There are many different quirks that sports fans have while watching games either live or on television. One of these particular quirks is prominent no matter what sport they are watching.

Everyone becomes a coach.

It doesn’t matter if someone is watching football, hockey, basketball, or baseball. As soon as a decision or play is made that he or she disagrees with, he or she instantly becomes a better coach who would have done things differently . The reality is we don’t know what choice we would make in a certain situation, but it can be fun and interesting to debate with others.

Confessional: Have you ever gotten in to a discussion about certain coaching tactics while watching a sport? What sport was it and what was the debate?

I had the opportunity to have one of these discussions with someone who has experienced those situations and has made the decisions that fans undoubtedly disagreed with.

During my internship I would occasionally stay after games were over and spend some time hanging out and talking with other interns and members of the front office. There were also nights when the manager of the team would come by for a bit and it was always fun to talk about how the team was doing or the major league club or just listen to him tell stories from his time in the sport.

It was one of these nights when I ended up sitting next to him and watching the end of the Philadelphia Phillies game. I honestly don’t remember who they were playing or what inning it was, but I do know it was late in the game, the score was close, and with an opposing player in scoring position, everyone was speculating whether or not the manager should or would change pitchers.

That’s when Reading’s manager turned to me and said, “What would you do?”

He was a guy with 13 years of experience as a player and almost as many years of experience as a manager or coach. I on the other hand had about six years of playing softball, six years of managing/scorekeeping for softball, and 12 years of working in a baseball stadium to rely on.

And he wanted to know what I would do?

The conversation quickly turned into a discussion of what each of us would do in different situations in a game. I looked at each one with my limited baseball knowledge and he looked at it with his actual professional experience. It was interesting to see how many times we had similar ideas.

This is still one of my favorite memories from my internship. It was interesting to be able to talk about the game with someone who had experience both playing and managing. He would provide both a player’s perspective and a manager’s perspective for different scenarios while I would give my thoughts from a fan’s perspective. I learned quite a bit during that 15-20 minute conversation.

Don’t get me wrong, just like any other sports fan I still get frustrated when a manager makes a move I don’t agree with. Honestly, it happens quite a bit when I’m working because we get to watch the entire game thanks to our prime location. There are still times when I think, “Well I wouldn’t have made that move” or “why would he do that?” During those moment though, I also stop and think, “Well, maybe this is what he was thinking.” And sometimes, it’s just fun to think that what you would do is a better idea.

After all, who doesn’t like to imagine they could do a better job than someone else?

There are 140 games in the Minor League Baseball Double A regular season. The goal for every team is to make it past the regular season and play more games into the middle of September. Everyone wants to make it to the playoffs, with the ultimate goal to be the last team standing.

The R-Phils have made it to the postseason at least twice since I started working at the ballpark. It is always very exciting when the team is successful and the fans get very excited about playoff baseball. However, one thing confuses me about this excitement.

Very few people actually come to the playoff games.

Don’t get me wrong, you still see fans at the games, but it’s not anything like the crowds that gather during the regular season. There are always the season ticket holders who are a constant presence at all games – even road playoff games – and families and other groups who come to enjoy a nice evening. Even with these fans attending each night, I would still say that a majority of those same fans who were excited for the team to make the playoffs never actually attend a playoff game.

Even the season when Reading emerged as the Eastern League Eastern Division Champions, there were very few fans from the final sellout crowd in attendance for the playoffs.

Why?

Now I know there are different factors that can prevent people from being able to attend a game. The biggest one would be the start of school and school sports. There are at least ten school districts within the R-Phils coverage area and this can prevent many of their regular fans from attending games once school and sports have started back up again. At the same time, there is a large percentage of fans who don’t have kids in school and could still potentially attend a game on a week night. Yes it is the beginning of fall, and yes the weather may not always be ideal for sitting outside at a baseball game, but some of those same fans will go sit outside at a football game in even colder weather.

After cheering for your team through 140 games and hoping there would be at least three more games for you to watch, why would you not go out to the ballpark if you have the chance to watch extra baseball? It may not end the way you hope and there may not be a shiny World Series trophy waiting for the victors after the final out, but it is still postseason baseball and it is still exciting.

Confessional: Have you ever attended a playoff baseball game or postseason athletic event? What was it?

Even with all the outlying factors that may cause timing or availability issues, I am still surprised that more fans don’t show up to support the team that has worked so hard all season to reach the playoffs. It’s always exciting when the team you are rooting for does well and who wouldn’t want to watch extra games? I’m sure I will never truly understand why people would hope all summer that their team makes the postseason and then not come to games to continue watching them play.

Regardless of how many fans show up, I know I get excited for playoff baseball and I hope I get to watch the team play in September in the near future!