Every year it’s the same thing.  “Why aren’t people going to see the Reds?” I don’t understand why attendance is always an issue with this town.  We go through this crap every year and I’m sick of it.  Everyone on the radio goes nuts because we don’t have 40,000 people at every game and they can’t figure out why.  Well I’ll tell you why right now!

1.  April and May are not going to see alot of huge crowds, particularly on weeknights.  Kids are still in school and, especially this year, the weather is horrible.

2.  The stadium isn’t exactly the easiest place to get to downtown.  Traffic around the Cincinnati area is horrendous and unless you want to pay $20 to park anywhere near the stadium, you are gonna be walking.

3.  Cincinnati is not as big as New York, Chicago, or Atlanta, so you have a smaller population of people to fill the seats.

4.  For the past several years, the Reds have not been very good.  While this has never stopped me from going to games, there are alot of people that don’t like to go see a losing team.

5.  While tickets are as low as $5.00, anything else you may want to buy is gonna cost you.  Just eating will cost at least $7 or $8 dollars a person.  Someone like me needs to spend about $12 just to not starve.  Let’s not even talk about the price of beer.

These are a few reasons we don’t have 45,000 a night packing the park.  However, it is early June, and the Reds are in first place.  I’m going to the game tonight and I know there will be a very large crowd, maybe even a sellout. 

I really wish everyone around here would just shut the hell up about attendance at the games.  I personally would go to every home game if I could because I love going and watching the Reds, win or lose.  Tonight will only be my third game of the year, and not because I didn’t want to go to more.  Sometimes you just don’t have the time.  Attendance will pick up as the year goes on.  Especially if we are still in contention for a playoff spot.