A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

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Social media blunders: Why open the gates so late?

Social media in 2019 is a powerful tool. 

It can be a lot of fun, it can sometimes be mean, and it can be somewhere in between. It’s also a place for a lot of information, which is great. But, if you are putting out information and something seems a bit off or fishy, then somebody likely will be there to call it out.

That seems especially true on Twitter.

For those who don’t follow minor league baseball teams, there are a lot of teams who embrace social media (especially Twitter) and really have a lot of fun with it. And, at the same time, if they post something not fully right, they will usually man up and take the blame and try and have fun with it. 

Not so, recently, in the case of the Trenton Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. 

Now, before I get into the whole situation, let me be clear on one thing – I have no issue in what they did in regard to gates and such. It is their right, and they had reasons. But, the fact that they gave false information, then basically doubled-down on it before giving away their true reason (without admitting the first was false) is where this goes wrong. 

Look, I understand what Minor League Baseball is all about. And I love it. But I don’t like when teams swerve fans, especially when there are facts to back up the fan side of things. 

Trenton is one team that usually has a pretty good grasp on things. I even blogged about it in 2016 (https://hoohaa.com/?p=10103). This time, not so much. 

With that in mind, here’s the story. 

It started with a simple Tweet on July 22 – talking about the game that night being postponed. The kicker is that it was a scheduled bobblehead day. For those not into minor league baseball – bobblehead nights are usually massive draws and most of the time only with a limited amount to give away (usually anywhere from 500-2,000). When some stadiums seat upward of 8,000-10,000 people, it’s often necessary to get in line an hour or two early to have a chance. 

So, Trenton postponed this game. And then posted these two tweets:

And …

Harmless, right? People seemed OK with it, but something stood out.

The gates for season-ticket holders would open at 5:30 p.m. – the same time as the first pitch was scheduled. And if you weren’t a season-ticket holder, then you were stuck waiting for the gates to open at 6 p.m. – 30 minutes after first pitch.

People picked up on this. Check out some of the responses, as well as the replies from the team (these are from each of the original tweets, not just one of them):

I mean, really?

I’ve probably been to a dozen or more Eastern League doubleheaders – single-admission and starting earlier than “normal” and been allowed in at least 30 minutes before the first pitch. This got me really wondering. So I had to ask.

And while asking, I got a more truthful answer.

I responded to that with this, which didn’t receive a reply.

On the other thread, they were questioned, too:

This received the “real” answer as well, along with a funny response from their opponents – Akron.

In searching other social media for this situation, Trenton held the line with the Eastern League rule, but when called out, the team again noted the bobblehead deal.

Those responding didn’t seem thrilled with this. And one idea came out that made sense (and I had wondered why they didn’t do this initially, either) — why not have a different entrance for those wanting to just get into the game and not worry about a bobblehead?

So, let me share some of the Facebook goodness, too.

You have to give the team credit for sticking to their stance — but the rule. This is what really got to me. They said it was a league rule, but haven’t shown anything about it. And, in the end, if you were doing this for the bobblehead (which, to be honest, makes no sense why not to open early… if people want the bobble, they’ll be there. Reality is… the night you were washed out was the bobble night — so all bets are off after that. I guarantee you’d still give away 1,500 bobbles), then say so from the beginning without throwing your league and some “rule” out there.

Especially when not everybody cares about the bobblehead. This, from the night of the doubleheader:

But, being the former newspaper person I am, I was really curious. Could this possibly be a true rule?

I think we all know the answer, but I needed to at least try and find out. So, I tweeted at the Eastern League.

Shockingly enough, I never received a response. I’m guessing it isn’t a rule.

And then …

I’d like to point out that I went to a Binghamton Rumble Ponies doubleheader on July 31. First pitch was scheduled for 5:35 p.m. Sound familiar?

Note when the gates open.

Apparently if it was an Eastern League rule… Binghamton didn’t get the memo. Or maybe it was just for a week or so. And why would I think that?

Well, on August 1, Trenton was again scheduled for a single-admission doubleheader. Note the start time. And note the gate time.

Fireworks and drink special night, but doesn’t appear to be a bobblehead night. Maybe that’s the rule they were referring to … or maybe …

Here’s the kicker to this doubleheader — in the opener, Trenton had a no-hitter. Only the sixth in franchise history — yet the second this season. In the minors, doubleheaders are seven-inning games. That no-hitter took 1 hour, 27 minutes to complete.

Let that sink in for a second — 1 hour, 27 minutes. The Trenton’s Brian Keller needed just 70 pitches for this dandy. IF, this had been a bobblehead day. And IF they had pulled the same bull about when the gates open. And IF you are were toward the back of the line because you got there a little later, there’s a chance you aren’t in the stadium and to your seat until about an hour into the game, give or take.

