it's 25 miles further away.
There is no Metra stop at 35th Street. Next May, the Redline will be closed for 5 months.

So, if you live within 15 miles from the park, you better be going to at least 20 games a year...
Otherwise, you can gfy.

Very fun discussion on LoHo's facebook page last night.

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@audioidkid

It's easily accessible from 55 as well as 90/94.

There is a 35th street Metra stop.

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That Metra stop is about a 5min or less walk from the stadium.

You live in the middle of nowhere. It's understandable you wouldn't go to any of the games. The same rule would apply to you if you were a Cub fan. That doesn't really explain why fans don't show up. All local teams have to deal with the traffic problems for fans to get to games. This isn't exclusive to the Sox.

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It's a half block away from the Red Line stop.

And the Green Line stop is 5 minutes further away.

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