As bad as Ortiz may or may not be, it REALLY bugs me when they have this idiot Harvey writing anything about the Dynamo. He obviously doesn't know or care, or even care to learn about, the team or the game. He's one of those Hank Hill types who still think soccer isn't a real sport. What's the point in having him write anything?
Well it seems Mr. Ortiz doesn't think much of the Dynamo FO's ability to sell tickets. Check out his blog. I know he puts inside jokes in these thinks but "minor league baseball" mentality seems harsh if he isn't joking. But he shows his lack of knowledge when he asserts that we should have 7,000 Hondurans at each game - that Mexican/Honduran Fan Yetti myth has been disproven for a long time.
here is my jab last night on twitter. note his lame comeback.... Jose de Jesus Ortiz @OrtizKicks No official crowd count. Probably still counting thousands of empty seats at BBVA. #Dynamo F0 needs to match job Kinnear does with product. @jayc13 @OrtizKicks maybe your job as a writer at the Chronicle should promote the @HoustonDynamo better and push the sport and get off the @Astros Jose de Jesus Ortiz @OrtizKicks @jayc13 I'm a journalist, not a promoter.
I felt like todays article was a bit better. Where Jesus gets in trouble is when he starts injecting his personal opinions (about anything) - if he justs sticks to desribing the action he's OK.
he may have expressed his opinion poorly but bottom line the FO should have sold out that stadium with the product on the field
I wasn't specifically referring to his twitter comments. I was referring to his articles in the chron. But yes, the FO had enough time to sell this one out and sould have done so. Maybe they figued they would have a better walk up crowd and the weather didn't help that.
Yes, the game articles are fine. I don't mind the commentary pieces on the blog, just make sure it is clear. Now, the blog sort of took me aback only because a "reporter" would have asked Canetti why they didn't sell out or what factors affected attendance before calling them minor-league baseball executives and suggesting ways to promote the team and making absurd generalizations that they don't focus on the Honduran crowd enough. A real reporter would have looked at the attendance and dates/times/weather of previous openers to put the figure in context. Look, I can and will be critical of the FO, but last night they probably lost a certain walk-up crowd due to the cold that they were hoping for. I can't fault their promotion of the game, if you were even a casually informed Dynamo fan you would have known they had a game last night. They have been on TV and in the paper all week. Maybe they need more direct sales push, whatever.
http://blog.chron.com/soccer/2013/03/non-sellout-for-opener-is-a-bad-sign-for-dynamo/ I don't understand the connection between Chron Dynamo coverage and non-sellout attendance. Besides if Ortiz is supposed to provide Dynamo coverage then why would he not want to write as much coverage as possible?
Yeah, I just re-read it, didn't seem like inside humor: BTW, I think it's pretty clear by now that Ortiz will criticize the Dynamo but won't lay the wood on any other team because he clearly wants to be back on one of those beats sometime and wants to stay in a positive light with them. Which is why you won't hear a negative word about management for the 110 loss Astros this year from him. It's funny, I do think Canetti and others wear out their rotator cuffs patting themselves on their back sometimes, but he's as visible and responsive a GM as any in this town. He's making himself available and folks take him up on it. I'd rather have that accountability then the Rockets opaqueness in claiming "advanced statistical analysis" on every trade.
So the Dynamo were 3rd in attendance according to this article: http://www.socceramerica.com/article/50597/garber-addresses-chivas-usa-train-wreck.html The Rockets drew 18,123 last night and average less than 17,000. I don't follow baseball as closely, but I imagine that most home runs that opposing teams hit out of Minute Maid will hit an empty seat. I'm just having a hard time finding a negative in the attendance on Saturday.
3. Houston Astros > 10-yr. attendance decline: -36.1% > 2002 W-L record: 84-78 (finished 2nd in NL Central) > 2012 W-L record: 55-107 (finished 6th in AL Central) > League championships last decade: None In the 2012 season the Astros again finished last place in their division with a record of just 55 wins and a whopping 107 losses. This was a far cry from their 2004 and 2005 seasons. In 2004 they made the playoffs, and in the 2005 season they made it to the World Series. Past teams featured stars such as Roger Clemens, Jeff Bagwell, and Roy Oswalt. The team’s stadium, Minute Maid Park, is relatively new, first opening in 2000, but as the stadium has aged attendance has fallen. In 2002, the team averaged 31,079 fans per home game, filling 73.7% of the stadium. Last year, less than 20,000 tickets were sold for the average Astros game, filling less than half the stadium’s capacity on average. Read more: 13 Pro Teams Running Out of Fans - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/11/26/13-pro-teams-running-out-of-fans/#ixzz2MasNKE9F Perspective.