IF that had happened, the Trenton Thunder would have robbed fans of watching a dandy of a game, seeing history, and seeing something that not everybody gets to see on a regular basis in it entirety. And if you had stopped off to grab a hot dog or something, who knows how much you would have seen.

IF that had been me in that situation, I would have flipped. I love bobbleheads. And I have a lot of them. And I like giveaways like anybody else. But when I go to a baseball game, it’s for the game first — everything else second. Maybe Trenton will realize moving forward that many others think this way as well and not rob a possible amazing experience for a rescheduled giveaway item.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Positive vibes needed on The Book

There really isn’t anything that should shock me in regard to Facebook and what people post anymore.

As social networks continue to grow, people put more and more information freely out there. It might be where you’re eating dinner, or what event you are watching, or photos of friends, animals and others.

There are rants about politics and religion. There’s bigotry, racism, and hate. There’s good news, love, and things to make you smile.

Social media is basically a one-stop shop, so to speak.

One thing I’ve continually noticed, though, is it’s harder and harder to hide from negativity on Facebook. If anyone happens to look at my timeline, there’s nothing Earth shattering. Basically, I post a lot of photos. Sometimes, if I remember, there are links to blog posts. Occasionally, I’ll have a post about something I’ve done or places I’ve been. And though I haven’t put one on Facebook in a while, sometimes you’ll see some food shots. I’ll share things occasionally from other places, but for the most part – it’s just my little world.

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But I keep it positive.

It’s not a recent trend by any stretch, but maybe I’ve noticed it a little more. Over the past few months, I have been in a “blah” place. Whether it be work-related stress, personal things, or whatever else – I just haven’t felt like myself. That’s changed over the past three weeks or so, which is good. But I’ve also opened my eyes to a lot of other things – such as, what I will now refer to as, Facebook Spew.

What is Facebook Spew, you might ask?

Facebook Spew is all the junk that comes from those typing away about anything and everything and having no filter.

Remember – if you put it out there, it can be seen. It doesn’t matter if you are jeering or celebrating our President elect. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about a neighbor or somebody else. Or if you are complaining about weather, the schools, or whatever else one can think of. The reality is people use Facebook as an uncensored place for people to say whatever they want and not think about consequences of their actions or words.

Now, understand this – I firmly believe in freedom of speech. This isn’t a post saying people should stop. Heck, if it’s your thing, keep it up.

It doesn’t, however, mean I have to keep reading. And yes, I know there’s the “unfollow” button that allows people to be friends and not see the other person’s feed, but what’s the point of that? Isn’t the point of social media to want to see other people’s news and updates? That’s how I look at it anyway.

So … sometime before the end of 2016, I’m going to go through my Facebook account and I’m going to look at people’s accounts. Some people I might already not “follow.” Some I might. But I’m going to look and see.

Is there a lot of Spew? If so, I might have to say goodbye. It doesn’t mean I don’t like you anymore. Really, it doesn’t. It just means I don’t want to see Spew.

I’ve noticed recently I’ve lost a few friends (by the number) in the Facebook world. It actually made me smile. I have no idea who the people were, and that’s OK. But why smile? Because that means somebody might not like what I am posting (which, again, is just usually photos) and decided to say … I don’t need to see it anymore.

That’s fine and I respect it.

Facebook is a wonderful platform when used how you see fit – be it a place to complain or give opinions; or a place for sharing good things and such. But Facebook is also a place where people need to have the courage to say … we are friends and will continue to be in the real world, but when it comes to here … I’m saying goodbye.

I might only do it to 2-3 people. Maybe it will be a dozen. Who knows? But as we come into the holiday season, I want to feel positive vibes, not people complaining about this or that.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Looking over Facebook

Facebook is an interesting world.

I’m pretty protective of it. Not that I use it for anything crazy, but I tend to keep it more friends/family. I have certain rules – such as I need to know you in person (there are a few that passed that test without it – because I’ve known them so long in the online world), and I can’t work with you.

Also, I try to keep it at 250 or fewer because I see no need to have a thousand friends on there. I’m not close to being that popular in the real world, so I’m not going to pretend to be so in the online world.

Tonight, I saw a couple of updates from people I had connected with a long time ago. I’m still friends on the ‘Book with them and it’s always nice to see updates. But it makes me wonder, too, if I’ll ever connect with them again – person-to-person.

I’d like to thing that I would, but the reality is some of these people live a long distance away and some are in other countries etc. Therefore, it’s not easy.

Then I wonder – do they even remember who I might be?

It’s kind of funny – I can look through every person in my Facebook friends’ list and know exactly where and – for the most part – when I met somebody. I definitely wouldn’t be able to do that if I had oodles and oodles of people on here, that’s for sure.

I am sure – at some point – I’ll go above that 250 threshold a little higher than wanted (I’m over now – but only by two. Might be purge time!) But I try my best to keep it around there, just because I like to have that connection with people.

