Friday, June 19, 2009

Time To Play Ball!

Tonight is opening night for Oneonta’s local baseball team, the Tigers. This will be their first season under control of a new group of owners, who bought the team from two local owners. The new owners have decided that free games shall be a thing of the past. There was a time when I could walk into my local bank and grab some free tickets. There was Hartwick Night, of course, as well as NBT Bank night, SUNY Oneonta night, and others. Alas, those have gone, it seems, the way of the dodo bird.

On the plus side, I hear that Mama Nina’s Pizza will have their own concession stand at the game. This is a definite positive. The Daily Star, Oneonta’s local daily newspaper, reports that workers will sell alcohol for the first time at games. Overall, this could be a great new era for the Tigers, just not a great new era for my wallet.

All joking aside, I can see the reasoning behind this move. In such an economic situation as the nation is presently in, too many free games could be bad. The owners, after all, still need to make a profit after paying bills and doling out salaries. Further, I don’t mean to give the impression that ticket prices are expensive. (Six dollars for a seat, ten for a box seat, I hear.)

In other Oneonta news, I had the fortune yesterday to meet Jason Corrigan. I’ve mentioned Mr. Corrigan here a number of times. He’s running for mayor of Oneonta, since current mayor John Nader has decided not to seek re-election. My current alderman, Erik Miller, has thrown his hat into the race, as has former Hartwick President Dick Miller. Mr. Corrigan seeks to run as a Democrat, which means he’ll need to face off with Dick Miller in a primary.

Let me downright honest here: I didn’t see eye-to-eye with some of then-President Miller’s decisions concerning Hartwick. I respect him as a person, I know that he worked for the good of the college, and whenever we talk he is quite nice, but I am a registered Democrat, and as such, I generally vote for Democrats. Both Miller and Corrigan seek the Democratic nod. One thing that Mr. Corrigan told me was that D. Miller was a registered Republican.

Although I have voted for a Republican in the past. (For alderman, because he reached out to my family and I) I rue that vote now. I will need some convincing to give my vote to either of the Millers.  As of right now, I’m inclined to vote for Mr. Corrigan. He has reached out to me specifically, he has openly supported Oneonta’s LGBT community, and he can inspire my peers to become more involved in Oneonta. When I was a kid, people raised their families here. The majority of my elementary and middle school graduating class were kids who had lived here their entire life. When my kid sister graduated from elementary school, only a handful of her classmates had gone to the same elementary school from kindegarten to 6th grade. My peers speak of Oneonta with a hint of mockery. I believe that Mr. Corrgian can take steps to change that. Young people need to stay in Oneonta if it is to thrive.

Let me repeat: I’m only giving an indication of how I’m leaning. This isn’t an endorsement. I want to listen to all candidates before I do that. And I’m not so partisan as to pretend that simply because a candidate is a Republican, that he cannot have valid, good ideas. At the local level, I am open to voting for Republicans.

Sorry for the long post friends.

Later days,
Nico