Phil Castellini surprised that Opening Day tickets still unsold

Dad must have taken the car away

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Originally Posted by NebraskaRed

lol

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We have all made bone headed comments before, and I really have no interest in hating Phil Castellini. The thing I don't get is Phil made his statement roughly what 7 hours ago? Then he goes on TV and tries to justify his statement when asked about it. Now hours later after the PR team can get a handle on things he makes an apology. There is a lack of humility in this whole situation which makes this apology feel pretty worthless.

Bobby Nightengale
@nightengalejr

Statement from Reds president Phil Castellini: “I apologize to Reds fans and regret the comments that I made earlier today. We love this city, we love this team, and we love our fans. I understand how our fans feel and I am sorry.”

A totally PR scrubbed, insincere apology. Go Screw yourself, you spoiled ******bag

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Originally Posted by Wayne Krivsky

We have all made bone headed comments before, and I really have no interest in hating Phil Castellini. The thing I don't get is Phil made his statement roughly what 7 hours ago? Then he goes on TV and tries to justify his statement when asked about it. Now hours later after the PR team can get a handle on things he makes an apology. There is a lack of humility in this whole situation which makes this apology feel pretty worthless.

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Yeah, it's an apology for saying something, not an apology for believing what he clearly believes. This won't change his attitude towards the fanbase or the city of Cincinnati.

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Originally Posted by NebraskaRed

Yeah, it's an apology for saying something, not an apology for believing what he clearly believes. This won't change his attitude towards the fanbase or the city of Cincinnati.

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You can’t swing your phallus and act Jerry Jones in Dallas if your approach is callous

What is it with Phil’s and boneheaded remarks that alienates fans and ruins the brand?

First Mickelson, now Castellini.

Man, as someone who usually believe PR is a bunch of crap. The Reds really need to spend some money on some real PR.

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Originally Posted by Griffey012

Man, as someone who usually believe PR is a bunch of crap. The Reds really need to spend some money on some real PR.

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The Reds have one of the best PR teams in the industry, but it doesn't matter if the owners don't listen to them. Lisa Braun is great at her job.

I’m not happy at all with the Castellinis and want them to sell the team to a good ownership group that will keep the team in Cincy.

Phil gets an F for his PR skills today. Shouldn’t have said it.

Yet…I do think what he did is true and needs to be recognized. Do be careful what you ask for. I’d love it if we got a competitive tech bro as owner. But I’m not naive enough to think they wouldn’t have their eye on moving the team to somewhere bigger and trendier.

More than anything I think the Castellinis are clueless when it comes to running a baseball team and it’s time to hand the club off to someone who can steward it better.

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Originally Posted by Griffey012

Man, as someone who usually believe PR is a bunch of crap. The Reds really need to spend some money on some real PR.

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Bring me Linda Antus.

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Originally Posted by Griffey012

Man, as someone who usually believe PR is a bunch of crap. The Reds really need to spend some money on some real PR.

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It's one of those things you notice when someone doesn't have it.

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Originally Posted by MoneyInTheBank

Dad must have taken the car away

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"Who's gonna drive you home, tonight?"

*probably not pham*

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Originally Posted by LeatherPants

The Reds have one of the best PR teams in the industry, but it doesn't matter if the owners don't listen to them. Lisa Braun is great at her job.

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That’s fair. I don’t mean that as a slight at anyone working in PR for the Reds because obviously it’s the owners just saying what they want to say. But that front office needs a competent press secretary or something. At least try and sell a vision behind the moves they made. As someone who has been coming around on the net moves made during the off-season, this one put me back to believing it is all just dysfunctional.

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Originally Posted by Wayne Krivsky

We have all made bone headed comments before, and I really have no interest in hating Phil Castellini. The thing I don't get is Phil made his statement roughly what 7 hours ago? Then he goes on TV and tries to justify his statement when asked about it. Now hours later after the PR team can get a handle on things he makes an apology. There is a lack of humility in this whole situation which makes this apology feel pretty worthless.

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Oh it's definitely a fake apology. What he said is how he really feels.

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Originally Posted by westofyou

You can’t swing your phallus and act Jerry Jones in Dallas if your approach is callous

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Epic. One of the best lines I've ever read on Redszone. Maybe the best. Well done!

