Let's do the Time Warp Again!

[creek14]

Yeah TR, everything you say MIGHT be true. And then again, it might not. And the cups aren't the problem. They are just one more nail in the coffin of a once proud baseball club. Now the Reds are nothing more than an afterthought or joke on the nightly baseball recap shows. Not even worthy of having the first game of the season.

Anything to save a buck... or a penny on a new model beverage cup.

[westofyou]

Not even worthy of having the first game of the season.

The Reds start of the season was always somewhat arbitrary thing, never dictated by any rules handed down by baseball and often starting minutes before some other game. The reassigning of the OD festivities to other countries or fat network time slots has more to do with marketing the game as a whole than it does in the degradation of the Reds franchise, the same reason why the Steelers an orginal NFL team moved to the AFC and why the Blackhawks and Red Wings only play the other original six teams once or twice a year in the NHL.

[15fan]

No, no Chip, you've got it all wrong. It's was an Opening Day Classic Swag promotion. This way you can recall that refreshing sip of watered-down cola you took when the Atlanta Braves turned Jeff Austin into a pinata.

As someone who was in Turner Field for Mr. Austin's final start as a Red in '03, I beg you to never speak of that moment again...

[REDREAD]

Besides, since I know some of you are involved in business, perhaps they had new cups planned but the supplier didn't deliver. Maybe it was a mixup with Sportservice. In "

That's stretching it a bit.

They had basically 6 months to get new cups in.

The fact that they saved the old cups basically proves that they intended to recycle them at some point.

If it was a supplier snafu, I'd expect them to have blank cups.

[Puffy]

You know, Opening Day sold out in 16 minutes, even though the Reds front office only added one player to a team that lost 93 games last year. It sold out in 16 minutes even though a lot of ill will was created by the trading of high profile players for prospects last year. The Reds have been lambasted by baseball people for the better part of 8 months. Friends of mine make fun of the Reds because of the purge, because they have not even tried to improve themselves in the offseason. Yet, opening day sold out in 16 minutes.

And the Reds can't even make opening day memorable for the fans in attendance by going all out and getting new cups? Come on - the Reds are going to have trouble drawing fans all year, so don't you think they would go all out to try and make opening day all that and thensome to get people to the park even if the on the field product is less than stellar?

In the big picture, this is a minor thing. But for a team that is in the Reds position the little things are all that are going to be bringing fans to the ballpark in August. There is no excuse for recycling cups on opening day, they should have had a cup that celebrates this opening day, that makes people appreciate that opening day is a special day. Whatever - usually when the Reds lose I get pissed, I'm alot like Edskin, but this year, yesterday, it was like whatever. And its the first time I have ever felt like that this early. I just wish I had a souveneir cup to make me feel better....

[Chip R]

In the big picture, this is a minor thing. But for a team that is in the Reds position the little things are all that are going to be bringing fans to the ballpark in August. There is no excuse for recycling cups on opening day, they should have had a cup that celebrates this opening day, that makes people appreciate that opening day is a special day. Whatever - usually when the Reds lose I get pissed, I'm alot like Edskin, but this year, yesterday, it was like whatever. And its the first time I have ever felt like that this early. I just wish I had a souveneir cup to make me feel better....

Agreed. It's a little thing. But since the Reds can't/won't do the big things, they should be able to do the small things. I don't think even minor league teams use the same cups from the year before - and correct me if I'm wrong if this does happen at minor league parks. And maybe they didn't take all the used cups from last year, wash them out and reuse them. Perhaps they just had a lot of extra cups to get rid of since they anticipated more people then what they actually drew. But one time I went with my dad to the Wrold Series in San Diego in 1984 and we got there really early. I befriended a beer vendor who was about my age and he told me if I went around and picked up a lot of empty beer cups - and these were regular cups, not souvenier cups - he'd get me a free beer. I did as I was told and I got my free beer. I don't know if they reused those cups but I wouldn't put it past them. And I wouldn't put it past the Reds. :thumbdn:

[KittyDuran]

Well, I'm going tomorrow night and if I get last year's cup I'll go to the customer desk and ask for an explanation. BTW, the Dayton Dragons have a different cup every year (mostly with the year/schedule on it). I'll let you know. I also will email the FO today...

[KittyDuran]

OK - I sent an email (at the Reds website) to marketing... Here it is:

I'm sending this email on behalf of some fans who attended yesterday's Opening Day.

