Can't please all of the people all of the time
This is for everyone who has been ripping the NFL for failing to move the Ravens/Texans game to Baltimore or a neutral site, since most of the complaints have included a nod to Major League Baseball for moving two games between the Astros and Cubs to Miller Park in Milwaukee.
That obviously seemed like a great idea...to everyone but Houston manager Cecil Cooper, who quickly realized that Miller Park is easier to get to for lot of Cubs fans than Wrigley Field. Cubs fans have been known to take the place over when their team plays the Brewers in much the same way Red Sox fans and Yankees fans do at Camden Yards.
"It's like a Cub home game," Cooper told reporters before last night's game. "Only they're not the 'home' team, we are. I'm not happy about that. I need to tell the commissioner that. I will tell him that."
Maybe it wouldn't have made a bit of difference, since Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano pitched a no-hitter, but it is proof that no matter what the NFL or Major League Baseball did to respond to the potential ravages of Hurricane Ike, somebody was not going to be happy.
"It's not the best of circumstances, but when you put it against the backdrop of what a lot of people in Houston are going through right now, it's sort of minimized in that regard," Astros GM Ed Wade told the Associated Press. "In a perfect world, the storm doesn't hit Houston and have the degree of significance that it had and we play these games at home."
in Just baseball
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Comments
I bet if the Ravens we're a New York based franchise the game would have been moved. They did it for the NYG vs. NOS game the other year when Katrina hit. Why not do it this time or is it the fact that it's Baltimore?
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Pete's reply: Perhaps because they were ripped for doing it with the Saints and Giants.
Posted by: Rob | September 15, 2008 8:52 AM
I think the real issue is that then NFL has no real policy on these type of things. The NFL owners and the NFLPA need to articulate a real policy on this issue. As stadia become more high tech it seems like these events are becoming more common.
Oh and has Stan stopped taking your calls? HAHA
Posted by: gueman | September 15, 2008 9:00 AM
While I don't have a big problem, under the circumstances, which are hardly ideal, it might also be pointed out that Milwaukee (Commissioner Selig's hometown) benefits from this arrangement--sort of Haliburton in Iraq.
Posted by: Greg | September 15, 2008 9:42 AM
This might just help the Ravens. Assuming that we give them any chance of winning their division this year, the next two divisional games are much more important than the Texans or Giants games during their tough road stretch in November.
Posted by: Dave | September 15, 2008 11:23 AM
Peter,
My last points on this if you can indulge me.
1. Greedy Texan Owner Fallacy. This is a bogus claim as its pretty clear to me that this owner may have been considerate towards his fan base. Meaning that moving the game would have been "Caving" in and would have actually screwed over the Texans ticket owners. Now if this had happened here and M&T would have been damaged would have our owner acted any other way ?? NO is the answer. Steve would have fought hard to keep the home game and it would have been a secondary or less concern about money. Maybe the Greed here is us here wanting a home game here in Baltimore. Stupid double standard to say the least which makes us whiny , uninformed fans at the least.
2. Oh No 3 Straight Road Games. Does anyone remember the Eagles of 2006 who went on the road @Redskins, @Giants and @Cowboys and won all those games on a great run with Jeff Garcia at the helm ?? They also went on to win a wild card road game @Giants. This team handled it and we can also if we just play the games. Also guess what Houston now faces. Two more Road crucial conference games @Jaguars and @Titans before they even sniff home again. They signed off on this people and again makes the argument that they should have played this 2nd game against the Ravens on the Road even more laughable. That would have been 4 STRAIGHT games away from home to start the season people.
3. Baseball Does It Why Not Us ?? This is laughable to me as its NOT even close to the same thing. Your points in this article are valid.
So this is just a whine fest with a certain Reporter (Not You) who loves to create controversy.
Now we all look like a bunch of pathetic whiny children to the world here in Baltimore. We could have taken the high road here and just moved on.
Posted by: HappyRaven | September 15, 2008 12:00 PM
Peter, I commented elsewhere that there was a viable solution that would have worked to everyone's benefit: moving the game to here tonight, moving our home game with Oakland to Oakland and moving Oakland's home game with Houston to Houston.
No schedule changes, loss of biweek for anyone and no one would lose a home game. To me it was a no brainer and was the decision that should have been made on Friday.
I am still surprised no sportswriter, ESPN, or the NFL couldn't come up with this option...
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Pete's reply: I wasn't in the negotiations, so I wouldn't know whether it came up. Maybe the Ravens didn't want to fly coast to coast to play the Raiders. Maybe the Texans won't be able to host a game at Reliant during that period, so they didn't want to mess with another team's schedule. It's still up in the air whether the stadium will be repaired. I suspect the NFL considered it. Don't know why it didn't happen that way.
Posted by: Bill from Oella | September 15, 2008 12:17 PM
Why didn't they consider moving the game to the Alamodome in San Antonio?
I totally understand the cancelling of the game due to all of the problems that were associated with the storm. I especially understand the safety and health concerns for all of those in Houston area.
It just seemed funny to me that we never heard anything about the possibility of moving the game to the Alamodome. Was it in use and not available? I could not find out from their website. It could have still been played tonight, this would still be a home game for the Texans, and it is only a few hours from Houston, yet did not nearly suffer any problems like the Houston area did.
Any thoughts, Schmuckster?
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Pete's reply: Last week, I was hearing that it was close enough that it might be affected by the storm, but never confirmed that.
Posted by: Dewey Elvis | September 15, 2008 12:50 PM
Would Carlos Zambrano have pitched a no-hitter if the cubs were not playing in a stadium 2/3 full of their fans and facing a tired Houston team from the traveling....doubtful.
Posted by: Shannon | September 15, 2008 12:59 PM