Indians 5, Tigers 3: Perez Gets His Wish, Then Delivers As the Crowd Cheers Him
May 23, 2012Chris Perez “humbled” by reception from fans
May 23, 2012Something pointed out by one of the most frequent commenters to this site on ESPN.com today… On the front page of the MLB section the worldwide leader is kind to the Tribe with the headline and caption giving credit to the team for beating the star-laden Tigers in the series opener. Then in the related posts section, they seem to have a quote from Derek Lowe that asks, “Where are our fans?” To be fair, it isn’t indicating a quote, but it is seemingly paraphrasing the substance of something Derek Lowe might have said, right? (See ESPN screen shot.)
Well, after listening to the audio interview with Derek Lowe talking to Doug Gottlieb, it is hard to figure out how they summarized Lowe’s statements that way. Here is the substance of what Lowe said regarding attendance when asked by the ESPN host.
“My take is who am I to tell people to come to games? I think this still is a fantastic sports town. For me speaking, I can’t worry about if people come or don’t come. Clearly we’d all love to have a sold out crowd, but it’s not there. You know, if you just keep winning and winning and winning. Either way we have no control if they come or they do not come. Again, it’d be great if they were here, but if not, our job is to go out there and play the game of baseball.”
This was followed by Doug Gottlieb claiming Derek Lowe could recruit fans by coming out with a Pacers jersey after the next game to indicate that he hates LeBron James.
I am sympathetic when it comes to headlines because I really do stink at it more times than not. All the same, with all the easily available material about the Indians and their attendance woes available via Chris Perez, was it really necessary to portray another Cleveland Indians player (especially a veteran like Derek Lowe) as possibly proclaiming to wonder “Where are our fans?”
40 Comments
Anyone know what the attendance was last night?
ESPN always dumps on ‘small-market’ teams. I have completely switched to Yahoo sports because I can’t read ESPN’s fabricating stories anymore
ESPN always dumps on ‘small-market’ teams. I have completely switched to Yahoo sports because I can’t read ESPN’s fabricating stories anymore
good catch craig. i saw this this morning and thought –> geez, not again.
but lowe was as gracious and diplomatic as any pro athlete i’ve heard. gottlieb even continued to bait him him into making some anti- (or pro-) lebron comment… lowe had none of it. great job by lowe.
as for espn. i’m sure we shouldnt be surprised that they might rather sustain a controversy versus just reporting news. i’m sure we all understand that theyre in the internet business. and that journalistic ethics have always been gray going back to pulitzer, hearst, and the spanish-american war.
still, this is a pebble in my shoe. thanks for pointing it out.
good catch craig. i saw this this morning and thought –> geez, not again.
but lowe was as gracious and diplomatic as any pro athlete i’ve heard. gottlieb even continued to bait him him into making some anti- (or pro-) lebron comment… lowe had none of it. great job by lowe.
as for espn. i’m sure we shouldnt be surprised that they might rather sustain a controversy versus just reporting news. i’m sure we all understand that theyre in the internet business. and that journalistic ethics have always been gray going back to pulitzer, hearst, and the spanish-american war.
still, this is a pebble in my shoe. thanks for pointing it out.
15,049
I think it was around 12K (Looked it up 15,049)
We go through this attendance angst every spring. If the Tribe keeps playing well and stays in the hunt, things will be fine. Folks should just relax.
It’s unbelievable to me that they haven’t figured this out…win in June and July. People will come.
Is it sad and frustrating that it is like this, yes. Is there anything they can do to change it….win the whole f’n thing.
/majorleague’d
E!spn is as much a “new organization” as TMZ.
Im waiting for the Packers to go through another downward cycle to see how long it takes before ESPN has “stories” about “rumors” that the Packers are leaving Green Bay.
Tell Doug Gottlieb to stick to things he knows about, like credit fraud
and for whoever inevitably has the urge to point out to me that Gottlieb likely did not write the headline, thanks for your help. I know this.
I have other reasons for despising Gottlieb as a journo, and feel the need to take shots at him whenever I have a chance.
ESPN sucks and Gottlieb is one of their trolls
Wait, so how do you really feel about Doug Gottlieb?
Yeesh… that’s pretty weak, ESPN.
Like I said before Chris Perez is now the spokesperson for this team. Thank him for the attention. Instead of the attention being on a first place team (like Perez attempted to portray) who beat Detroit in the opening game of the series it continues to be on the attendance. They had discussions on the MLB Network about it as well.
Talk about controversy…anyone else see the piece (ESPN Insider only) about their “time machine” that took them into the future (2015) and listed the Browns as the 32nd ranked team.
ESPN for the most part rubs me the wrong way. Especially the guy who covers the AFC North blog, Jamison Hensley. I will not read his stuff. But, this doesn’t bother me. Well at least the comments of Lowe and Perez. There’s no way to be nice about it. Put yourself in their shoes (granted we all know our shoes aren’t better) but, if you played for the tribe, you’d be sadly disappointed by attendance here. You would have grown up watching the Tribe of the 90’s that sold out a then record 400,500 something straight. They were professional in the way they did it and I respect it. Watch the seats start to fill a little more, because in the end this is Cleveland, a sports town.
