By your logic, any city with a team that has the lowest attendance doesn’t “deserve” a team. Well, there’s one of those every year. Do you propose that each team in that position move to a place where they would be more appreciated?

Cols is a college-sport town. How well does the PROF. hockey team do there? Let’s compare them (both sports have 30 teams) against the Tribe since 2001.

Bluejackets (venue seats 18,144 in a climate-controlled environment) ranked: 2001, 12th; 2002, 8th; 2003, 11th; 2004, 15th; 2005-missing; 2006, 17th; 2008, 28th; 2009 (playoff year), 25th; 2010, 22th, 2011, 27th.

Tribe (open-air venue built 1994, current capacity 43,429) ranked: 2001 (Central Div. champ), 4h; 2002 (rebuild #1), 12th; 2003, 24th; 2004, 25th; 2005, 24th; 2006, 25th; 2007 (Central Div. champ), 21st; 2008 (CC traded, begin rebuild #2), 22; 2009 (Lee traded), 25th; 2010 (the Fans speak), 30th; 2011, 24th.

By the time the Tribe was starting to play poorly/trade popular players the bloom was off the rose known as the NEW Jacobs Field. In spite of that the Tribe has had larger average crowds in its worse year (2010, 17,435) than the Bluejackets had just a year after they made the playoffs (2010, 13,658).

When the Columbus populous can start filling up Nationwide Arena for the majority of the Bluejackets games is the day you can start throwing stones at the Tribe fans and their willingness to pay for venue seating to Tribe games.

You are absolutely correct that they are not a great team yet. But shouldn’t an above average team at least have average attendance? No? What about below average attendance, is that still ok? But we don’t have either of those. No, we have LAST PLACE ATTENDANCE. We don’t have a last place team so there is NO reason why we should have last place attendance and that falls on the fans in Cleveland. If the fans in Cleveland don’t want to try to get their attendance to match on field performance then the team should move.

However, I also ‘witnessed’ the Drive, the Fumble, the demolition of Municipal Stadium, Mr. Mesa, the Red Sox debacle, and the Decision. All of which were gut wrenching experiences. Has this soured me on Cleveland sports? NO! Everyday the TV is tuned to STO to watch the Tribe and if a television isn’t available you can be sure the radio is tuned in. Do the fans of Cleveland owe anything to the city’s sports teams? Absolutely not! We are here, we have always been here! Through thick and thin, pain and suffering, joy and excitement, through it all!

Now with all that being said, is Chris Perez justified in his remarks? Not entirely. The Indians are now a 1st place team yes, but they are not a great team yet. The stats tell the tale, they are an above average team with potential. It is great to see a player that cares though, so kuddos to you Mr. Perez and I like his confidence. But the team this year still needs to gain the confidence of the city after the tremendous break down last year. Yes, injuries played a part but it was still painful after such a great start.

The best part of all this, and we can attribute this to Chris as well, is the contorversy of it all. By making just a few remarks, Chris has brought more attention to the team and created more interest, than the entire organization has through marketing them.

Note to Perez: I love your passion, Chris and I’m glad that you care. The reality is this: 1948 and in the big picture of Cleveland sports, 1964. If you don’t understand this then you need to ask somebody. Fans in this town have nothing to prove to their teams. The teams have something to prove to us. How about a championship? I was at the Convo to watch the Crunch, an indoor soccer team, win one in 1994 and I fear that will be the only one I witness. By the way, Chris, “witness” is a painful word in this town. Former Browns GM Phil Savage said that Cleveland fans had to give up their “woe is me” attitudes. (Let me add Phil to this note). Hey, Phil which fan base am I talking about:

A) Most of the teams are terrible or terribly average and the teams which contend for championships lose in the playoffs in the most horrific ways imaginable
B) Football team moved, came back and is perpetually pathetic…the fans still show up anyway!
C) The MVP of the NBA, the best player in the world who is playing for his hometown team, quits in the playoffs and then announces on national television that he is “taking his talents to South Beach”

Here’s a hint: The answers to A-C are the same. All of this happened in the same town! How delightful!!!

The answer is Cleveland, Chris and Phil, so you’re lucky we still care. The real fans are on The Nortcoast not South Beach.

-Nick

Now Kevin, I see some veiled pining for the moving of the team. I regret to inform you that this can’t happen for at least 13 more seasons. I also regret to inform you that whatever city you’re shilling for has a better chance at getting an expansion team than they do the Indians.