I was at Dodger Stadium yesterday afternoon. I love daytime baseball and it was a rare mid-week day game. Besides seeing baseball as it was truly meant to be played, in the light of day, a noontime start on a Wednesday usually means a smaller than usual crowd. In fact I thought the place was less than half-full. So I was surprised in the eighth inning when the paid attendance was announced at 47,114 meaning the stadium, which has a capacity of 56,000, was 84 percent full. I thought to myself, there's either a lot of fans here who are waiting in line for a beer and a Dodger Dog or a lot of people have shown up dressed as empty seats.
I shouldn't single out the Dodgers as the only business that practices the new math. After all, if you believe MGM, "Gone With The Wind" still hasn't turned a net profit. And if you listen to the News-Press, their circulation is growing.
Well, at least I know how the Dodgers arrived at their number. In baseball they count tickets sold, not how many people actually show up to occupy their seats. Who can blame them? Given a choice I'd rather count tickets than butts too.
In baseball, they count everything. Can't tell you what the excuses of MGM and the News-Press are.
Of course the News-Press did get some good news yesterday. The Audit Bureau of Circulations, the main newspaper auditing group in the U.S., announced that it would start counting web readers in addition to print-edition circulation and it will release newspapers' print, online and combined readership figures.
Average paid daily circulation numbers for newspapers have been declining for years. Not just for the News-Press but for all newspapers in general. Now that the News-Press will be able to use its web readership to boost its total circulation figures maybe they'll open their website up to non-subscribers of the paper as well.
Oprah Winfrey will be hosting a fundraiser for presidential candidate Barack Obama at her Montecito estate on September 8.
I have the distinct feeling though that the party will be attended by more people from L.A. than from Santa Barbara. According to the article, e-mail invites have already gone out. Funny, I haven't received mine. I better check the spam filter on my e-mail program.
Wanted: A photo of my blog page, running on the screen of an iPhone. Prize is the hot or cold beverage of one's choice to whomever submits the best photo. The decision of the judges (me) is final.
During the 5 p.m. broadcast of KEYT News yesterday, three employees of Allstate Insurance brought a car up to the station and stripped it clean in under 10 minutes.
So what's the big deal? Wendy McCaw can dismantle a good newspaper a lot faster than that.
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