There is an ethos within the comedy field that I have always felt would be appropriate to extrapolate to other areas of life.
Comedians usually agree that they should only “punch up” and never “punch down.” Essentially, the subject of the joke should always be someone in a more powerful position or situation than you, whether he or she is a government figure, someone from a wealthy or elite family or a CEO of a major company. Punching down has led to some of the grosser moments in comedy. We’ve seen targets be marginalized groups, people with disabilities or the poor.
I believe sports media columnists and sports talk show hosts would also do well to remember to similarly “punch up.” This is why criticism of attendance is something that bothers me significantly.
This phenomenon became prominent again during the Orioles’ Wild Card Series loss to the Royals. Several sports media personalities, both local and national, chose to use their voice to criticize the large and boisterous — albeit short of sold-out — crowds at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Making baseball fans the target of criticism for how they choose to spend their money is, quite clearly, punching down. They don’t give the tickets away for free. Or the parking. Or the hot dogs. Taking shots at common fans for how they do or don’t spend their money is as worthless as sports commentary gets. If it truly bothers you to your core for some reason, buy some tickets and give them away! Offer to drive folks to help get them there!
Far less commentary was offered about the many reasons why there were (some) empty seats. There were quite a few legitimate factors. Major League Baseball erred in the on-sale pricing of the tickets. They want to establish the Wild Card Series as a “premium” event, and I fully understand why. But when get-in prices were well more than $100 at the on-sale, it forced fans to consider whether they wanted to spend the money on the Wild Card Series or save the money for later playoff games. (I know, even with all of the history and pageantry of the Wild Card Series and the memories that have been passed down through the generations, this was a real thought. Weird!)
That wasn’t unique to Baltimore. Ticket prices crashed for Wild Card Series games in Houston and Milwaukee for similar reasons. And while the ticket price crash in Baltimore spurred interest, it also infuriated package holders who paid the initial prices.
But that wasn’t all. The weather was miserable. We experienced two consecutive weeks of rain, and it didn’t exactly help our collective mental health. Afternoon game times are whimsical but not practical for fans. Employers and employees alike have months to prepare for the impact of an afternoon Opening Day game. As a city, we had less than two days to prepare and adjust accordingly for a 4 p.m. start to Game 1 on a Tuesday afternoon. And some fans may have still been frustrated by the timing of playoff tickets going on sale just as they were learning that their ticket package prices would be going up for next year.
And there was the part where the team hadn’t been very good for a prolonged period. The Orioles scored one total run across two playoff games. As disappointed as fans were, they couldn’t exactly be shocked. They were very good until late June. And they were 42-48 during the next three-plus months. The best argument for their ability to make a playoff run had either been “maybe they’ll be a completely different team than what we’ve seen for a while” or “yeah, but the other teams aren’t great either.” Plenty of fans made a calculated decision that such rallying cries weren’t inspiring enough to start dipping into their wallets. I didn’t blame them at all.
Considering the relatively small number of empty seats we are discussing, a change in any one of these elements might have been more than enough to see a sold-out crowd. The totality was impossible to overcome … and understandably so.
No one in our city owed it to the Orioles or Major League Baseball to blindly choose to hand over their money anyway. That’s not how any of this works. Hopefully, the people who decided to hold on to theirs will get another chance to spend it in 2025. And hopefully, the collective sports media will remember to punch up, not down.
Photo Credit: Drew Forrester