Overly Critical Edmonton Media

[Catsfan]

http://communities.canada.com/edmontonjournal/blogs/coffeewithcam/archive/2008/06/10/please-let-the-cat-out-of-the-bag.aspx

I, for one, am so sick of Edmonton's negativity. We get the message media, you don't like Orlich (who does?) but it seems you also don't like the team (why not?). How about some positive news for a change. Do a player interview, do a player profile. Stop bashing every minute detail.

I need to vent on how disgusted I am by how the Cats are treated. It's the definition of biased, slanted reporting. I have yet to read one article discussing the positives of this team.

It's easy and simple to criticize. It takes hard work to actually get out from behind your desk, go to the field, report on games and do interviews.

Cam Tait says
"Are umpires going to continue to get mad at in-between-inning promotions that take longer than normal, disrupting play?"

-- Ah Cam, the reason the umps were mad was because the cracker kittens were performing directly behind home plate WHILE the opposing catcher was throwing to home plate! Yah that's what we need Cracker kitten brain on the turf. The annoyance was justified.

"Brent Bowers seems like a bright young manager with contacts all over.
He could build a team.
But, does he want to wait it out? Or is he ready to pull the pin, too?"

-- Once again Cam, are you even paying attention?! Bowers DID put this team together, THIS year. What do you mean wait it out, he's serious this year and has built a solid team.

I'm sorry just needed to vent.

[Pounder]

In doing their job, journalists often require help. In this case, they need help from the team.

The sense I get: this complaint deals with the Cracker Cats not helping out the media. That runs rampant through this column.

(Of course, it could also be subtext for saying "the food you feed me sucks" or some other petty thing like that. I obviously don't know any subtexts here.)

If the team doesn't help out the media, this is what you get. That's not exclusive to Edmonton by any means. Not even close.

It's also not the paper's job to be positive. It's their job to sell papers. I half suspect just mentioning that the opposing team hails from Chico turns off most of the readers to going out to the game. I suspect Edmonton will suffer from losing AAA for a good bit longer.

[Catsfan]

Thats a valid point.

If the team doesn't help the media, of course they're going to be a little jaded.
It does work both ways.

I just hate to see people not coming out to watch a good ballclub because of negative ... or worse... complacent media.

That's my biggest thing: I want to support the players.

[hot_corner]

I admit we don't hear much about the Cracker Cats in Calgary unless you go searching for it, but it is a shame that what we do hear is almost universally negative. That kind of thing certainly won't do anything to draw new fans to the park. Sure there have been problems,

The real bad part of this for us Calgarians is that when it comes down to it neither of our teams can really survive without the other. The Vipers have had a really positive start to the year, especially off the field, when compared to years past (let's just ignore the car theft incident for a moment...). I'm not too sure what has changed - PY is still running the show - but it seems like ever since all the NoL bickering went away we've had more (positive) media coverage, new marketing ideas, etc.

All the negativity coming out of Edmonton seems to be "looming" as a ticking time bomb. We play each other umpteen times this year so each team is directly impacted by the state of the other.

I completely agree - the media should show some support rather than take every chance to cut the team down. How about focusing on the fact that they have put together a decent team this year? We are in for some good ball games between natural rivals which is always a great opportunity to generate some buzz.

[Viperfan]

I'll agree things do seem a lot more positive in Viperville this year. PY seems to be taking happy pills or something. Used to be (last season) you could hear him within the first few innings screaming and cursing at whoever the unlucky target was at that moment and guaranteed there would be more moments during a game. So far as I could hear this year - nothing. There have been some changes in management; ticket office, concessions and some added sales people so perhaps that is what is working the magic. I for one hope it continues!

[JCMoney]

My only major problem is the outright lie that he posted in his latest blog, that is hurtful for a franchise in general where he posted:

"It’s the bottom of the third inning between the Edmonton Cracker-Cats and the Chico Outlaws.
All 24 fans seem to be enjoying the game.
Yes, folks.
TWENTY-FOUR people are here at Telus Field."

Now, I don't claim to be the best at mathematics, but judging by the picture that you posted on your blog, there appears to be considerably more than 24 people at Telus Field.

[Distant Yankees Fan]

First, the media, for the most part has been critical of this team from the Cat’s first press conference where they announced the team. This criticism was initially rooted in the sale of the AAA Trappers, but it quickly shifted to the ownership and the organization of the team when Kowalchuk left the team and when the owner picked a fight with the River City Prospects over their access to Telus Stadium. Being that Telus is a public facility owned by the City of Edmonton, the Prospects had a lease with some access restrictions; however, Orlich decided that he didn’t like the competition, so he pressured everyone to have the Prospects’ lease terminated. The combination of these two factors turned the media against the organization. Then, the media’s poor opinion of Orlich and the team has repeatedly been confirmed by the several miscues of the franchise (high staff turn over, poor sponsorship and ticket sales, a sub 500 team over three years, constant turn over of players, coaching staff, and management, shifting leagues, the actions of a generally erratic owner and his partner, etcetera).

Second, the overwhelming exception to the above rule has been Cam Tait. He has consistently profiled players, the coaches, fans, and the organization. He generally doesn’t have an unkind word for the organization, and he has been a favourite of the players. He has filed a lot of reports; if he was just constantly sniping, he would have run out of things to say long ago. He certainly has highlighted some of the struggles on and off the field, but he has generally been pretty favourable. The shift in his tone this season, I suspect, is because he loves baseball, and he is tired of watching this franchise f*** things up.

Third, regarding Catsfan’s love of the team, I am glad you love the team. I am glad that the team finally has an advocated that is willing to bang the drum. I have gone to about half of the home games since 2005. I have seen a lot of things, but I have not seen the kind of love you display for the team. However, there remains a healthy proportion of the population who still have a lot of apprehension about the organization. It is not that we don’t want baseball to thrive in Edmonton; rather, we have just been assaulted by over three years of evidence that this is the wrong organization and ownership for the city. Our unease stems from the many of the reasons the team gets bad press: we want to see baseball, but we’re just tired of watching it get f***ed up.

Finally, congratulations to Calgary are in order. I saw the signs that the franchise is turning things around last summer, and now it is clear. Calgary will continue doing very well in the GBL, and I am glad.

[Distant Yankees Fan]

My apologies for my poor grammar and such in my previous post -- I was writing and editing quickly, and I missed a few (a lot) of errors.:)

[Catsfan]

I appreciate your points and I think they are accurate. I've emailed Cam a little bit about things and he does seem to be a good guy ... just a little fed up.