Saturday, January 19, 2008

Down It Comes, Up Go The Cries!

Change - to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone: to change one's name; to change one's opinion; to change the course of history.


Progress - the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level.


Progressive - favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are.


As we live and breathe in the land known as Cleaveland, now spelled "Cleveland," many times we find that our opposition to change has in fact inhibited our very growth, or our ability to keep up. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is full of reader comments lamenting the renaming of Jacob's Field to Progressive Field.
We need to get over ourselves. What a bunch of belly-aching, whine-babies. I am just grateful that the name change didn't get on the ballot with the upcoming March 4th primary election. Can you imagine the negative publicity that would have brought? We have run out of room to hang another black-eye. A local company has bought the naming rights to our baseball field. Additionally, they have given the team owners $3.6 million dollars per year to improve the ballclub. (That's $3.6M x 16 years...$57.6M that can be rolled into a long term contract, or two, or three!)
If we want to get crazy about something, put a target on the $57.6M! To date, the team has stayed pretty much the same while practically every other team has made off-season advancements. Oh yeah, that's us, Cleveland...we don't like change. Cleveland Indians V.P. and General Manager Mark Shapiro has said over and over again that he believes that this team, as is, will compete for the American League Championship. Right now, Detroit appears to be 10 to 15 games ahead of us and Spring Training is a month away.
Call the ballpark The Pro, The 'Sive, whatever. People who are against the change are calling the renaming "An end of an Era"... Baloney! The true "Era" will come to an end if the Indians brass doesn't get off of their collective hands and continue to groom this team as a champion.

1 comment:

ab said...

Still, for a generation of fans without warm fuzzy memories of the old stadium, it must be weird to not have a Jacobs Field in Cleveland.

I kinda like calling it the Prog. You could have a whole marketing campaign built around Prog Rock.

I'm guessing the bulk (no pun intended) of that 57.6 mill will be heading to a certain Carsten Charles Sabathia. Now beat the damn Red Sox once, why don't you?