[Ira]

As a Yankees fan, I want to thank the Jays for their great performances!!! (To the baseball-challenged foreigners, the two teams are in the same division, so the Jays' victories were over the Yankees' chief rivals and to now best team in the division, the Rays. This helped the Yankees in the standings.)

WOW!!! YOU WENT TO ONE HELL OF A GAME, AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT YOU WHILE WATCHING IT!!! (We get the Tampa sports channel down in South Florida.)

17 STRIKEOUTS IS FREAKING AMAZING!!!

[8540tomg]

As a Yankees fan, I want to thank the Jays for their great performances!!! (To the baseball-challenged foreigners, the two teams are in the same division, so the Jays' victories were over the Yankees' chief rivals and to now best team in the division, the Rays. This helped the Yankees in the standings.)

WOW!!! YOU WENT TO ONE HELL OF A GAME, AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT YOU WHILE WATCHING IT!!! (We get the Tampa sports channel down in South Florida.)

17 STRIKEOUTS IS FREAKING AMAZING!!!

It was a great game Ira.

It was the most dominant pitching performance I have ever seen live. Morrow handcuffed the Rays from the start. That being said the Rays were just one swing away from tying the game all day. It kept things interesting right to the last pitch as Morrow went the distance.

Jays have won 5 of their last 6 including 2 of 3 from the Yankees. The Jays are still a long way back but if they can put a streak together in August who knows? They have a home series coming up against both the Red Sox and Yankees this month. Could they be peaking at the right time? We shall see.

Sadly, I blew my baseball budget on the Tampa Bay game and I’ll have to watch on TV.


Tom G

[Ira]

The prices are nuts, right?

I can't even afford to go to a Marlins game (which I don't want to anyway unless they're playing the Yankees in interleague play), so I can't imagine how expensive it is to go a game in NY or another major city like Toronto.

They really ruined the game for a lot of people, although I still love it, and I'm envious of folks who live in double-A and triple-A cities. When I see those games and smaller stadiums on TV, it looks like fun, and the real thing.

[8540tomg]

The prices are nuts, right?

I can't even afford to go to a Marlins game (which I don't want to anyway unless they're playing the Yankees in interleague play), so I can't imagine how expensive it is to go a game in NY or another major city like Toronto.

They really ruined the game for a lot of people, although I still love it, and I'm envious of folks who live in double-A and triple-A cities. When I see those games and smaller stadiums on TV, it looks like fun, and the real thing.

For the most part I agree Ira,

However, in Toronto, if you don't mind sitting in the nosebleed section (500s) you can get a seat for under $15.00. You will be a long way from the action but you can take a family of 4, park, and get and drink and hotdog for a little over a hundred bucks. If you eat before the game you can do it for less than a hundred. The fans tend to be a lot more "involved" up there as well.

That's a bargain by professional sports standards these days I think. I'm pretty sure it would be impossible to see a Leafs or Raptors game for that kind of money.

My seats in the lower section yesterday were a lot more expensive ($71.00) but its a rare day I'll lay out that sort of coin for a ballgame. I hadn't been to the park for quite a while and it was kind of a special day for Dad and his boys. In any case, we had a good time.

Tom G

[Ira]

My boys are now 18 and 14, and therein kind of lies my point:

When you take your kids to the game, who wants to bring them to the nosebleed section? Especially when they were young, and had to learn the game?

I never wanted them to think, after I dropped dead, "Dad always bought us the crappy seats."

[pxpaulx]

For the most part I agree Ira,

However, in Toronto, if you don't mind sitting in the nosebleed section (500s) you can get a seat for under $15.00. You will be a long way from the action but you can take a family of 4, park, and get and drink and hotdog for a little over a hundred bucks. If you eat before the game you can do it for less than a hundred. The fans tend to be a lot more "involved" up there as well.

This is one thing the Twins are doing right here. The new stadium is a sellout every game, and yet there are still half a dozen sections I can sit in under $20 bucks - and every view is a great one! The metrodome on the other hand, what a dump. It was made for football, and even for that it is crappy.

I have fond memories of the Skydome, it has come down from the glory days but is still quite a unique place. Too bad it was made in the 80's when it seems the motto was the more concrete the better. The newer parks with the old design and feel are such a great experience.

Ira, I still remember my first jays game, nosebleeds at C.N.E. stadium - your kids won't remember how much it cost, just that they went (teenagers might be another story...if you can get them to go).

[Ira]

Your kids won't remember how much it cost, just that they went (teenagers might be another story...if you can get them to go).

Point taken about your stadium with great views everywhere, but that's not the case elsewhere:

My kids will remember that their seats sucked and they could have better enjoyed and understood the game by watching it on TV.

All kids want to be close to the action, like adults, and when you put them 3 stories above it, you don't even SEE any action.

[8540tomg]

I'm going to blame the Yankees for this Ira.

If they would quit paying guys like A-Rod a quarter of a billion dollars

the price of a game would be more affordable.

Tom G

[Ira]

I'm going to blame the Yankees for this Ira. If they would quit paying guys like A-Rod a quarter of a billion dollars

Ahhh.....want to be a little enlightened?

Throughout the entire MODERN history of baseball, players have been paid their worth. Now, when the Yankees play a player their worth, all other teams cry and scream that "Wahhh!!! It's not fair!!!!!!! The Yankees bought their team!!!!"

Yet, 90% of current team owners could give a crap about bringing championships to their cities, and pocket every dime of their profits. Plus, with revenue sharing now the law in baseball, the Yankees basically support 25% of the losing teamsin the AL--losing in games and losing money.

