Thursday, November 20, 2008

Rapids: A true underdog story

Here's a short message to some, not all mind you, of the 82 per cent of respondents to a newspaper poll who say professional baseball can't work in Ottawa: Enjoy watching your Sens miss the playoffs.

Guarded optimism is as close as it comes to drinking the Kool-Aid with the Rapids, or whatever they might be called (even if legal wrangling leads to using another name, Rapids is the preference). Can-Am League commissioner Miles Wolff, along with the local sweat-equity types such as Ottawa's own Mike Kusiewicz are nothing if not willing to consider everything within reason to get the region's baseball community all pulling on the same rope next summer. As Mr. Wolff said:
"... the league believes in the market. It's a great city. A great stadium. Long-term, we think it's in the best interest of the league to try and make it work. It all teases you.
No one is denying that it has not been and will be a hard road, starting in January when the process to sell tickets and put together a competitive team begins in earnest. It is doable, and with Wolff's energy and vision, all things are possible.

Footage of yesterday's press conference is up over at The Unofficial Ottawa Rapids Blog.

Related:
Can-Am league still up for Ottawa challenge; No new owner in sight, but planning continues for '09 baseball season (Ottawa Citizen)
Bases loaded for return; League confident pro ball can survive in city (Sun Media)

3 comments:

Eric Toms said...

I assume that's a Sun poll? How many respondents?

Dennis Prouse said...

Pete, it wouldn't matter if the poll had 10 respondents or 1000 - it is still meaningless. In fact, those internet polls are worse than meaningless. They are totally misleading, and no one with even a passing knowledge of statistics should be using them.

In order to be valid, a poll has to be random, and has to be demographically balanced. These polls are the complete opposite. They are what are termed, "self selecting surveys". In other words, only those who know of the opportunity to participate are able to do so.

These polls exist for one reason only - to drive and measure traffic to a website. People love to give their opinion, and delude themselves into thinking people actually care about it when they "vote" at a website.

The good news is that decision makers are well aware of how pointless these "polls" are, and pay them no heed.

sager said...

That's why I was so flip toward the people who voted ... I don't really want the Sennies to miss the playoffs.