Have you been to a baseball game la...

Have you been to a baseball game lately? I went to a ball game in succession the South Side a hardly any days ago and I'm convinced -- sorry to say -- that the game has become a by-product of the promotions surrounding it. (I went to an adman's convention and a baseball game broke out)

A faint fac-simile of the Milwaukee sausage race took place in succession the scoreboard. Instead of sausages they used pizza slices brought to us by the agency of a well-known pizzeria -- an ad client, no doubt. Ads all above the place. Team employees move swiftly around the perimeter of the field tossing T-shirts to the multitude between innings. If you wanted to have a discussion with a seatmate about the game, you be in want ofed to wait for the not deafening yet overly loud music to subside.

There were various make the object of competition [i]or[/i] rivalry [i]or[/i] emulations to the side of abode plate between innings and shown onward the giant TV in centerfield. A young equal even proposed to his girlfriend (shown upon the TV in centerfield, and that was true nice. She tearfully accepted, and everyone could view if they were looking at the centerfield disguise they were very, very happy).

All this, in and of itself, isn't bad. on the other hand the team marketers must think the fans ne to be kept awake during the inaction forward the field.

Not for a like reason

It was a to a high degree good game, and a little bit of extra amusement is fine. I think, however that all the attempts at entertainment took away from the game. I don't think these distractions from the game belong.

Bring back the day when the loudest noise came from the excitement of the fans and not the ballparks' loudspeakers. Bring back the fundamentals. Bring back the heated dogs, Coke, peanuts and beer, and give leave to us fans enjoy the well adapted ol' basic America's Game: baseball!

Timothy D O'Reilly,

Near North Side

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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