I don't see it as a real negative either, it's just the expected sell-out momentum from a good 2012 and a still new stadium leaves some disappointed. I don't know what the walk-up crowd typically is (I'm sure the team has a guage or estimate) but the weather probably knocked it down some. I know folks rag on looking at StubHub but the prices there - even if 75% of the tickets listed never sell - give an indicator into demand, especially when you look at the actual number of sales. Folks were selling the DCU tickets for under cost in some sections.
Walkups at The Rob were ~10K per game. It has dropped slighty at BBVA to roughly 7-8Kish. Or to be more accurate, non-STH sales equaled that amount. Draw your conclusions from there.
No, i was referring to the walk-up crowd as in "day of game" walk-up sales. That's what they call "walk-ups" in the industry. I would imagine that figure at 1-2,000 for most games. I know they aren't selling 7,000 tickets at the box office before the games. They couldn't sell a hot dog in 30 minutes the other night, no way they transact that many tickets in a short time period.
Another very personal attempt at commentary by Ortiz concerning last night's game that wasn't very good. If you want to read a quality peice of reporting on the game, read Kyle McCarthy's peice on Goal.com http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110...ome-display-hands-houston-narrow?ICID=HP_TS_2
Just sent an email to the chron so I feel a little better - 'To whom it may concern at the Chron, As an avid sports fan of Soccer , I find that your completeness of coverage and quality of writing is poor. I have dropped my subscription from daily to Sunday only as a result. In regards to the Chronicle’s coverage of soccer; I find Jesus De Ortiz writing amateurish and very objective, rather than professional and unbiased. There are so many writers that are covering soccer locally, domestically and abroad that write in an entertaining and informative style. Today’s article included false information and veiled personal attacks that irritates readers and has little entertainment value. Ortiz’s writing frequently devolves into the voice of an opinionated fan with a grievance to share rather than an unbiased observer who uses his literary skills to paint the scene while informing and entertaining the reader. I have included a link to a well written article by Kyle McCarthy to help you compare and contrast with Ortiz’s article from last night’s game and judge for yourself - http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1110...ome-display-hands-houston-narrow?ICID=HP_TS_2 It amazes me that McCarthy wasn’t even in attendance yet he captures the essence of the game and the implications of the event in much more impactful way than Ortiz (who witnessed it live). Please give the responsibility of covering soccer to someone else with more professionalism and creative writing skills than Ortiz. Readers will definitely respond favorably to your paper. The Chronicle has an opportunity to improve their quality and readership, I hope that the paper takes steps to do so.'
I was listening to the big show on 790 with Matt Jackson and Adam Wexler on the way in to work this morning. Matt Jackson mentioned Ortiz on their punch in the face segment. He ripped into Ortiz about his comments towards Canetti about the opener not being a sellout.
There must be some friction there. Ortiz keeps sticking the needle in about the FO "failure to sell out" opening night. It's in his game story from last night!
Ortiz is absolutely clueless. I hope every Dynamo fan writes the Chronicle to tell them to fire him. He is awful and to rip on the attendance in his past 2 articles is an absolute disgrace to the game. The game was incredible and the fans were also. He has no idea what he is doing. He needs to go back and cover YMCA youth soccer in his columns. The Dynamo should not have such a bad writer.
The comments are always entertaining on Chron. This one is gold this guy says he is a fan! LMAO Sir Arthur says: March 4, 2013 at 8:26 am I an a Dynamo fan since Day One. I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t even realize that the season had started until reading the recap the next day. Reply Also: It's crazy how a lot of lets call them english only speaking people, think that there are nothing but mexicans going to the Dynamo games. They don't understand most mexican fans only follow their own FMF teams not the Dynamo. I wish you guys could see the look on my friends face when I take them to the dynamo games (many of them first timers) and they walk in and see not many mexicans and alot of eh English Only Speaking people.
I wonder who Chris Canetti was aiming this tweet at? "17,000+ fans for a CCL game on a Tuesday in March is a positive sign. It represents growth, not regression. Thank you fans. Way to bring it."
I agree with what you're saying, and nice job sending the email, but it should be noted that objective=unbiased. I think you meant to call his writing subjective.