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Originally Posted by REDREAD

Oh it's definitely a fake apology. What he said is how he really feels.

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I'll give them some credit for the minimalist apology. They didn't make it worse by trying to fix it. Some things you can't unsay.

Their best PR move might be ordering Bell to pitch Hunter Strickland a lot to shift the anger to someone else.

It's still early so I'll have to reevaluate later, but it feels like Phil's "apology" is worse than Thom's. Thom was on live television and was facing the end of his career. Phil doubled down before using a quarter-hearted soiled toilet paper of a response. And I'm saying this as someone who despises Thom.

Also, Phil just reeks of being a mega dueche. Masked profanity but so be it

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Originally Posted by MoneyInTheBank

Dad must have taken the car away

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It looks like Phil is in line to take over after Dad takes his last breath. That future doesn't look appealing as a Reds fan

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Originally Posted by Griffey012

Man, as someone who usually believe PR is a bunch of crap. The Reds really need to spend some money on some real PR.

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I really don't care about the PR. I want wins. Marge said a lot of cringeworthy stuff but she put a lot of talent on the field so I didn't care

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Originally Posted by Sea Ray

It looks like Phil is in line to take over after Dad takes his last breath. That future doesn't look appealing as a Reds fan

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Idk, it’s either he’s going to do the exact same thing dad did, or he’s going to sell the team and run away to whoever replaced Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

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Originally Posted by kaldaniels

I’m not happy at all with the Castellinis and want them to sell the team to a good ownership group that will keep the team in Cincy.

Phil gets an F for his PR skills today. Shouldn’t have said it.

Yet…I do think what he did is true and needs to be recognized. Do be careful what you ask for. I’d love it if we got a competitive tech bro as owner. But I’m not naive enough to think they wouldn’t have their eye on moving the team to somewhere bigger and trendier.

More than anything I think the Castellinis are clueless when it comes to running a baseball team and it’s time to hand the club off to someone who can steward it better.

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It is very difficult to move a baseball team. MLB would never allow baseball to leave Cincinnati. It's not the NFL. MLB with their antitrust exemption can keep teams from moving. That's why Phil's threat was stupid and insulted our intelligence

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Originally Posted by REDREAD

Oh it's definitely a fake apology. What he said is how he really feels.

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I believe it's a peek behind the curtain on a couple things:
1) how the entire ownership feels, in general
2) that this org is dumb enough to put a guy like him out there in front of a mic

Phil knew he screwed up because he made what appeared to be a surprise appearance on WLW with Bill Cunningham at about 2:30pm today. It was obvious that the sole purpose was to walk back the comments he made earlier. Apparently the PR team felt that wasn't enough and wanted him to repeat "his apology" with Bobby Nightengale

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Originally Posted by Sea Ray

It is very difficult to move a baseball team. MLB would never allow baseball to leave Cincinnati. It's not the NFL. MLB with their antitrust exemption can keep teams from moving. That's why Phil's threat was stupid and insulted our intelligence

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I couldn't agree more, and maybe it's because I see through Reds glasses, but this organization is deeply rooted in baseball history and it would be incredibly tough to get the support to put them in another city. Inept ownership that appears to only be interested in raking in profits, is not a good enough reason.

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Originally Posted by RedsBrick

I couldn't agree more, and maybe it's because I see through Reds glasses, but this organization is deeply rooted in baseball history and it would be incredibly tough to get the support to put them in another city. Inept ownership that appears to only be interested in raking in profits, is not a good enough reason.

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You get it. I wish someone interviewing him got it too. He should have had these facts of life read to him by Willie or someone in the media

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Originally Posted by Sea Ray

It is very difficult to move a baseball team. MLB would never allow baseball to leave Cincinnati. It's not the NFL. MLB with their antitrust exemption can keep teams from moving. That's why Phil's threat was stupid and insulted our intelligence

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Back in the 90’s I felt that way about the Browns and while they moved the league made the effort to bring them back. I think it’s a different world now.

With dollars on the line and Manfred at the helm, I do think Cincy could lose the team if the right offer was made.

I understand the disagreement to my point, but I could see it happening.

