Okay, so I can't tell time, but the title stays as is. Here we go....
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders are 2-0, after a 46-36 win in Toronto last Saturday. What was really cool, was that I got to watch the game live and fiddled with the "rewind live TV" dealie and got the picture to match up with the CKRM radio audio. Fewer things are more fun than seeing the pictures of a game Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri are describing. It just reinforces how good they are.
Details of all the week's CFL action is to the right, and the recap of the Riders win is below.
Here's hoping that next Saturday's 3:00pm EDT showdown between Saskatchewan and Montreal, the CFL's last two unbeatens, and leaders of their respective divisions, will be available live here in the Tampa area. Now THAT would be REALLY cool!
Green is the color!
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Tampa Bay won the first four games of their just concluded 6-game homestand, but dropped the last two games to Oakland. Crowds were great the last two days, but continue to suck Bay water the rest of the week. I believe there is a definite concern there by ownership/management. Wanta hint? Improve your relationship with your customers. Case in point:
My wife and I have attended one game this season, a Saturday date against Cleveland. We were told that the only tickets still available, were in the $35 price range. My wife wanted a special day out for Jimmy and me, so we overspent our budget and took the plunge, a decision we would soon regret.
Our seats were down the rightfield line, past the Rays bullpen. They were, beyond the shadow of a doubt, the worst seats I have ever had for a baseball game at any level. The sitelines were lousy and then, halfway through the game, the Red Neckerson family came bounding in, greeting everyone like they were the long-lost Kings of the right-field corner. Last in the parade, was a man who weighed at least 400, maybe closer to 500 pounds. Now even I had trouble fitting into those narrow seats, the worst since I attended games at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in 2001. However, for this man, who also was sweating gallons, it was nearly impossible. And this gentleman, who could have rented advertising space on his shirt he was so big, was flopped halfway into the seat on either side of him, meaning he was sitting halfway into my wife's lap. We immediately left the area, my wife finding an empty seat several rows up, me in search of a customer service representative, or at least an usher. I missed a complete inning in my search, which yielded no results. I couldn't even pass through the way we came into the ballpark, because it had been blocked off for passage by those with credentials only. Oh, BTW: It was also very apparent, that there were in the neighborhood of 500 to 1,000 seats available in the upper deck(at $10 apiece), which was where we wanted to sit anyway. The seats were scattered all over and not at the top, where they would have to be sold as obstructed view seats because of the catwalks suspended from the ceiling. (That's why all those post-season games in '08 didn't look sold out.)
Well, we made the best of it and enjoyed the rest of the game. A day or two later, my wife wrote an email to the team, relating our poor experience. Approximately two months later, she has yet to receive a response.
You wonder how they can draw weeknight crowds of less than 20,000 on a regular basis, including for two of the three games with the Philadelphia Phillies, in what should have been a sold-out rematch of the '08 World Series? Well, it's because they have no clue on how to relate to their customers. Want my business? Show me you care. The Rays haven't and we're in no hurry to go back.
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Speaking of positive relations, my wife shared an email her boss sent out, thanking everyone who came in this past Saturday, to help out the company they work for and it's customers. There's a guy who truly gets it. Perhaps the Tampa Bay Rays should get in touch with this guy!
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Jimmy is doing well. He's becoming more talkative, continuously friendly and, as I discovered today, has sprouted his long-awaited fifth tooth, on the bottom right gum line. That would explain why he's been a bit cranky lately. Shortly after that, I discovered this:
He had crawled into our bedroom and into a pan of paint I hadn't disposed of, after painting our bedroom the other day. (Bad Daddy! No donuts!) Jimmy didn't like sitting in the sink while I scrubbed him with a soapy sponge, but he's okay. Didn't eat any paint or anything like that, so all is well. Gotta remember to clean up after myself and keep the baby gate closed! He will be 14 months old in two weeks.
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The weather, which was pretty lousy last week, is really nice today. Lots of sunshine, a pleaseant change from all the rain last week. Snoopy, our Miniature Schnauzer, enjoys it. But Smoke, our Chihuahua, really enjoys it. When it's this nice, I sometimes have trouble getting him to come back it. He's liking it a lot more than that miserable winter weather we had in Wisconsin!
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Since it's so nice, Jimmy and I are going out to enjoy it. Have a great week everyone.
GO RIDERS!!!!
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