SECTION 331

8 Responses to Justin Thomas’ PSA

1. amariselv November 22, 2008 at 8:07 pm

   It makes me happy to see baseball still being a huge deal in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic because here, people have completely lost their interest in it. The winter league had to cancel its season last year, and the way things are going this season might be the last of professional baseball in PR. Sad ending to what was considered to be the national sport when I was growing up.

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2. section331 November 22, 2008 at 8:16 pm

   Are you in Puerto Rico?! I don’t think I ever asked!

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3. amariselv November 22, 2008 at 8:28 pm

   Yes, I am! I thought I had mentioned it before, sorry.

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4. section331 November 22, 2008 at 8:32 pm

   You hadn’t, and I didn’t think to ask. For some weird reason, I thought you lived in Minnesota! LOL You had made a comment about your English not being great, but I would never have known.

   I understand that a lot of the Latin American countries have a lot more fun with the game than we do in the US – cheerleaders, musical instruments…what is the state of ball in PR now?

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5. amariselv November 22, 2008 at 8:55 pm

   Oops! I thought I had mentioned it in your other blog. And Minnesota? *laughs* I do remember mentioning that my sister lives in Wisconsin and that I am a Brewers fan … Perhaps that is where the confusion stems from.

   Yep, they have cheerleaders dancing on top of the dugouts, merengue and salsa blaring from the speakers, or being played live! from the stands. But nothing like that here anymore. The state of pro baseball in PR: moribund (Amateur baseball still draws, but not as well as it used to, either).

   It truly is sad. At almost every park you see maybe a couple hundred people in the stands — and that is on a good night. They still broadcast games on the radio, but I don’t think they still do TV (I’ll have to check). Coverage in the papers is about a quarter of what it used to be. And we get hardly any recognizable names to come and play down here. That is what most think is the reason for the decline. People don’t get to see their own stars, or at least players that can actually make an impact in the big leagues later on, so they lose their interest. I don’t know. That wouldn’t stop me from wanting to go to a game, but it is the prevalent feeling here, I guess (That and the ascent of other sports that are relatively new to us, like soccer, which are attracting the fans and the $ that used to go to baseball games).

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6. section331 November 22, 2008 at 9:04 pm

   Y’know, I bet it was the Wisconsin thing.
   That is kind of sad, but it sounds a lot like the minor league games here – it’s only $6 (compared to the $12 that the super-cheap seats in SafeCo are) and even though it’s only 30 miles from Seattle and right IN Tacoma, people don’t seem to go. Maybe 200 people or so – and the guys playing are (for the most part) future Mariners! Also, they usually have one player out for autographs and such, just sitting there on a chair, out in the open; that’s how I wound up with Tuiasosopo’s autograph, it’s crazy. I would think that the smallness would be enough to attract people, but it is never crowded, and always easy to get a ticket for the games. I don’t know the history of ball in PR, but it surprises me that attendance is so low.
   Soccer is not huge here at all, obviously, which I don’t understand. It’s easier to play than baseball certainly, and not as hard on the body as US football or hockey (or as expensive, gear-wise). I used to play when I was little, but after I outgrew the league, there was no place else to go. I can’t play now – too out of shape, really, and it’s not really widespread. Little league soccer teams have been playing in the field across the street from my house, though, I see little kids in shin guards walking down the sidewalk all the time on weekends.

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7. amariselv November 22, 2008 at 9:19 pm

   Soccer has been played here for some time, but it was mostly by expatriates from Argentina or Spain, or other countries were the sport has always been huge. It became popular among Puerto Ricans fairly recently, and we even have a professional team whose games are well attended (I don’t know in what league, though, as I don’t follow the sport unless it is World Cup time). You see a lot more kids playing it now than when I was young, though I think there are still more that play Little League baseball. But it is definitely growing, though I don’t think it will ever reach the popularity of baseball in it’s golden age …

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8. section331 November 22, 2008 at 9:31 pm

   Huh, who’d'a thunk? I just figure that soccer is HUGE everywhere else but here. haha! The US seems to be the freak in the sporting world; and US football is normally so annoying to me, just in general – baseball is supposed to be “America’s favorite pasttime”, but NOTHING garners more attention than football here, it’s kinda sad. You can barely even get tickets to college football games, because people snatch them up as soon as they go on sale. I do pretty much all my football-watching in pubs, and with friends, so it’s a bit more bearable for me – but it seems weird, after an entire summer of baseball, to be without sports, at least a little, seems weird and empty to me. haha!
   Thanks for the info!

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