The Bangor Lumberjacks game Monday night was depressing, to say the least. Only about 75 people were on hand on a beautiful, long early summer evening, leaving the stadium that holds 3,000 looking suprisingly vacant.
There was no vibe whatsoever, thanks to a stadium experience lacking both video replay and the crowd noises most people relish in a live game. All this deafening quiet at UMO’s Mahaney Diamond, even though the food is relatively cheap and good, and you can easily get a great seat for under $5 bucks! More, there were plently of mid-inning opportunities for parents to send their kids running around the bases, racing the mascot, and tossing tennis balls for prizes and laughs.
The Lumberjacks are trying their hardest, with sharp uniforms, a highly visible mall outpost, and a reasonably enjoyable, professional time at the ballpark. Why people aren’t responding in greater numbers is not suprising, but it is interesting. You can’t fire off the excuse that people simply cannot afford it, because the local movie theatres are more expensive and are consistently filled night after night.
Perhaps location is the key, and next season or the one after, when the team is at Husson in Bangor, buzz will form around this new property and seats will fill.
In the meantime, people seem much too comfortable in their chairs, watching the Sox game on TV with the sound down and the radio turned up. They are playing great right now, after all.