Will the Real Baseball Fan Please Sit Down
August 19, 2008 by The Constant Complainer
I’ve come to expect that whether it is a baseball, football, basketball game or anything else, obnoxious fans comes with the territory.
In my blogs, I’ve chronicled other events in my life where I became upset at people for talking and being disruptive – at the movies, on airplanes, etc. But I wonder how different the below-situation really is.
Don’t get me wrong, at a sporting event, I think you should get pumped up, jump up and down, scream or do whatever else you need to do in order to support your team. However, I think in doing so, there is an unwritten rule as a fan. And that rule is: you do things within reason and along with your fellow fans? Am I wrong? Read on…
I was at the baseball game on Saturday night. The lady in front of us was standing up the entire time. She stood when nobody was standing. She stood when everyone was standing. She just flat out stood there. Nobody around us could see because of her.
This lady was screaming, dancing and attempting to get the crowd into the game, but frankly, it appeared that she was annoying people more than anything. She would walk up and down the aisle, patting fans on their shoulders and trying to get them into the game. She even spent time not watching the game, but rather facing backwards towards our section yelling and screaming. To be honest, I didn’t see her drinking, so I think she was just being rowdy. Talk about an outgoing personality!
The funniest part of the night was when the guy she was with just left. He mouthed something like “let’s go” and started walking up the stairs. She followed him for a second, only to return back near her seat and start carrying on again.
This situation got me wondering. Should I, as a fan, care what other fans around me do? Should I have told this woman to sit down, which I did – repeatedly? Clearly, every fan in the section was bothered by the distraction. You could see it on their faces. Or should I just come to accept that some fans get carried away, drink too much, get rowdy, maybe even get thrown out, etc? I guess I just didn’t like not being able to see for nine innings. And before you say it – no, there were no other seats around me to move to!
There comes a time when even the most energetic fans become a problem. Well, that’s what I’m chalking this up to anyway…
Click here to see my problem fan!
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It is an awkward situation when this happens. Do you tell the person to repeatedly sit down, possibly starting an arguement, or do you just let them stand up. I’m not big with confrontation, so I probably would have just told one of the ushers that she was blocking a number of people’s views by not sitting down. Probably not much they could have done about it though. Too bad she didn’t get hit with the ball…lol.
There’s a fine line here in my opinion. On one hand this would have irritated the crap out of me too, but on the other hand I get irritated by all the “Sit Down” rules they’re ratifying in the NFL. Since it’s baseball, I have no problem sitting in my seat throughout most of the game. When it’s football, I’m probably going to be standing most of the game. I’m irritated by these family zones that stadiums have come up with that don’t allow standing in your seats, drinking, or having a good time. Then on top of that, they’ve set up a cell phone texting system so that if someone in your section is bothering you, you can report them and have them thrown out. That’s not a horrible idea as long as people aren’t using the text system to make the fan in front of them sit down. SIT DOWN???? at a football game??? I’m not sitting down, YOU stand up! It’s like those people at rock concerts who sit down for the whole show and yell and scream at you to sit down too. Screw that! I paid for my ticket too and I’d actually like to enjoy the concert.
For some reason “sit-downers” feel that their right to see the game/concert outweighs the “stand-uppers” rights.
I agree with the CC here, because baseball is boring, but if it were a football game I’d have a different opinion.
There is no way to compare a MLB game to an NFL game. The NFL’s new rules are a very different topic to discuss.
Did you ask an usher to assist you in the situation? That’s clearly your best option. I have been to dozens of Indians games, and the ushers do not allow this type of behavior…ever. They would have solved this problem, and if they didn’t, you can go right up the chain very quickly. MLB has the best customer service and security in professional sports.
Was this a big woman that could have beaten you up? If not, you could have been a little more aggressive in getting her to shut her pie hole. Maybe you could have bought her some food…that might keep her quiet for a while.
This woman was probably oblivious to the fact that she was being anything other than a fun loving, die hard fan, trying to rally the forces to support her team.
