BURKARD'S BLOG
I searched on the Internet, and found no one keeping a blog about events in Columbus, Georgia. (Well, other than a 15-year-old high school student, and who knows how much he pays attention to the news?) So being the hip web-savvy guy that I am, I decided to start a blog of my own - chronicling happenings in the town I've called home for some six years, as
well as my experiences in it.
But be warned.... I used to have a humor service called LaughLine.Com, so my views may be a bit amusing. And the views are my own; no one has paid me to present theirs. Pressured, yes - but paid, no.
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9 JUL 03: WAVE 'EM TOWARD HOME
I jogged past Golden Park Tuesday morning, and again noticed the yellow ribbon on the main entrance. I'm still not sure whether that's for Fort Benning's Third Brigade - or all the missing area baseball fans.
The Columbus Council approved a two-year contract Tuesday, for the South Georgia Waves to play home games at Golden Park. Maybe now people will turn out to watch the team play. And maybe now local sports reporters will give the Waves more coverage than area Little Leaguers.
City Manager Carmen Cavezza admitted the South Georgia Waves need to do a better job of marketing themselves. I've seen a few TV commercials - but what else has the team done? Certainly you'd think businesses on Broadway would let them put posters on the front windows.
General Cavezza added the two-year deal with the South Georgia Waves does not eliminate the possibility for a long-term commitment with a minor league baseball team. So apparently he doesn't consider these guys "permanent Waves."
It obviously didn't help the South Georgia Waves that they moved from Albany to Columbus only a couple of weeks before the baseball season started. Maybe they should have left ball caps along Highway 520, pointed in this direction....
It also doesn't help the Waves that minor league baseball hasn't been on Columbus radio in a couple of years. C'mon, WDAK -- you broadcast more Columbus High School games this year than ever before.
In the first half of the season, the South Georgia Waves averaged only about 350 fans a home game - the lowest attendance of ANY pro baseball team, anywhere. When you're below the Montreal Expos, you DO have a problem.
(There's one good thing about a small crowd, though. Your chances of taking home a foul ball as a souvenir increase considerably.)
Things for the South Georgia Waves have been SO BAD....
+ Their games can't even get on Ritmo Latino Radio -- in Spanish.
+ There's talk of renovating the clubhouse, to hold two Habitat for Humanity families.
+ Cascade Hills Church had a four-week "Catch the Wave" series of sermons [true] - and Pastor Bill Purvis didn't bring up the team once.
(Come to think of it, Bill Purvis DID have one message which could have applied to Columbus baseball crowds - "Micro Waves.")
There ARE a few signs of progress for the South Georgia Waves. For instance, a check of the team's web site Tuesday afternoon showed the first four-game streak of the season - that is, scores have been posted on the web site four games in a row.
If the Waves have any special promotions coming up, the team web site doesn't tell you. In fact, it doesn't even explain the two photos of a strange-looking blue thing in the stands. That IS the team mascot, isn't it?
The South Georgia Waves were off Tuesday night, sitting only two-and-a-half games out of first in the South Atlantic League's Southern Division. If they can get on a hot streak, the promotions should come easily: "Waves baseball - we're winning, while nobody else in town is."
The attitude about minor league baseball is different, not far from Columbus. Montgomery's building a new stadium for a Class AA minor league team moving from Orlando - and the team's new name next year will be the Montgomery Biscuits! This could be the first time fans attempt to eat the mascot.
(You can probably come up with your own jokes for the broadcasters already. "The Biscuits are in a bases-loaded JAM....")
As for other sports: our best wishes to Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville. He's been in bed and barely able to talk for almost a week, after surgery for "severe neck pain." We're wondering if all the players in trouble with the law gave
Tuberville that pain in the neck.
BLOG UPDATE: Who'da thunk it? WRBL Senior Consumer Investigator, Weekend News Anchor and All-Around Nice Guy Blaine Stewart presented his report on prescription drug prices Tuesday night and actually said: "You might call today Small-Change Tuesday." (8 Jul) News 3 can send us the consulting fee within 30 days; e-mail us for the address and rates. (We're taking YOUR donations, too -- no tax deduction, though.)
It turns out you can save more than 20 dollars a month on popular prescription drugs, by having them filled at places such as Target. But you'll have to resist the suggestion from Target's TV commercials that you use the pills to decorate your walls.
COMING THURSDAY: One woman's complaint about a "powerful" Russell County business....