A tale of two teams and the lessons we can learn

A tale of two teams and the lessons we can learn

I am here to tell you the economy is alive and well…at least in Southern California.  My family and I trekked to the area for a family wedding.  It was one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever attended.  While visiting, we planned ahead to take in an Angel’s baseball game.  Since the game was sold out at the stadium we decided to order tickets from a ticket exchange company to ensure that we would be able to get a seat.  We paid double for the “cheap seats” through the exchange.  So we got $12 seats, which used to be $5 back in the day, for $24. It was our first Angels game in seven years, and we were thrilled to be part of the environment that makes up “America’s greatest pastime” with 44,000 plus attendees.

The thing I noticed most is how much money passed hands from patrons to vendors, and it occurred to me that there is no pending economic decline.  Life is good in the ol’ U.S. of A.  We’ve got nothing to worry about.

When one can go to a baseball game and pay at the very least $12 for a seat, $10 to park the car, $9.75 for a hotdog, $4 for a soda and God knows how much for beer, while sitting around watching 18 guys whose salary is in the multiple millions of dollars there must not be anything wrong with the economy. 

Not in the mood for a hotdog?  How about a personal-sized pizza for around $10?  Or maybe an ice cream bar for $7.50? frozen lemonade?  $5.50.  These items were selling like hotcakes on a Saturday morning.

There was a line to get into the team store.  Once inside I felt like I was in a mosh pit (you can ask your teenager what that is, if you don’t know).  I could not find a T-shirt for under $20, not that I was actually going to buy one.  Cashiers were crazy busy. Discover and AmEx were ever present. The plastic was flying.

Another So Cal baseball team, the Dodgers, may represent more of what America looks like.  Three days before payday, Dodger owner Frank McCourt led the charge for the Dodgers to file for bankruptcy. 

Were their hotdogs, beer, or peanuts any cheaper?  Were they not raking in the dough on concessions over there at the former Chavez Ravine?  I’m sure that’s not the case. There was a major mismanagement of funds and poor overall management by McCourt.

How does this affect the players?  The Angels are one game back from the lead. The Dodgers are 11 games back in their division.  The Angels play to sell-out crowds almost every weekend. According to Baseball-reference.com, fan attendance is down almost 8,500 people per game at Dodger Stadium. When attendance is down, so goes vendor sells.  Maybe we can relate better to this team.

The bottom line is this: we are personally responsible for our financial well being.  The government is not going to fix anything for us.  How we manage our personal finances will determine if we are playing to a sellout crowd or striking out. My hope is that we each hit a homerun in managing our personal finances. We can be the homerun hitters while our government sits on the bench clueless.

Rhonda Tommer is a resident of Santa Clara and a member of The Spectrum and Daily News Writers Group.  She can be reached at r.tommer.writersgroup@gmail.com