Obversations From an Old Reds Fan

[WVRedsFan]

Since 1961 when my father turned me on not the Reds, I have been a fan. There have been fantastic years and really bad years. nThrough it all, I live and die with this team. Lotsnof bad memories when welcome close (1964 and many others come mot mind), but I always look forward tenth season. All I ever ask is for the team to be entertaining and competitive, Lots of teams have not. The majesty of the 1070, 75, and 76, always seem the goal (left out 1961 because it was the impossible dream. This team has fulfilled this. I predicted a 86-76 season as the goal, and I hope this happens. I won't be upset if the Reds get the second win card and blow it. I just won't. I've given up that the powerhouse I wanted to be is a long shot. The 2021 Version is fun. That's fine, but being how ownership refuses to spend to make that show. I've lived long time and I may never see another pennant or World Series for the Reds, but time is running out and I see no hope on the horizon. I'm still a fan.and hope for the best, but watching the Padres in hopes they fail or dreaming of a second wildcard to disappoint us more, I just want to see this fun bunch play. Sorry, but this is the way its is.

[GAC]

For organizations like the Reds, and many similar others, winning a WS (anymore) is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. The whole entirety of the game has changed so much, which is why I cherish the 60s/70s the most.

[Kc61]

I’ve been a Reds fan for sixty years. The big difference today ia that the roster is driven so heavily by finances. (For a number of reasons.)

The most important number to know isn’t OPS or FIP or defensive metrics. It’s the budget. Reds do care about the team on the field, but it’s different from the days when being a top team was the driving force.

The Reds went into this year without a starting shortstop. Can you imagine? And they spent the first half with a bullpen largely consisting of other teams’ cast offs. Hardly the way one would want to begin a contending year.

When I was younger baseball fans hoped for trades adding great players. Today, some fans look at a spread sheet with salaries and budgets and focus on what contracts can be squeezed in.

[wally post]

I'm another 60 year fan. It's very difficult/painful watching the Reds lately. Here's hoping they pull out of their funk.

[Ky Fried Redleg]

I was so blessed to have grown up during the 70's and been able to watch one of the best teams of all time. As the above poster mentioned, the entire landscape of the game has changed so much since then. Now, organizations like the Dodgers can pretty much buy their way into a postseason berth. Also, "Manfred's Man" in extras, seven inning games, three batter minimums, pitch clocks on the horizon... the game itself has changed drastically. As the late, great Eddie Money once sang, "I wanna go back, go back, and do it all over, but I can't go back, God knows." "Where have you gone , Joe Dimaggio? " takes on a new refrain the older i get and the more Manfred bastardizes Doubleday's "America's pasttime."

Through it all I still love my Reds. They will always be my favorite sports team. Marty(and Al) and Joe on the radio helped form the soundtrack of my youth, along with Journey , Chicago, Boston, and Fleetwood Mac. I am forever indebted to those Reds' teams for providing me with enough memories to last a lifetime. I've had numerous friends and aquaintences give up baseball because of all the changes. But I'm still here...hoping... dreaming.... of one more hoorah for my beloved Reds. We'll never see another collection of talent like Rose, Morgan, Griffey, Bench, Perez, Foster, Concepcion, and Geronimo again. For a half century the Cincinnati Reds have been my constant companion every spring and summer. When I was picked on at school, I would go home and turn on a Reds' game. When a girlfriend split the scene, I turned on Marty and Joe. When my pawpaw died(he was a big Reds' fan), I turned to the Reds for comfort. And they delivered ; they beat the Cardinals.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Reds are very much a part of who I am. They sometimes disappoint but they're always there when I need them. And I can't think of a time over the past fifty years when I haven't needed them. I will ALWAYS be a Reds' fan. Whether they win 108 games like in '75 or just 61 games as in '82; it doesn't matter. I've loved the journey they've taken me on every season for the last fifty years. I've enjoyed this season's journey very much. I'm glad I found you folks as well. You have made the journey even more fun. Let's hope there's a nice October surprise awaiting us all at the end of this one. Blessings...

[westofyou]

While the game certainly has changed greatly so have I changed, my understanding of the game is broader, my assumption's about the business of baseball are more jaded, realistic and relaxed. I loved the game in the past and I love the game today.

