Nothing beats a cold hotdog and a warm brew while watching America’s pastime. ( I know they are reversed but that ends up being how it is when at the park)

You might have to get used to missing pro baseball in Richmond. There’s no telling how long it’s going to take to get another team here. Right now, it’s a mess.

And, if a new baseball stadium could actually be built in a place where the fans could see the James River that would be something else to consider.

However, from what I know about it, the proposed Shockoe Bottom stadium will not offer such a view.

And sorry if you find my approach “snarky,” but your constant know-it-all attitude about what types of people will come to games in the Bottom is rather absurd. It is pretty clear, and not surprising, that you really don’t know much about what 20 and 30 somethings in this City really want.

I’m here to talk about baseball. From reading your responses to your readers, you don’t know as much about the business of baseball as you project. You spend over half of your responses to your opposition attacking their character or talking about how much you know about the city.

Seriously, respond to *any* of the arguments I’ve made about baseball. This isn’t about me, and it isn’t about you, its about baseball and economic development. Let’s stick to the subject matter, please.

Well, now we’ll have to leave it to the our readers to decide who is what. As it is, my background is no mystery in this city.

“Your comments tell me you know very little about baseball, as a game or a business. And, when you come here to trot out your talking points, hey, you are throwing slogans at the wrong old baseball fan.”

I know that wasn’t directed at me, but the person to which you were responding had made some fairly accurate statements about baseball and you dismissed them rather rudely, in my opinion.

I don’t know who you are, this current debate has brought me to your blog. As far as I know you could be a businessman on the short end of the ballpark stick like the man paying for “baseballontheboulevard.com”. You don’t ask any questions about his conflict of interest in opposing the ballpark.

Finally, I’d accept your question as “that simple” as long as it doesn’t come at the end of a post where half of it implies that I am some kind of mercenary going around spouting out the developers agenda.

As for you not knowing me? I’m sorry my explanation wasn’t sufficient. I’m not all that different from you, I’m passionate about my city, but I resent being lumped into the conspiracy you seem to associate with this project.

Hey, after the tone our conversation started with, a tone you set with your comments, it takes some nerve to lecture me on courtesy.

Who I am is no mystery. Since I don’t know you, I asked you a question. It was that simple, but I still don’t know who you are.

Anna, if that’s really your name, are you really so unfamiliar with the practice of planted bloggers and commenters, who act anonymously, in order to promote their causes and candidates as if they are neutral?

Why the righteous indignation?

As a big city native, I have been living in the Richmond area for most of my life and personally love Shockoe Slip and Bottom, as well as other urban areas of the city. I wish I had more reasons to visit the area, I especially wish that reason would be baseball (its my favorite sport).

Will I not attend a game in any other location? No, that’d be ridiculous. I personally love the game and would follow it almost anywhere – but I think the Bottom is as perfect a spot as we will see in the metro-Richmond area for a stadium.

I’m not saying baseball fans don’t care, I’m not even saying “nobody cares” (not literally, anyways, I need to stop speaking in superlatives)…I’m saying many people who go to minor league games rarely pay attention to the game being played, and especially who is playing them. I’m also saying that a lot of the people who go to minor league games are going for the social activity rather than the game itself. Minor league teams these days focus more on promoting the team and gameday experience as a brand than the players themselves.

I cannot tell you how many attendees get hit or nearly hit with baseballs because they aren’t paying attention. Sure, they’ll check in with the score every once in a while, or pick a game to come to solely based on the affiliate, but I’d say about 1% of the average attendance keeps score or even watches for an entire game. No, that’s not a fact, that’s my observation from my experience in the business a few years back.

I never accused you of having a vested interest in opposing the stadium, please extend me the same courtesy.

When you say the “actual game hardly matters” you sound like someone who is working for/with the people behind the development.

Based on real experience, with no dog in the fight, people wouldn’t all say it the same way. That is, unless they’ve been coached.

Come on, Anna, you know it’s silly to say MOST baseball fans don’t care about the game, itself.

But I’ve heard some of the Shockoe Bottom baseball stadium deal’s hired-hands use that SAME key phrase.

Me, I’m just a guy who’s been going to baseball games a long time. Been writing about sports and politics for a while, too. My only interest in this thing is in trying to help steer my home town toward genuine progress.

Nobody is paying me to fight against the Shockoe Bottom baseball stadium.

Do you mind revealing what interest, if any, you have in this development?