9:00 pm?

[patriot]

What genius decided that playing baseball in Canada in May at 9pm was a good idea?! And why have there been such small crowds up there? Did the AA take all the common sense with them?

[nksports]

Fans who stay through to the end should get an award like the old Croix de Candlestick that Giants fans got for staying through extra-innings games. No one should be admitted without a took (or is it touk? I'm not Canadian, although I play one on television).

[nlfan]

What genius decided that playing baseball in Canada in May at 9pm was a good idea?!What are you talking about? The scheduled game times for all three teams are 9:00 PM local time.

If you read the the "fine print" on the OSC page (http://www.oursportscentral.com/sports/?display=&l_id=46) you'll see it says All times Eastern. Calgary & Edmonton are in the Mountain time zone which is two hours later than Eastern.

And why have there been such small crowds up there?This has been hashed out at length in my forums (http://p200.ezboard.com/bnlfanmessageboard) but the skinny is:

Calgary had a last minute ownership change last season. The Vipers had no "active" owner until only a few weeks before the season started. It also doesn't help that they play in a 40 year old facility (see my Calgary guide (http://www.nlfan.com/calgary/) for more about Foothills Stadium).

Edmonton has a great AAA ballpark and "consistent ownership" --at least compared to Calgary. The Cracker-Cats problems are mostly related to PR. First the Trappers departure upset a lot of locals --especially since Telus Field was built especially for them. Having the Trappers around meant a late start for selling/promoting the C-Cats. That was made all the more difficult because the Trappers didn't provide any helpful lists of season ticket holders or advertisers to "jump start" the process. Poor attendance was made all the worse with a very public feud between the owner and partner (girlfriend) and the much of the front office staff. The local papers came down against Orlich & Co. with a strong effort for them to sell.