This recent column by Lonnie Wheeler bemoans the poor attendance despite the Reds hot start:
But one can only wonder what more the current Reds can offer their constituency. They just completed the best April in team history. They have underdogged their way to the top of the NL Central. They have put forward a pop star in Arroyo, a sensation in Brandon Phillips and a young stalwart in Edwin Encarnacion. They have hit far, run fast and pitched better. Under owner Bob Castellini, general manager Wayne Krivsky and manager Jerry Narron, they have made the most of the right moves, all the while demonstrating a refreshingly earnest competitiveness.Is it disapproval over the trade of Sean Casey? Is it the slow reconstruction of a fan base broken down by the insipid seasons under the previous ownership? Is it ordinary Cincinnati skepticism? Is it simply spring?
Castellini says exactly the right thing, and the contrast between him and the "blame the fans for our financial problems first" Carl Lindner administration is striking:
"You've got to give the fans a chance," Castellini said Tuesday after the two-game sweep of the team he partially owned before he bought the local one. "This is early in the season and people haven't quite gotten into believing yet. We just have to make believers out of everybody."These fans have had five straight years of losing seasons, and it's going to take a while to make them have confidence in us. But I just know that if we execute, it will happen. I've lived here all my life, and Cincinnati folks are as loyal as they can be. Once they're tuned in, they're all over it."
Exactly 100% right. You're not going to erase the last five miserable years with 27 games. Not all of it anyway.
And anyway, has the attendance really been that bad? Its up from last year, which is all you can really ask for.
Related: Baseball Minutia looks at the history of Reds attendance. I'm continuously stunned at how much this guy knows about baseball. Somebody give the guy a book deal already.