ESPN is always dumping on ‘small market’ teams. (I think they may have came up with the whole ‘small market’ ‘big market’ terminology) I have completely switched to Yahoo! Sports. Still a little bias to the big cities but not nearly to the extreme. Yahoo’s headline – ‘Thats more like it’ and the quote – ‘I’m humbled’ CP.
Like in ’07 when we ended up in the bottom third of the attendance?
Ugh. Please wait for the obligatory “Colt vs Weeden / Tales from OTA’s” post from the site to discuss Browns.
We’re talking baseball…Indians Baseball…..WE’RE TALKING TRIBE!!!!!
Haha, I like the song. Well done.
I still think an article that can incite traffic like that one on ESPN (which this article is discussing) is relevant.
I hate ESPN as much as the next guy. Got rid of my cable because sports are all I’d watch on it and I couldn’t stand their coverage. But this is just a poorly headline, not some grand plot against Cleveland.
I mean, this very site has had some questionable headlines (I think there was one just yesterday). Only difference is, readers here point that sort of thing out and you guys care about those kind of details.
No, like in ’08 when the teams run in ’07 had the city buzzing and ready to go.
Attendance was 15+ from the beginning of the year, not the 30+ i’d love to see from our city, but better than the 9,000 and below we are seeing right now
Momentum was there and we were peaking at games in the 30’s during May and then what…. we end up 25-30 at the end of May, below .500 right at June, July and attendance drops off.
Also if memory serves me correctly we came up in ’07 in attendance from near last because of the post all star break run in wins.
My favorite of all the team jingles…although the “Indians Fever” and of course Michael Stanley’s epic Cavalier intro are right up there as well.
Bernie, Bernie (oh yeah)
Let’s go Browns!
da.na. da.da.da. da.da
And…when it rains, it pours. Check out the front page now. Uggh. I linked to it here also.
http://www.clevelandsportstorture.com/2012/05/its-beat-up-cleveland-day-at-espncom.html
15k is pathetic for a team coming off an ALCS appearance
Ah, ’08 when we ended up… let me look… in the bottom third of league attendance. And actually less per game attendance than ’07.
I get tired of the apologies for the poor attendance. It’s always a litany of conditions…
Well, if we a.) stay competitive for several years, b.) keep our homegrown talent, c.) enjoy good weather, d.) don’t have a successful Cavs team next door, e.) keep ticket prices low, f.) have home series against big name opponents, g.) get some big name free agents, h.) stay competitive for the entire season, i.) have good promotions, j.) enjoy ane economic recovery, k.)etc etc etc…
THEN people will come and we’ll make the promised land- the second third of MLB attendance! Maybe we’ll even have a non-home opener sellout thrown in there.
You know what, if you have that many conditions, then the city doesn’t really care about the team.
lol — I love it.
ESPN free since July 2010
I think you are mistaking me for someone who makes apologies for low attendance.
Nothing disgusts me more in this city than it’s absolute blind faith in filling Browns stadium year after yet not being able to half fill the better team in the Tribe.
But thanks for painting the completely wrong picture of me anyways.
i agree.
What else is the internet good for if not pointless misunderstandings?
I wasn’t trying to accuse you of anything. If it came across that way, I apologize.
I feel the disgust too and sometimes it gets the best of me. I’ve been complaining about the lack of support for the franchise since about ’06.
I was just pointing out that the “if they win, attendance will improve” explanation is, imo, not the case. Even if it is true, it’s blatant front running, which isn’t much better.
It, like the rest of the litany, is just a cover for the fact that the city as a whole just doesn’t care about the Indians or baseball.
Which is fine… I just wish people (and I’m not speaking of you here) would accept that.
Eh, I think the city does care about the Tribe…just less than the Browns and only if the Cavs aren’t in the playoffs.
😉
What else is the internet good for if not pointless misunderstandings?
indeed, indeed.
Other than a misleading sub-headline, this is exactly accurate. Sorry ESPN reported FACTS. I find it a bit refreshing from ESPN that there are actual facts even mentioned. We are last in attendance and 1st place in the AL Central. There really is no excuse for it. We either need to admit that we’re not the greatest baseball fans (and thus not as great of a sports town as we all like to think we are), or we need to get people down to the games.
Blaming ESPN for picking on us as a small-market city is such a pathetic “woe is me” Cleveland argument, and the worst part is that this is the ONE thing the fans can control instead of the management, players, etc.
the misleading headline is entire point on this post. and misleading is being kind. the only accuracy it contained was that derek lowe was speaking in the linked audio clip.
are you giving them a pass on being 100% wrong on the substance of the link? or were you responding to something else?
Yup
ESPN hates Cleveland and everything Ohio based. ‘Nuff said.
I know this post was from yesterday, but check out Yahoo Sports MLB’s home page right now (Thursday afternoon, post-sweep). It features a headline article (with picture, etc.) titled: “Enemies at the Gate: The first-place Indians rank last in the league in attendance, prompting one player to call fan turnout ’embarrassing.'”
Um, what is it, Saturday?