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Thursday, July 17, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
From Fenway fantasy to Jagsonville reality
Florida Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette provides weekly content for jacksonville.com This is his entry for Friday July 11.
You'd think I'd be able to take a two-day vacation to Fenway Park in Boston with my son for his 16th birthday without the Jaguars dominating the "breaking news" bulletins before boarding the plane on my return flight.
I know the team is disappointed on how season-ticket sales are going, but having a first-round draft pick arrested for cocaine possession, plus a newspaper report about a new owner possibly buying the team and moving it to Los Angeles, isn't exactly a way to get customers to rush to the ticket window.
Nothing the Jaguars can do now about receiver Matt Jones' stupidity other than cut their losses and move on. If they don't release him before training camp, it's simply going to create a distraction that the team doesn't need when they're in position to seriously challenge the Indianapolis Colts for AFC South supremacy.
As for the Philadelphia Daily News report that New Jersey billionaire C. Dean Metropoulos is negotiating with Weaver to purchase the team, we only have Weaver's denials against the newspaper's view that they stand by their story. My take is Weaver will sell this team sometime in the next 3-6 years and try to make sure the next owner keeps the team in Jacksonville, but he can make no guarantee with 100 percent certainty that it will happen.
When I returned to Jacksonville Thursday afternoon, which was supposed to be a vacation day, the feel-good experience of taking my son to see his beloved Red Sox (I grew up a New York Yankees fan) had to be temporarily put aside to focus on writing about the Jaguar developments.
It's two weeks before training camp. Couldn't we have at least gotten a break from Jaguar talk until it becomes almost 24/7 teal-and-black discussion? Guess not.
Anyway, be sure to check out my Sunday column in the Times-Union about the father-son memory of going to Fenway Park together for the first time. If you like home runs and Neil Diamond, it'll be right in your wheelhouse.
You'd think I'd be able to take a two-day vacation to Fenway Park in Boston with my son for his 16th birthday without the Jaguars dominating the "breaking news" bulletins before boarding the plane on my return flight.
I know the team is disappointed on how season-ticket sales are going, but having a first-round draft pick arrested for cocaine possession, plus a newspaper report about a new owner possibly buying the team and moving it to Los Angeles, isn't exactly a way to get customers to rush to the ticket window.
Nothing the Jaguars can do now about receiver Matt Jones' stupidity other than cut their losses and move on. If they don't release him before training camp, it's simply going to create a distraction that the team doesn't need when they're in position to seriously challenge the Indianapolis Colts for AFC South supremacy.
As for the Philadelphia Daily News report that New Jersey billionaire C. Dean Metropoulos is negotiating with Weaver to purchase the team, we only have Weaver's denials against the newspaper's view that they stand by their story. My take is Weaver will sell this team sometime in the next 3-6 years and try to make sure the next owner keeps the team in Jacksonville, but he can make no guarantee with 100 percent certainty that it will happen.
When I returned to Jacksonville Thursday afternoon, which was supposed to be a vacation day, the feel-good experience of taking my son to see his beloved Red Sox (I grew up a New York Yankees fan) had to be temporarily put aside to focus on writing about the Jaguar developments.
It's two weeks before training camp. Couldn't we have at least gotten a break from Jaguar talk until it becomes almost 24/7 teal-and-black discussion? Guess not.
Anyway, be sure to check out my Sunday column in the Times-Union about the father-son memory of going to Fenway Park together for the first time. If you like home runs and Neil Diamond, it'll be right in your wheelhouse.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
An empty feeling at Coke Zero 400
Florida Times-Union sports columnnist Gene Frenette provides weekly content for jacksonville.com This is his entry from Saturday July 5 at the Coke Zero 400.
From the tower press box at Daytona International Speedway, you can get a bird's-eye view of how the sagging economy is impacting NASCAR.
At the start of Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, the back-stretch grandstand that holds approximately 60,000 people is easily two-thirds to three-quarters empty. And there's significant stretches of green grass on the infield which, under normal circumstances, would be filled with motor homes.
The main grandstand with a maximum capacity of around 100,000 looks pretty full, but the significant dropoff in turnout was pretty much expected from pre-race estimates that were privately offered by NASCAR officials.
NASCAR fans are among the most loyal in all of sports. But when the economic climate is as bleak as it is now, it proves that an organization as solvent as NASCAR cannot escape the effects of people's pocketbooks not being as flush as usual.
From the tower press box at Daytona International Speedway, you can get a bird's-eye view of how the sagging economy is impacting NASCAR.
At the start of Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, the back-stretch grandstand that holds approximately 60,000 people is easily two-thirds to three-quarters empty. And there's significant stretches of green grass on the infield which, under normal circumstances, would be filled with motor homes.
The main grandstand with a maximum capacity of around 100,000 looks pretty full, but the significant dropoff in turnout was pretty much expected from pre-race estimates that were privately offered by NASCAR officials.
NASCAR fans are among the most loyal in all of sports. But when the economic climate is as bleak as it is now, it proves that an organization as solvent as NASCAR cannot escape the effects of people's pocketbooks not being as flush as usual.
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