# Best fans in baseball: Cardinals fans/Michael Brown protest **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 7, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681 "2014-10-07T19:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/41 "2014-10-08T05:10:04Z")
Years ago at a KC Chiefs game some American Indian protesters were demonstrating (in the parking lot by the entrance) against the use of Indian names and themes in professional sports. At first it started out fairly benine but then the protesters turned the American flag upside down and started throwing out insults to the people wearing semi-indian costumes and things got ugly. Thing is alot of people in this area have Indian blood and were sympathetic until the insults started. ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/42 "2014-10-08T13:00:19Z")
A question for those who quickly pointed out a few disjointed racist taunts: if a large group of mostly white people showed up to protest where there were mostly black people, do you think there wouldn’t be at least a few racist taunts? I’m not sure what point is being made, other than some people are racist. Or is it the trope of the noble, downtrodden blacks against privileged whites? For the record, I’m not automatically supporting the police in Brown shooting. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t automatically give the benefit of the doubt to either side. I’ve read various possible scenarios vindicating either side, but haven’t seen any video or other proof of what happened. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/43 "2014-10-08T15:45:50Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > There were about 50,000 fans in the stadium. Probably at least that many outside. A) This is a huge event, even by St. Louis baseball standards, being the playoffs and all, so if you want to raise awareness about an issue, this is the place to do it. 2) This is not remotely a representative sample of the diversity of thought among Cardinals fans re: Ferguson. > > Nevertheless, St. Louis is a pretty racist town in my experience, and baseball will draw out the lowest common denominator more than say, [a symphony audience](http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/us/michael-brown-symphony-performance/). St. Louis is a highly segregated city. I could draw on a map wide segments in town which are 98% black and again white, but where income levels are pretty similar. So we aren’t talking about income disparity, just racial disparity. Also, the metro area is really sprawling, with a good size of the population living outside the city and even StL County, into the surrounding counties and Illinois. I realize you’re are providing your opinion, but let me reply with my own. As someone with a mixed race extended family (nieces & nephews), and coming from my own ethnic background. St. Louis is no more a rascist town than any other city in America. We all have our issues to deal with, and hopefully resolve. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/44 "2014-10-08T15:52:01Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Yeah, that statement was, how shall we say…questionable? Well that’s mighty white of you to allow. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/45 "2014-10-08T16:00:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The concert protest, also, was far more disruptive and uninvited than the baseball game protest. > [@Acsenray](#): > > It happened during an intermission and it was met with far more grace and respect than the baseball game protest. A spokesman for the symphony even said he had wished that the protesters had stayed to hear the last part of the program after they were done protesting. Just to absolutely clarify what happened at the symphony: it didn’t happen during intermission; it happened just before the downbeat, after the house lights had gone down, the orchestra had tuned, the conductor and soloists had come on stage, and the chorus had stood. It actually started more or less exactly as the chorus was given the signal to stand. There is no doubt that it “disrupted” the performance. That said, it was, on the whole, a well done and tasteful affair. The disruption was ultimately a mere delay; it didn’t affect the performance in any way (I don’t think). I do wish they had stayed, as I think it would have been a far more poignant “Requiem for Mike Brown”. Source: me. I’m in the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/46 "2014-10-08T16:49:47Z")
Moved to the Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/47 "2014-10-09T14:54:27Z")
> [@RetroVertigo](#): > > St. Louis is a highly segregated city. I could draw on a map wide segments in town which are 98% black and again white, but where income levels are pretty similar. So we aren’t talking about income disparity, just racial disparity. No need to draw a map. I’ve got one [here](http://hendo.smugmug.com/photos/i-cMnDzDW/0/O/i-cMnDzDW.jpg). It’s only race, not income, but gives a good sense of St. Louis segregation. I clipped it from the [Racial Dot Map](http://demographics.coopercenter.org/DotMap/index.html) of the United States, based on 2010 census data. St. Louis is not exactly unique; even cities with reputations for being multi-racial melting pots still often have heavily segregated neighborhood patterns. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681/48 "2014-10-11T12:30:29Z")
Fans produce Darren Wilson-themed Cardinals shirts — [Darren Wilson Cardinals t-shirts: Supporters of policeman, team sell merchandise.](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/10/10/darren_wilson_cardinals_t_shirts_supporters_of_policeman_team_sell_merchandise.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fans-in-baseball-cardinals-fans-michael-brown-protest/700681.md?page=2)