Shooting from the lip

By Tom Jones, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Most and least supportive fans

The Cavaliers lost superstar LeBron James. They own the worst record in the NBA at 10-47. They recently lost 26 games in a row to tie the 1976-77 Bucs for the longest streak in modern-day North American professional sports. But their fans (shown above) might be the best in the NBA. The Cavaliers are playing to 98.5 percent capacity, which is more than 20,000 fans a game. It's easy to support a winner, but fans of the Cavs are still cheering what could be the worst team in all of sports. That makes the Cavs fans, arguably, the most dedicated and supportive sports fans in the land. You can't blame fans for not supporting losing teams, and you expect fans to show up for good teams. The true test? Fans who flock to see bad teams or don't show up to watch good ones. With that in mind, here's a look at some attendance figures to determine which fans we consider the most and least supportive right now.

Major League Baseball

Most supportive: It has become nearly impossible to get Red Sox tickets, especially since the team won the 2004 World Series. Despite the team suffering a rash of injuries and missing the playoffs last year, Red Sox Nation still filled up Fenway Park. The Sox drew an average crowd of 37,619 (100.9 percent capacity). Cubs fans also should be praised as the team played to 92 percent capacity despite a losing season. Because Wrigley Field holds more than Fenway, the Cubs actually drew more fans, 37,814 a game.

Least supportive: Tampa Bay fans set records for watching the Rays on television, but the criticism fans get for not showing up at Tropicana Field is deserved. Blame the economy, blame stadium location, blame whatever you want. Bottom line: The Rays had the second-best record in baseball last season but played to only 52 percent capacity. The other teams that played to less than 60 percent capacity last season were the Marlins, Mariners, Nationals, Royals, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Orioles, Indians, A's and Blue Jays. Of those teams, only one had a winning record. And that was the Blue Jays, who finished fourth in the American League East. It also included all six of the majors' last-place teams.

National Basketball Association

Most supportive: After the loss of All-Star LeBron James, it seems as if the Cavaliers fans have defiantly rallied behind the team to show they don't need no stinkin' LeBron. The team is going to go down as one of the worst in NBA history but still is drawing 20,257 per game, third best in the NBA.

Least supportive: The city of Atlanta often is criticized for not showing passion for local teams. Rumors are swirling that the NHL's Thrashers might not last much longer in Atlanta. And the NBA's Hawks are struggling with attendance. They are 11 games over .500 and heading toward the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Still, they are playing to only 78 percent capacity and just an average of 14,613 fans.

National Football League

Most supportive: The Cowboys built the swankiest stadium in sports, and fans showed up in droves even though the team was crummy for most of the season. The Cowboys went 6-10 but played before an NFL-leading 87,047 per game. That was 108.8 percent capacity, the highest in all of pro sports over the past year.

Least supportive: Sorry, locals, but again, you have to look at Tampa Bay. The team had a sensational turnaround, going from 3-13 in 2009 to 10-6 last season. Yet all home games were blacked out, meaning the team didn't sell out once. The Bucs officially played to only 75.1 percent capacity. But it often looked as if the stadium was way more than a quarter empty.

National Hockey League

Most supportive: There's a reason Toronto is considered the epicenter of hockey. It loves even bad hockey. The Maple Leafs have missed the playoffs all five seasons since the 2004-05 lockout and likely will miss them again this season. Still, the Maple Leafs have played to 102.7 percent capacity. The Blackhawks are struggling to get into the playoffs yet are playing to 108.3 percent capacity in the cavernous United Center. Then again, the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup last season, so interest should be high.

Least supportive: Are we seeing a theme here? Numbers don't lie, and the Lightning is playing to only 85.1 percent capacity even though it is one of the best and most surprising teams of the season. This recent 12-game homestand, tied for the longest in NHL history, didn't do the team any favors. It's hard for fans to spend that kind of money when the games are packed this close together. Still, the Lightning ranks 23rd in attendance capacity and 20th in average attendance.

St. Petersburg Times staff writer Tom Jones offers up his Two Cents on the world of sports.

ESPN's new ombudsman

ESPN and the Poynter Institute announced Thursday the creation of the Poynter Review Project, which will review ESPN content across all platforms and publicly comment on ESPN's work.

Essentially, Poynter is now ESPN's ombudsman, acting as an ethics and standards watchdog for all of ESPN's platforms. Poynter takes over the job held by former TV executive Don Ohlmeyer and previously held by former New York Times sports editor Le Anne Schreiber and former Washington Post sports editor George Solomon.

As with the previous ombudsmen, Poynter's role with ESPN will last 18 months. A rotation of three Poynter professors are expected to write monthly columns as well as other pieces as dictated by breaking issues. The columns will appear on ESPN.com starting next month.

The Poynter Institute, which owns the St. Petersburg Times, is a journalism school located in St. Petersburg.

ESPN executive vice president and executive editor John Walsh said, "The Poynter Institute's reputation in the field of journalism is unmatched, and we welcome the panel's scrutiny in this new format. Our goal is to improve our content through increased accountability, transparency and timeliness.''

Timeliness, of lack of it, plagued the tenure of Ohlmeyer, the weakest of ESPN's ombudsmen so far. Poynter should offer a fresh perspective from the previous ombudsmen with heavy sports backgrounds. However, there are two concerns that are really no different than previous ombudsmen or, for that matter, media critics.

One is if Poynter will ignore the concerns and comments of ESPN's viewers and simply work off its own agenda. The other is if ESPN actually listens to the ombudsman anyway. ESPN began having an ombudsman in 2005 yet has continued to have various conflicts of interest, including the much-criticized LeBron James' Decision show last summer.

Media tidbits

• Matt Reitz of NBCSports.com, reports that after reviewing a USA Hockey report, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida are the "fastest-growing states'' in terms of youth hockey registration.

• NBA television ratings are up 32 percent on ABC, 26 percent on TNT and 15 percent on ESPN. At a local level, TNT's rating are up 50 percent in Boston, 39 percent in Los Angeles and 65 percent in Miami. You would expect LeBron James joining the Heat has something to do with that. But according to USA Today, the biggest jump of all has been in Oklahoma City, where TNT's ratings are up 150 percent.

• With the NFL labor situation heating up, ESPN has hired Andrew Brandt, president of the website National Football Post, to serve as an NFL business analyst. Brandt spent nine seasons in the Packers front office and teaches at the Wharton School of Business. He will continue to write for the National Football Post and teach at Wharton.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/shooting-from-the-lip/1153734

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