Dunlap: About Monday's Attendance … There's No Story
Really?
Some people want to crow about the attendance on Monday night at PNC Park?
Really?
Some people are bellyaching about the lack of fan support for the Pirates in the first game of a three-game set against the Cardinals that drew "only" 30,198 fans?
Really?
Some people have the damn nerve to question the loyalty, faithfulness and devotion of this fan base to this club?
Yo --- get over yourselves. Seriously.
Or, better yet, if you're one of those sports scribes who feel the need to question just how great of a sports city Pittsburgh is because there were some no-shows on a Monday night after school is back in session, do this: Walk a mile in the shoes of the regular fan once in awhile.
I do it all the time; you should try it.
That is to say, shell out the money for some tickets, find a place to park and then pay for it, plop down the cash for souvenirs and concessions and slog through the crowd to your seats --- and do it all on your own dime --- and then get back to me.
It's real simple and easy to throw darts from a high and mighty (and yes, free of admission) perch in the press box, yet much harder to have a long think and start to realize that the true measure of a fan base cannot, and never will be, quantified in the number of butts in the seats.
Aside from the Pirates already topping 2.5 million in attendance on the season, the television ratings are up nearly 14 percent --- that has to count for something, right? I mean, if we are going to start quantifying things, those hard numbers should probably be pointed out.
But back to Monday …
Perhaps it never jumped into the minds of the people criticizing the crowd that the playoffs are approaching and that people --- generally no matter how wealthy or poor --- have a finite amount of expendable income.
Some could be saving that money to go to an upcoming playoff game.
Some might be going to a game later in the Cardinals series.
Some might have blown all the cash they have allotted to tickets already this season.
Some might never have a chance to go because feeding their family and buying their kids new shoes comes first.
That's the reality of capitalism.
I don't begrudge people, never will begrudge or measure the depth of fandom of people by their (in)ability to get to the North Shore for a game.
Some of the most loyal and stern Pirates fans I know merely don't have the cash to take their family to a game or, if they did so, it would set them back in another area that they couldn't afford --- that doesn't mean they don't love the Pirates as much (or more) than the guy from Fox Chapel sitting in Section 112.
Simply, some of the most ardent Pirates fans can't make it for a variety of reasons.
On top of that, some people who could go don't want to. Know why? Television coverage in this day has made it so much easier to stay at home.
You can get the ballpark experience at the ballpark, but you can't get your own bathroom, a zillion different camera angles and super-slow-mo (with HDTV and replay after replay and that fancy little K-box showing you if the pitch was a strike or not).
I can get that on my recliner without having to deal with Joe Down The Row standing up and asking me to step aside because he has to use the restroom every two innings.
That said, television ---- and the quality with which the product is thrust into our living rooms --- has made it ultra-enjoyable to plunk down at home and watch games.
It doesn't make those people who live and die with every Andrew McCutchen swing any less of a Pirates fan because they elect to do it standing in their family room screaming at a TV than those who stand in PNC Park in Section 206.
It just doesn't. No matter what you want to say about some no-shows last night. There is also this from Ben Livingston, the producer for The Fan Morning Show who often times does exhaustive research for the show: "[The 30,198 on Monday] is the 1,762nd time since 1996 that a playoff-bound team has had a crowd that small in the last 30 days of the season."
So, I mean, there's that? We should be paying attention to that if we're going to harp and yammer and chatter and blab about some perceived attendance issue, right?
Isn't it fair to point out that what happened on Monday at PNC Park --- with more than 30,000 showing up --- really isn't all that uncommon of an occurrence, even for a team headed for the postseason?
I think it is.
But I guess that's all just a matter of perception.
As is this: The Pirates don't have any attendance, visibility or popularity problems right now.
Instead, what I see with my very own eyes (as a lifelong Pittsburgher) is that they have our region and a rabid fanbase captivated, again, by this late-season run.
The true measure of that fanbase, or the intensity of fandom for the Pirates never has been --- or will be --- measured solely by how many people show up to a specific game.
That's all just a lazy narrative.
Colin Dunlap is a featured columnist at CBSPittsburgh.com. He can also be heard weekdays from 5:40 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sports Radio 93-7 "The Fan." You can e-mail him at colin.dunlap@cbsradio.com. Check out his bio here.