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Originally Posted by Sea Ray

I really don't care about the PR. I want wins. Marge said a lot of cringeworthy stuff but she put a lot of talent on the field so I didn't care

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We all do. Marge said a lot of stuff that was a different type of cringeworthy though. My point is, the Reds pretty much went for the how not to spin off-season moves 101 course. If they said we are planning to spend upwards of $20m after getting rid of Miley, Gray, Winker, and Suarez then they may have had some (probably not much to the average fan) leeway. Instead they just said they are aligning payroll with resources, cried poor, etc. It was only after the huge fan reaction they spent money, planned or not I don’t really know. In aggregate, I think the moves set the franchise up to be in a better place long term than they were. But my confidence that the ownership group has any plan is a toss up at best, it seems like they are running a dying company with no idea how to turn it around.

And as much as I have railed on Bob. There are many worse owners in the MLB, which makes it all the more frustrating. It seems like we should have a consistent competitor by now, and we don’t.

The Castellini family feels entitled to the adoration of Cincinnati.

Watching them lash out at the slightest bit of criticism has been an ugly kind of revealing.

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Originally Posted by kaldaniels

Back in the 90’s I felt that way about the Browns and while they moved the league made the effort to bring them back. I think it’s a different world now.

With dollars on the line and Manfred at the helm, I do think Cincy could lose the team if the right offer was made.

I understand the disagreement to my point, but I could see it happening.

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Baseball wants to expand, not move teams, they want those billions from expansion fees, not lawsuits from abandoned cities, also there are about 6 teams in front of the Reds who would move first, starting with the A's and Rays who have been threatening to move for decades and are still in the same place.

1 team move in 50 years, it's an empty threat.

Without going in a direction that will get this thread moved to P&R, I’ll just say….

What Phil Castellini said, the hubris that inspired it or the utter disdain with which it was delivered is not unique. This is how people in many positions of power feel about their customers and/or subordinates.

It’s just that most of them aren’t dumb enough to come right out and say it or, even worse, double down on it.

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Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

The Castellini family feels entitled to the adoration of Cincinnati.

Watching them lash out at the slightest bit of criticism has been an ugly kind of revealing.

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Ever been to the Camargo CC Fireworks Display?

Same thing, for decades

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Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

The Castellini family feels entitled to the adoration of Cincinnati.

Watching them lash out at the slightest bit of criticism has been an ugly kind of revealing.

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What's baffling is the notion anyone would adore them when the team has won nothing during their ownership. Now that is entitlement.

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Originally Posted by M2

What's baffling is the notion anyone would adore them when the team has won nothing during their ownership. Now that is entitlement.

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They’ve won exactly as many playoff series as during Carl Lindner’s tenure and had more than twice the time to do it in.


I think we all need to let that sink in.

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Originally Posted by M2

What's baffling is the notion anyone would adore them when the team has won nothing during their ownership. Now that is entitlement.

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Regional gentry have a firm grip on many people, accolades will always be abounding.

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Originally Posted by The Operator

They’ve won exactly as many playoff series as during Carl Lindner’s tenure and had more than twice the time to do it in.


I think we all need to let that sink in.

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Exactly. The franchise is an embarrassment. The BRM was 50 years ago.

I’m not saying relocation is all that likely, but the protective dome that once understandably would ensure that the Reds always stay in Cincinnati is now gone.

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Originally Posted by M2

What's baffling is the notion anyone would adore them when the team has won nothing during their ownership. Now that is entitlement.

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The Reds marketing for my entire adult lifetime has basically been "Remember how cool the Big Red Machine was?"

They're now shocked the under-50 crowd is demanding something different.

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Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor

The Reds marketing for my entire adult lifetime has basically been "Remember how cool the Big Red Machine was?"

They're now shocked the under-50 crowd is demanding something different.

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That reminds me - what home weekend will they be honoring the ‘90 team this year?

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Originally Posted by westofyou

Ever been to the Camargo CC Fireworks Display?

Same thing, for decades

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No, I wasn't invited. But, I did work at the club for 2 years in the late 90's. Phenomenal golf course, but I would never associate with any of the members (although it was cool to get the Moon Man's clubs....Neil Armstrong). It's a different part of society and an entitlement that most, if not all, of us are not able to relate to (not intellectually, but realistically). "Why aren't these fireworks brighter, longer-lasting, louder, etc.". A spoiled-rotten class of society.

We’re closing in on the same amount of time wandering through the desert as was told in Exodus.

None of the Castellinis give off much of a Moses vibe.