Denial and delusion, in any order, pretty much explain much of what is happening in Greater Johnstown, around the USA, and even around the world.
To focus on a local example, lets us ponder Thunder in the Valley, which the Daily Bugle seemed to be proclaiming a success Monday with its front-page spread. Buried deep in one story, though, was a paragraph noting neither attendance, nor economic impact figures were available.
Let me anticipate, neither will be good on an historical basis, at least they won’t be good unless denial and delusion are factored into the calculations to buff up the report.
In the sports world, there is something known as the eye test. Yes, sports these days are neck-deep in analytics and the deification of statistics, but if you have a little bit of background you can make some pertinent observations without crunching numbers.
Here’s an example: A few years back, on opening night of the AAABA Tournament, the team playing Johnstown had a pitcher whose mechanics were, in a word, “terrible.” I told my son this guy was an arm injury waiting to happen and it was hard to believe he’d made it through an entire season in whatever league he played in, without ending up hurt.
Within a few innings, said pitcher was out of the game, having hurt his arm. Does this make me a genius? Far from it.
But, to cite a broader example, what the COVID hysteria, among other recent events has proven, is that experts often are wrong, statistics often are massaged to provide the desired message, and people such as me who relied on reality and common sense, came out fine without multiple vaccines or living in a hermetically sealed bubble.
This is the long way of getting around to my take on this year’s Thunder, which I saw as a pale shadow of the event in its heyday. Thursday, the wife and I took two granddaughters, ages 4 and 5, to Central Park to catch Krazy Kat Daddies.
Kudos to the band, which played its entire two-hour window without a break. The girls, despite their age, like to dance to oldies music. They had a great time.
After the band was done, we strolled around downtown, to the Bikers’ Mall and beyond. My take was vendor count was down, motorcycle count was low and spectator attendance was limited, admittedly early in the going.
Weather was a problem, with rain, or the threat of same, dampening things, literally and figuratively, all weekend.
I got a report from a trusted source that the lighted motorcycles parade, which last year ran about an hour, with many extravagantly illuminated vehicles crossing the Napoleon Street bridge near the War Memorial Arena, lasted less than 10 minutes this year and some bikes merely had their four-way flashers going.
I have no first-hand observations or anecdotal reports from Saturday, a day with lots of rain, but I did break out my convertible during a weather break Sunday and drove through downtown. Same thing: Few bikes, or spectators, compared with past years.
And then there is the noise indicator. Bikers fall into a couple of divisions – those whose first priority is to make the exhaust as jarring as possible, and those who ride the full-dress bikes, keeping exhaust notes low but blaring away their stereos on kill volume. Either way, you can hear them from the next municipality.
In past years, the days and nights were punctuated with virtually nonstop motorcycle noise, from both near and far. This year, it was more like an average weekend.
But I’m sure the organizers will be able to put a shine on all this.
My wife spent all of $1.50 for two cookies downtown Thursday for the girls. The kids wanted to eat, but even they didn’t find $5 hot dogs all that attractive.
In a remarkable display of maturity, they first wanted to go to McDonalds, but as I headed for the Rt. 56 bypass to hit the Richland location (bad reports abound on Westwood and downtown), the girls opted instead for Hoss’s.
Perhaps our money spent at Hoss’s will be factored into the Thunder success calculus, with the typical multiplier applied to such things, but should it count? We would have taken the girls out for lunch, Thunder or not, just as I’m sure many citizens who avoided Thunder like the plague, still patronized area gas stations, bars and restaurants during Thunder’s run.
This begs the question, one I’ve asked before, of exactly how these people calculate those economic impact figures, which often seem to be $20 million?
If they try running $20 million up the flagpole this year to see who salutes it/them, I’m going to issue a large Bronx cheer.
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