The Yankees spend to win, and they earn money. The other teams bitch because they don't spend a dime and wonder why they lose.

What are you--a SOCIALIST?

[8540tomg]

Point taken Ira - but the salaries are still insane.

My issue is with pro sports in general. These guys (athletes and owners) are paid far more than they are worth. They are arrogant, ungrateful for the most part, out of touch with their fan base and average people in general. That charade with Lebron James is just the most recent case in point. A plague on all their houses.

Bye-the-way you use that world “socialist” like it’s a bad thing. You know we are all Commies up here in Canada right?

Tom G

[Lowell Goudge]

Ahhh.....want to be a little enlightened?

Throughout the entire MODERN history of baseball, players have been paid their worth. Now, when the Yankees play a player their worth, all other teams cry and scream that "Wahhh!!! It's not fair!!!!!!! The Yankees bought their team!!!!"

Yet, 90% of current team owners could give a crap about bringing championships to their cities, and pocket every dime of their profits. Plus, with revenue sharing now the law in baseball, the Yankees basically support 25% of the losing teamsin the AL--losing in games and losing money.

The Yankees spend to win, and they earn money. The other teams bitch because they don't spend a dime and wonder why they lose.

What are you--a SOCIALIST?

I will defend tom here, yes, by US standards canadians are by and far, the extreme left of socialism bordering on communism, but to the rest of the world we are so far to the right of middle, that we are viewed as americans.

But back to baseball., you say the yankees pay pay their players what they are worth.

I would have to argue on that point. they yankees payroll this year is probably something like $250 million compared to probably something in the range of $60 million for the jays.

Yet the yankees have something like 8 more wins to this point in the season. is the extra $190 million worth 8 games?

I would say that for what the yankees pay, they should already have 100 wins this season. On top of that, they could only take 1 of 3 games this week from the lowly toronto blue jays.

p.s. tom, sorry for the thread highjack

[Lowell Goudge]

This is one thing the Twins are doing right here. The new stadium is a sellout every game, and yet there are still half a dozen sections I can sit in under $20 bucks - and every view is a great one! The metrodome on the other hand, what a dump. It was made for football, and even for that it is crappy.

I have fond memories of the Skydome, it has come down from the glory days but is still quite a unique place. Too bad it was made in the 80's when it seems the motto was the more concrete the better. The newer parks with the old design and feel are such a great experience.

Ira, I still remember my first jays game, nosebleeds at C.N.E. stadium - your kids won't remember how much it cost, just that they went (teenagers might be another story...if you can get them to go).

I have not been this year but last year, the foul pole at the dome was $24 in the second level (20 feet off the field.

As for the nosebleed section, although it is high up, it is not far away. In fact in toronto, there is not really a bad seet in the house.

Now, if you talk about the old CNE stadium, that was different. The covered grandstand was well over 400 feet from home plate, and the bleachers were aluminum extruded seets that sucked the heat right out of your butt in the spring and fall and were so hot you could fry an egg on them in the summer., Yeah, it was cheap to go to a ball game then, if you could stand the torture of the stadium, and for some of the early years the stadium was pleasant compared to the game on the field

[8540tomg]

Hey this is getting way to serious.

I was just yanking your chain Ira – although I do think some if not all professional athletes are vastly overpaid. I'm also jealous but that's another story.

Getting back to the best lens for baseball I think my K 200/2.5 was good for the location I was in and the low light levels caused by the closed roof that day.

Next time I might take a shot at the 200 level on the rail with the K 300/4 or M 400/5.6. Not only will this save money on the ticket but I'll have more money for beer and pizza. On a sunny day I think either might do the job.

Lowell – did you ever take your K 300/4 to a game at Skydome?

Tom G

[Lowell Goudge]

Hey this is getting way to serious.

I was just yanking your chain Ira – although I do think some if not all professional athletes are vastly overpaid. I'm also jealous but that's another story.

Getting back to the best lens for baseball I think my K 200/2.5 was good for the location I was in and the low light levels caused by the closed roof that day.

Next time I might take a shot at the 200 level on the rail with the K 300/4 or M 400/5.6. Not only will this save money on the ticket but I'll have more money for beer and pizza. On a sunny day I think either might do the job.

Lowell – did you ever take your K 300/4 to a game at Skydome?

Tom G

Tom

Have taken the K300 and also my sigma 70-200F2.8 with a 2x TC.

I will push the ISO to get shots. As I said, my preferred spot is actually the left field foul pole, on the second deck. there ususally you can get a front row seat, especially these days with the attendance the jays get. It was quite different when there were 50,000 people every game (1989-1994) but add in these 5 years 4 division championships and 2 world series and it makes sense.

The other reason I take the left field side is to avoid shooting into the sun or backlit situations in general. Afternoon games start at 1:07 (considering daylight savings roughly noon) and the sun is directly behind home plate, but swings around quickly.

As for beer and Pizza, it is all over priced, and really is not part of baseball, now hot dogs and sausage are different

[Ira]

I would have to argue on that point. they yankees payroll this year is probably something like $250 million compared to probably something in the range of $60 million for the jays.

Yet the yankees have something like 8 more wins to this point in the season. is the extra $190 million worth 8 games?

Two aspects to this:

How can other teams complain then that the Yankees "buy" their championships, because not only don't they always win it all, but as you say, they're only a few wins ahead. You can't have it both ways.

More important, there are 160 games in the season, and the only numbers of wins that matter is the number of wins after Game # 160, and after the playoffs and series. This is like what I always have to explain to my British friend who goofs on me when the Yankees are losing a game. I always have to tell him:

"Remember--there are at least 9 innings a game."