The ability to gorge myself on content via numerous media outlets though doesn't make me long for the old days as much as a game that has become a battle for the lower outside corner does

[RedsManRick]

I'm not "old" per se', but after ~30+ years as a conscious baseball and Reds fan, I really can't bring myself to watch the game on a regular basis. I'm sure it's largely a personality thing, but it's just too frustrating. The losing hurts more than the winning feels good and any sense of optimism simply feels misplaced. If Reds were the sort of organization that won more than they lost, maybe that would be different. If I hadn't spend the last 30 years living outside of Reds country, a fan on an island with nobody close to me rooting for them, maybe that would be different. But as it stands, I'm most a fan of following the game and enjoying the whole narrative.

I still want the Reds to win, of course. I wear my Reds had daily and have Reds paraphernalia all around me. But I just can't do the hoping for lightning in a bottle every day. I know too much about the odds and it's just too exhausting to keep hoping they're wrong.

[albwan]

The Red have given me more championships than all the other teams I root for combined.
Reds, Knicks, NY Rangers, BBills.

1990 World series was the bomb.

[Bob Sheed]

I look around at the world today.

Everything is a formula. Calculated and optimized from large data sets to maximize effectiveness at whatever the desired end result is.

I don't think the Reds or Bengals track records over the past 20 years are an accident at all. I think they are both lessons on how to run a monopoly in a flyover state while maximizing profit.

There's a phrase... "the willing suspension of disbelief" that I think applies to teams like the Reds. Deep down, you know that ownership isn't putting forth the resource or effort that successful teams do. And therefore, they will fail on the field far more than they will succeed when playing teams that do. But they are the only Reds out there, so you turn off that part of the brain and enjoy the 1 in 10 times they beat teams like the Dodgers, or stumble backwards into the playoffs or whatever.

[Joeyjection19]

I'm a young fan who hasn't seen any postseason success with this franchise. I've written about this a few times before but living in LA gave me some perspective on what baseball can be when the owners invest in the product and the fans rally to the ballpark.

I'm used to the Reds losing. I expect the Reds to lose at the most devistating moments. I expect ownership to not invest the extra mile to turn the team into a contender. I expect the front office to not adequately distribute resources in a way that maximize production. In short, I expect a broken heart and, when you expect a broken heart often enough, the heart becomes impossible to break.

My parents taught me to hate the Dodgers because of a long-lost rivalry from well before my Reds fandom. The most fun I've had as a baseball fan was watching the Dodgers win the World Series last year while living in the city. The Reds first made me love baseball then made me understand apathy. I'll still watch, but I won't watch them blow a series to the Tigers while in a playoff race when there are better games on. Like Sheed said, this team is put together in a formula in order to maximize profits and I revile being the result of a function. I'll always hold out hope for the magical season but that is the last and only disappointment this franchise will get from me.

[westofyou]

I'm a young fan who hasn't seen any postseason success with this franchise. I've written about this a few times before but living in LA gave me some perspective on what baseball can be when the owners invest in the product and the fans rally to the ballpark.

I'm used to the Reds losing. I expect the Reds to lose at the most devistating moments. I expect ownership to not invest the extra mile to turn the team into a contender. I expect the front office to not adequately distribute resources in a way that maximize production. In short, I expect a broken heart and, when you expect a broken heart often enough, the heart becomes impossible to break.

My parents taught me to hate the Dodgers because of a long-lost rivalry from well before my Reds fandom. The most fun I've had as a baseball fan was watching the Dodgers win the World Series last year while living in the city. The Reds first made me love baseball then made me understand apathy. I'll still watch, but I won't watch them blow a series to the Tigers while in a playoff race when there are better games on. Like Sheed said, this team is put together in a formula in order to maximize profits and I revile being the result of a function. I'll always hold out hope for the magical season but that is the last and only disappointment this franchise will get from me.

I have lived on the west coast for forty years, I love baseball more than the Reds, because one is bigger, provides more stuff and deeper dives and the Reds were not my first team, so maybe I’m different…. But I follow the Reds, I have watched more Reds games in the internet, streaming era than any other team, I know more Reds history than I should, nonetheless I also watched more west coast baseball by default for decades. The Dodgers were for years my hated team, even surrounded by Dodger and Giant fans I eventually learned to not care, to feel joy from my friends joy (I have SF friends who were worse off than us a reds fans 11 years ago.

Point being is we have no power over who we live for in the baseball or any sport and often it’s a crazy and frustrating ride, like life.

Don’t let it eat you out of your joy for the game