To confront such a jovial, and quite probably rotund person, would be like kicking a puppy.
Sure, who doesn’t like to kick a puppy every now and then… but after a while you start to feel bad for the poor whimpering thing, with it’s little broken spirit.
So, in a situation like this, you have to be considerate of the feelings, of the thing that won’t be ignored… while being creative.
The first thing I would have tried, would have been taking the polite route, by tapping her on the shoulder and ask if she’d like to exchange seats, explaining that my seat is higher, giving her a better chance to be seen on the Jumbo-Fan-O-Tron! Then while she’s looking back at you, say, “OH, you just missed it, I was on and they showed the back of your huge head!”
If that doesn’t work, then I’d start making inappropriate comments about her ham hocks, which would now be at about eye level… such as, “Shake it, don’t break it Momma!” or “Mmmmmm, like kittens fighting in a burlap sack!” or, “I don’t care what anyone in their right mind has to say on the subject, I like a woman hauling a big fat sloppy WIDE LOAD!”
Then if she’s just too oblivious or playing hard to get, offer her five dollars if she’ll tell you what color her undies are, and ten bucks if she isn’t wearing any…
OK, that one could backfire in your face in a spectacular manner, if she became amorous of your subtle advances.
Then you’ll be looking at her face for the rest of the game. So, size up your obstacle well, before trying that one.
If your self appointed cheerleader (who is still no doubt carrying a deep and powerful grudge against those “skinny chicks” in high school), does sit down every once in a while… go to the concession stand, buy a hot dog for 10 or 12 bucks, then grab several fist fulls of mustard and ketchup filling your pockets.
OK, you know where I’m going with this, so I won’t bore you with the details…
If she doesn’t bother to take a trip to the ladies room, let your imagination run wild, and yell out the first things that come into your mind, before the ‘common sense’ part of your brain intervenes, causing you to sit there in silence, only to later think, “Yeah, What I should’ a said was…”
Then if she *does* go to the ladies room to try and scrape off the dripping yellow and red goo, she’ll come back sporting a single huge wet spot rather than a dozen smaller blotches… unless the stadium toilets have functioning hand dryers, but that’s pretty darned iffy.
Now, whenever I leave the house, I check the stand by the door and grab my wallet, keys, and for occasions such as this, that pop up more often than one would normally suspect… a red rubber whoopee cushion.
When your human blind spot returns, you blow up your whoopee cushion and play that thing like it’s a set of bag pipes and you’re wearing kilts, marching down Broadway in the 4th of July Parade!
I would have tossed peanuts or beer at her or something!
Dan S., I think you have some unreolved anger issues with fat people, i.e. “To confront such a jovial, and quite probably rotund person, would be like kicking a puppy.” and “or, “I don’t care what anyone in their right mind has to say on the subject, I like a woman hauling a big fat sloppy WIDE LOAD!” ?
I am not here to save Fat People… I am only saying I would like a more accepting world. See, one of my pet peeves is people who make thoughtless comments about other people without the full compliment of information about the other person’s condition. While you relatives undoubtably are bottom dwellers, it’s not good to lump all “fat” people into one class of people.
For the purpose of my argument and getting back to the original post, I want to say all people who spend an entire vacation with realatives and in a relatives’ guest room or on their couch are a bunch of poor ass, toothless, hillbilly, white trash. Now that I have lumped all people like you into a stereotypical group, how does it feel? Are you a poor ass? Toothless? Hillbilly?
Being a member of the extended S. family probably sucks, but it’s the only family you will ever have!
That’s right Zig. You must stick with your family. Just ask John Edwards’ wife. Even while he was talking about family values and cheating on his cancer stricken wife and getting the woman pregnant, she must stick by him. I mean John Edwards may be the black sheep of the family, but he’s still family.
***Now that I have lumped all people like you into a stereotypical group, how does it feel?***
Well… when you put it like that, I’m feeling a little hurt…
…and I though all fat people were jolly.