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Allen, you, a "realist"????? Where did you spend the holidays? Let us know, because there are quite a few other people who could maybe benefit from a visit there as well.

Um, actually, John, I spent much of it here, except for a brief trip to Raleigh. But of course, Raleigh has rarely been hailed as a haven for realism, has it?

It's just the same old sports making their every other year rounds and of all places, winding up again in the place where they previously failed as an attraction.

Hmmmmm.....nobody else wants us so lets return to Greensboro where we've failed there before and, gee whiz, it felt good to fail as an organization in Greensboro.

After the aura of the new baseball stadium feel starts to fade, attendance will start to spiral downward for the Grasshoppers.

By the way, who was responsible for coming up with the name Grasshoppers, whose cousin, the locust (the migratory grasshopper), is considered by most countries, including our Western states, to be a plague of Biblical proportions.

Somebody must have been smoking some grass (minus the hopper) on that eventful day.

Jon:
One major difference in the baseball stadium is that many people go to the ballpark as much for the atmosphere, the view and the fresh air as the game (for proof, randomly ask crowd members to name one player). As nice a facility as the Greensboro Coliseum is, I'm not sure the same holds for hockey and arena football.

Allen,

I must admit, I probably am being a little too harsh toward the baseball team (I'm too embarrassed to say the name).

It's a great looking stadium and was a positive step toward revitalizing downtown G'boro. Hat's off to the powers that be who persevered in selling the taxpayer's on this project.

However, Hockey & Arena football don't have a prayer of succeeding in this market in my view.

Agreed. Jon, but remember, the ballpark was a private venture, aside from street construction.

Allen said, "Agreed. Jon, but remember, the ballpark was a private venture, aside from street construction."

Add the 4 million plus dollars the county put up to help defray the cost of moving the health department at a time when the county only employees 2 shrinks and appointments with patients must be constantly broken after 3 month waits so they can deal with the life or death situation of the day. How many shrinks could the county hire for 4 million bucks?

Sorry about the rant... still friends? ;-)

Definitely still friends, Billy. But the new building was long overdue and staff psychiatrists would constitute an ongoing operating expense, not the one-time expense involved in the move.
And don't forget, contrary to the views of skeptics, the ballpark has helped catalyze more downtown development. Witness the Jones Brothers, and others.