One of the annual events with the Furman Summer Research group is a trek to Fluor Field at the Westend for a Greenville Drive baseball game. Thursday night we made the trek to see a game between them and Lake County Captains from Eastlake, Ohio.
The game went back and forth, with the score staying close most of the time. We saw one home run. We actually didn’t stay for the entire game. Good thing – it apparently went on for ten innings.
There was plenty of entertainment between innings. A big green mutant amphibian named Reedy Rippit comes out to get the attendees riled up and to set up races and games for chosen audience members. I had to wonder what it would be like to have to wear a velour frog suit on a hot summer evening.
As we were watching, it amazed me at how many people were paying absolutely no attention to the game. Even among the Furman group, it was clear that they were there primarily to socialize. There is a large party area at the end of the field where we were. It and the concourse area were filled with people more interested in drinking and chatting than watching a game. Granted, there are long gaps between action at baseball, but this seemed like more inattention than I remember at other games I’ve attended. I guess that’s what comes from being in the cheap seats.
The game was fun, and Fluor Field is a beautiful place, but I really miss the Greenville Braves. Even though the stadium wasn’t as nice, we could always get decent seats, and the level of play seemed to be much, much better. Maybe I just haven’t gone to enough Drive games.
For some reason I could get my head around the Braves. We knew that some of the players here would wind up down the road at the parent team in Atlanta. That was close enough for us to really buy into the Braves being a “home” team. The Drive strike me more as a commercial contrivance. Their parent team are the Red Socks, and it’s harder for me to make that connection between Greenville and Boston than Greenville and Atlanta.
Oh well. The Drive are (and it feels weird saying “Drive are” rather than “Drive is”) our home team now, and we will support them, and maybe try to come out for a few more games. That is, unless they ever threaten to up and move to Pearl, Mississippi if they ever feel their stadium isn’t adequate enough.
[tags]Greenville Drive, baseball[/tags]
I made the trip to Greenville last year to see a game. Being a Red Sox fan I wanted to see how the interpreted the Fenway Park dimensions and the Green Monster. We only stayed a couple innings, the rain drove us away. We returned this year and met my visiting sister and her husband. Stayed about 8 innings this time, but mostly due to the company.
I think you hit the nail on the head with the commercial contrivance comment. Its not about the game anymore, it is about filling the seats, selling concessions and getting the rubes to buy souvenir jerseys at $100 a pop.
I know I’ll come off as a curmudgeon, but I remember our first Asheville Tourists game in the early 90’s. We decided to spring for the $5 box seat and found ourselves separated from home plate by a low cinder block wall and a mesh screen. Our seats were folding metal chairs painted red, the team color. And the only interruption between innings was the seventh inning stretch.
This reminds me, I need to post my photos from my trips to Fluor Field to Flickr!