Bigger...but Better?

Last Tuesday evening found me in New York City. Being a life-long Yankees fan, I thought it a great opportunity to take in a game and see the new, improved Yankee Stadium. I’ll return to touch this base, but let’s first look at the larger picture.

There seems to be an unwritten rule that dictates recurring events are not desirable without yearly increases in size, spectacularity, or participation. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about the local county fair or the Super Bowl: if this year’s ain’t bigger than last year’s, it ain’t better. ABC News reported last week that Brockton, MA cancelled it’s annual Memorial Day Parade for lack of funds. The next day they followed up with a story that reported the town had a change of heart (in response to an overwhelming cry of dismay) and would, indeed, proceed with the parade, albeit in a scaled-down version. The”scaling down” apparently revolved around the decision to forego a paid, big-time marching band and allow the local high school band to enjoy top billing.

Why would any town in America eschew local participants in favor of out of town, paid performers? Bigger and better, that’s why. Small town celebrations, regardless of the holiday or reason, are attractive because they care not about bigger and better. They concentrate on community and consistency. The crowds grow bigger over time due to that very fact. Specific acts may come and go, but the overall theme survives and that is a good thing.

How about Christmas? Now here is a great holiday, regardless of your religious affiliation. Gifts, food, drink, flashing lights: it’s got something for everyone. When I was a kid we’d wait not for Thanksgiving, but for the day after Thanksgiving because that’s when the Christmas season began. Literally overnight, the stores would pull out their Christmas displays and the buying spree would begin on the fourth Friday of November. The street decorations would go up earlier, of course, but nothing was turned on until the appropriate evening following the appropriate day. This was a hectic and happy period. Hectic because we had roughly five weeks to get all of our shopping and cooking done and happy because we knew that, by the end of that five weeks, we’d be more than ready to start our New Year’s diets and such while putting away the Christmas decorations for another eleven months.

Not any more, folks. The day after this year’s Christmas represents the first day of shopping for next year’s Christmas! Is it any wonder that we’re way beyond burned out by the time December 25th rolls around? Most of us are saying, “Jesus Christ, can I rest now?” with no pun intended. We’re beat, broke, and bent on avoiding the same maelstrom next year, but the powers that be conspire to defeat us before we’re out of the starting gate. Marketers start up their after-holiday sales pitches at one minute past midnight on December 26th and it’s all downhill from there.

Presidential politics is falling into the same trap by expanding the primary process to a point where it could well take four years to conduct a campaign that once involved only several months. In the 2008 election, two states (Florida and Michigan) were so bent on being the first on their block with a primary that they violated party guidelines, timing-wise, and created a hullabaloo over the status of their delegates. Without the appropriate respite between the slinging of barbs, accusations, and mud is there any wonder why voters shun the polls when election day finally rolls around?

No, “bigger and better” or “new and improved” are nothing more than marketing schemes aimed at roping in more money while delivering less. To buy into this ever-increasing philosophy invites eventual disappointment and the longing for simpler times. The one exception may involve the “enhancement” of specific parts of the male and female anatomy and I’d say that discussion is better left for another venue.

So let’s return for a moment to Yankee Stadium: it is a glorious place with state of the art electronics, more comfortable seating, and almost unlimited choices of sustenance and libation. My seat in the second deck (just outside first base) was $95. A burger, fries, and a beer was $25. New and improved doesn’t come cheap, you know. They kept the dimensions of the old stadium and tried to duplicate the theme, succeeding to a large degree. It is a smaller, but more comfortable stadium and includes, of course, luxury boxes absent from it’s predecessor. But is it better? That is a relative term to be decided upon by the individual. It is different and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Those of us that have lived long enough to see the comings and goings of hallowed locations are the only ones who notice the change. Younger eyes and minds will have to wait their turn to bid adieu to old standards while welcoming the new, bigger, and (hopefully) better.