It seems that the beverage cups that were used were from the first season at GAB (last year's cups). Was there a reason for this and will there be new beverage cups - including some celebrating Joe's and Barry retirements?

If there was a logistic problem - that's fine - but something like this (even if it is a small detail) does cement the overall feeling among many fans of the team cutting corners.

Thank you!

[traderumor]

But for a team that is in the Reds position the little things are all that are going to be bringing fans to the ballpark in August.

Traderumor to wife: C'mon, honey. Don't you just wanna go to one more game? I hear that cup number four of the collector cup series is out.

Sorry, I just don't have that fancentric of a view. I would rather have the price of my drink reduced by $2 and get a plain plastic cup, or a generic Pepsi cup. However, to show you I am not totally FOcentric, it is pitiful to charge what they do for those drinks and use the First in First out inventory method for whatever the reason yesterday. It does look bad, which is why I think Chip's point deserves an explanation. However, I would imagine that emailing JA would get one of those "can you believe what our fans are asking me about?" reaction. This is a little lower level than the FO--this is some departments issue.

BTW, my examples were only that, not making excuses for anyone, just wishing folks would find out what the deal was before jumping to conclusions like cheapness, sort of like the thread that says "Griffey isn't pinch hitting, is that because he's traded?".

Edit. I wrote the above before's Kitty's post. Nice job, Kitty, that is very to the point and not in their face

[TeamCasey]

Sounds to me like being invited to dinner and complaining about the filet mignon because the hostess served it on her everyday plates instead of the fine china.

I don't really care about the cups thing. I just wanted to pick apart your analogy in a friendly, loving way.

The Reds aren't having people come down as guests. They are selling them that filet mignon ...... er ...... ground chuck, and expecting them to come back and buy it again. The dinner is on a fancy plate (GAB) that the "guests" already purchased. Now they want to serve you ground chuck on a fancy plate with a plastic spoon and fork.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. :MandJ:

[traderumor]

TC,

The filet represented a ticket to OD. That should make the analogy work a little bit better for ya. Chip received what he paid for there, a good ballgame in the best OD environment in the world. I've been to an opening day myself and can remember the win over the White Rat's Cardinals but can't even remember if I bought a drink, much less whether the cup was left over from last year or not.

[TeamCasey]

TC,

The filet represented a ticket to OD. That should make the analogy work a little bit better for ya.

I understand that. My point was that you aren't being invited for the filet/ticket. They are selling it to you, in hopes that you'll visit the restaurant again.

(BCubb ought to find some material on this one. )

[2001MUgrad]

What's next?

Are they going to pull out uniforms from 1995 in order to save money since they probably have a couple stashed somewhere that are already paid for?

[Chip R]

What's next?

Are they going to pull out uniforms from 1995 in order to save money since they probably have a couple stashed somewhere that are already paid for?

Actually, I wouldn't mind that at all since I thought those were really nice unis.

traderumor, I wouldn't care either if they put my pop in a styrafoam cup. I wouldn't care if it was from a bottle or a can. The pop I got wasn't even in one of those cups. I got the regular one. I just happened to see one of the cups in the cupholder next to me. I thought I'd take a look at it and see what they are doing different this year. Seeing the cup from last year left me flat. Then I questioned why they did that and the first thing that came to mind was that threy had so many extra cups from last season they were trying to foist them off on us this season. It might not be so bad except that the cups had "Inaugural Season Great American Ball Park" on them and this isn't the inaugural season any more. I couldn't care if they had the cups or not but if they are going to have them, and if people didn't want them they wouldn't make them, at least put out some new ones. Perhaps it wasn't because they were trying to save a buck or two but it sure looks that way.

[KittyDuran]

Got a reply - but not an answer...

Sir/Maam,

Your comments have been forwarded to the head of Sportservice, which is the company in charge of our food service at the ballpark. I hope that they respond to you promptly, but let me know if they do not after a week. At this time, I am completely unaware of this situation, so I can't really make a comment on it. Thanks,

Zach Bonkowski
Marketing Operations & Events Coordinator
CINCINNATI REDS
Great American Ball Park
100 Main Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202-4109
zbonkowski@cincyreds.com <mailto:zbonkowski@cincyreds.com>
http://www.cincinnatireds.com/ <http://www.cincinnatireds.com/>