So how about you? Do you have a ton of friends? Do you know them all? What are your rules?

Facebook is a crazy world and it’s always interesting to see how people deal with it.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Slashing away on Facebook

Last month, I posted something about social media.

Not that I want this to be a social media blog, but I’ve wanted to try and revisit some things. In that post, I talked a bit about protecting yourself and all that good stuff.

I also mentioned how I like to keep my personal Facebook account down in regard to “friends” as it’s my personal space – not something where I just add friends and friends.

And friends and friends.

You know how that goes – some people have thousands of friends on the “book.” That just seems crazy to me.

I decided to revisit it earlier this week. I’m currently below my 250 threshold, but I wondered how much further I could take it.

Mind you, I haven’t deleted anybody yet, but I went through and counted nearly 25 people who I either haven’t dealt with in a long time or I’ve never met personally. Usually, for me, that latter statement is a no-no. But I have a few people who I’ve not actually met in person who I have no issues with being on that list, be it through blogging or photography or something along those lines.

But there were still a bunch …

This post discusses that aspect of things and, more specifically, pulling the trigger to “unfriend.”

A couple of years ago, unfriend was actually added to the dictionary. The definition, as a verb is: “to remove (someone) from a list of designated friends on a person’s social networking Web site.”

It’s never easy, is it?

A couple of years ago, somebody I knew had more than 1,500 people on his list. Can you imagine? One night, he realized it was time to clean. Within an hour or so, he trimmed the heck out of that list.

With me, it’s a smaller scale. So trimming it is a little harder at times. I know it needs to be done, but sometimes … it’s holding on.

And, honestly, I don’t think those who I looked at on the list would even notice.

So where’s the difficulty?

I go through and look and can’t seem to pull the trigger. Is it the hesitance of doing the deed? I know it’s been done to me (and recently one or two that have done it is a relief, to be honest) and it doesn’t personally offend me. So why I can’t I do the same?

It’s like saying goodbye to a long-lost friend or something.

But seriously, why does it seem so hard to click the unfriend button? Anybody else have these issues? One night, I’ll just go “cold turkey” and start slashing away … or I might not. I just never know.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

A social media grows — how do you protect yourself?

The social media world — how do you handle it?

When I was a youngster, social media wasn’t even thought about.

During the day, you’d go outside and play. You’d run around, breathe in the fresh air and be carefree. If it wasn’t a school night, the basic premise used to be that you headed home when the street lights came on.

Fellow parents knew where the group of kids were. They’d peek and watch out, but wouldn’t helicopter.

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Social media is running the world, it seems.

We could scrape knees (ouch!) and get dirty without having to report everything to parents. It could also be done without people threatening to sue somebody else.

But we live in a new age.

All the bad things we see out there in the media happened way back when. It’s a sad state, for sure. But they happened. Kids were kidnapped, there were people killing others and violence.

The big difference was the reporting of it.

If, for example, something happened in Oregon, we didn’t always hear about it in New York.

Now there’s the Internet, of course, and with that comes social media.

Ignore everything I said above. This isn’t about society, per say, with social media. This is more on a smaller scale. This is about you or me or people we know.

And I’m curious — how free are you with your social media?

The other night, after attending an event, I posted, on Facebook, a photo I took of a friend. I tagged him in it and that was it.

The next day, I had two friend requests from people I had never met and, as far as I know, never spoke with them.

And it was connected to said photo.

I didn’t accept and left it at that. But it got me thinking … how free are you with things like this?

I’m very protective of my private life. Though my job doesn’t put me in the “public eye” per say, I have a public job … so it’s pretty open. My private life is just that — my private life and I like to keep it that way.

I have a few rules, when it comes to my personal Facebook account:

  • I have to know you (and usually in real life — it’s rare for me to friend somebody I only know through the online world, but there are exceptions);
  • I can’t work with you (again, a few exceptions to the rule have and will happen);
  • Don’t post about things like politics and religion, and stay away from posts that do (and the same goes for my blog).

It’s that simple.

I also like to keep my list to fewer than 250 people … and even that is way too many in my eyes. But I’ve connected with family and older friends, so I figure it’s all good in the end.

Every 6-8 months, I’ll go through the list and weed some out. Mostly it’s people I haven’t kept in contact with and such. It’s just part of life.

But I’m not free with the Facebook world, that’s for sure. My settings are private etc. as I want to keep it that way.

I’m a little more open and free with things like Twitter and Instagram, but I don’t look at that as I do the ‘Book. Instagram is more of a photo documentary of things that I see. And Twitter … I don’t use it as much as I used to, but have been trying to do a little more with it. Though I keep those pretty open, I still try and make sure there’s nothing too crazy on them. Though I dabble in other social media, there would be the big three.

So how about all of you?

How do you deal with social media and how much do you let others into it? Discuss below as I’d love to see what you all think!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!