No fever? Tribe fans still good

More than an hour after Monday's Indians game, I was walking back to my car across from Jacobs Field when I passed by the players' parking lot and saw several fans -- in the 30-35 age range -- waiting for autographs.
I don't understand why people over the age of, say, 15 still want autographs (particularly when it's from minor league players) but, then again, I asked a pro golfer to marry me (twice), so what do I know?
I got my last autograph when I was 10. I waited in line for an hour and a half for Ozzie Newsome and Brian Brennan to sign a glossy photograph. They (the autographs, not Ozzie and Brian) are probably sitting in some drawer in my parents' house next to some old football cards that would be worth a heckuva lot more if parents still threw out their kids' cards like they did in the 1950s.
ANYWAY, this (somehow) leads me to the topic of this column, which is (obviously): Why aren't more people going to Indians games?
Only 23,794 people went to Monday's crucial loss to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. That's about 20,000 less than capacity.
Can't criticizeTribe fans
When I saw the crowd, I was fully prepared to write a column criticizing Indians fans for the poor attendance.
But I can't.
Thing is, back in the 1990s when the Tribe was trouncing teams and sellouts were routine, going to an Indians game was a social event. You saw baseball fans, but you also saw people who were there to see the ballpark, hang out with their friends, yell at David Wells, make fun of Slider, etc.
That's changed. The people at Monday's game were (mainly) there to watch baseball. They didn't leave early. They didn't ignore the game. They just watched, cheered and (hopefully) still made fun of Slider.
Which is why I'm not going to complain about the people who weren't there. I'm too impressed by the people who were. (This does not include the reporter sitting next to me, who easily weighed 275 pounds and drank 11 cups of pop and three cups of water IN SEVEN INNINGS ALONE. He was getting three Mountain Dews at a time. Even if you ignore the damage done by the calories and caffeine, why would anyone do that to his bladder?)
Fans excitedwatching team
ANYWAY, back to the fans. In the third inning, Casey Blake came up to bat with two outs and the bases loaded. He hit a long fly to center and, judging by the crowd's response, you would have thought it was potentially the game-winning hit in the ALCS. And when Tampa center fielder Joey Gathright caught the ball, you would have thought the Indians lost an ALCS game.
"There's a lot of energy out there," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "You love to see that this time of year."
The Indians will draw about 2 million people this season, which is a far cry from the 3 million they routinely drew from 1995-2000 when they sold out 455 straight games.
Still, it's not a bad number, especially since this weekend's White Sox series is sold out.
There's been a lot of theories about why more people aren't going to games: high gas prices (understandable), high ticket prices (not understandable; bleacher seats are $12 each, which is pretty stinking reasonable) and, of course, hatred of owner Larry Dolan (sort of understandable, although not as much as certain fans think).
Like everyone else, I'd like to see more people go, but the crowds are still good. My only complaint came in the fourth inning, when the immortal Julio Lugo hit a three-run homer and one of the fans in the left field bleachers threw it back.
This isn't the stupidest tradition in baseball -- rally monkeys are way worse -- but it's up there. Why throw it back? Do you think Lugo cares? Do you think the Indians care?
(Answers: There's no good reason, no and no.)
One thing the Indians do care about is fan support. And while it's disappointing to see a half-full stadium during a pennant race, it's encouraging to see how good those fans are.
So far, it's been good enough for the Indians players.
And you know what? It's good enough for me.
XJoe Scalzo is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com.