What is he supposed to do about it? Attempt to engage drunk fans in a debate about bigotry? Start a fight? Shake his finger and glare disapprovingly at them?
Since you’ve apparently been there and seen it, what did you do?
Mind you, I also find the behavior of some of the fans reprehensible, but frankly, you are coming off as an ass here as well.
Oktoberfest,
What can you do about racial and homophobic speech at a ball park? Stand up and start yelling at individuals while blocking their view of the field? While it is appropriate to ask people to watch their mouths in certain venues, in a ball park it is just plain unfeasable. I’m certainly not saying it’s right that people say such things. But you’re loony if you think you’re going to tell a big drunk guy what he can and cannot say, while simultaneously blocking his enjoyment of the game. And you’re extra loony if you think that you’re going to be able to enlighten all of the fans who are indeed shouting such things.
The last time I was there I called a fan on calling a Philly both a nigger and a fag. The usher thought I was the one causing the problem. This is one reason I think Wrigley is so fucked up, if you don’t do along with the asshole behavior you are the problem.
Wow, what a bunch of hate being spewed here.
And the Cubs will win game 7.
You know what, you don’t see this behavior at Sox’s game or Bear’s games. And if you do it is much more isolated.
The usher was right.
The guy yelling the slurs was certainly morally in the wrong, but you were the one likely to start a fight in the stands. Pick your battles. The middle of a baseball game is not the right time or place to attempt to educate ignorant drunken louts.
It seems to me that you may have selectively edited some details from your story, Oktoberfest. Truthfully, is it possible that your actions may have been perceived as threatening? What exactly did you do in order to call him on it? Did you get out of your chair? Get in the guy’s face? Or politely ask him with a smile on your face from where you were sitting? It may also be possible that the usher did not hear the fan yelling such slurs, but he did notice you get out of your seat (if that is what you in fact did). If it weren’t for that usher who intervened, the guy in question (who it seems was not afraid to express his anger and hate) might have physically assaulted you.
Shit.
You might be right.
Rules
It’s not interference if the ball is IN the stands. The fielder goes in at his own risk. However, the fan should have left the ball alone, because it was still in play.
I have no idea what play people are talking about, but this statement made me go “huh?” Isn’t Chicago the city where two fans, a Father and Son team, IIRC, ran onto the field and started beating the stuffing out of the 3rd base coach?
The very same!
Am I not as loyal a fan, because i have not been out to Wrigley field, as often as you have been to your team’s stadium? Wouldn’t a loyal Cubs Fan, follow every game one can watch on television, and at the Cubs website, despite living in Florida?
What is to be gained from picking a fight with a drunk guy who outweighs me by fifty pounds?
I do not know and cannot say as i was not there. I suggest that you remember that there will always be stupid people, and that thses people will say stupid things. Don’t forget to watch the game, it will be a humdinger. Cheers!
I remember that being cited after the fan incident in the '96 series. IIRC, that was also ruled as a foul ball, no fan interference. But then the Yankees went on to include the kid* in their victory parade, so they must have felt that his action made a difference in their favor.
*And this one was a kid. IIAlsoRC, there was some question about whether he should have been in school at the time…?
Jeffery Meier (sp?) I remember him well. Big difference there however, Jeffery interfered with an Oriole player and the out he interfered with was ruled a home run. Hugely in the Yankees favor. The umps actually called it wrong too, no way the ball makes it out without him reaching out to grab it.
As opposed to this jackass interfering with a Cub preventing him from possibly making an out in the 8th inning when they’re up by a couple of runs, helping to nail down a victory to put your team in the World Series for the first time in a century or so. His one act may have set a course of events that cause the Cubs to not go to the WS. If they don’t make it, I have a feeling he won’t feel welcome in Chicago anymore.
The '96 incident was ruled a home run (by Yankee SS Derek Jeter). It was factually the wrong call. But cameras had a better view than the umpire did.
Well, let me be the first. I’m still hurting after the Cubs went up 2-0 in the 1984 pennant series, only to blow the next three games straight to San Diego.
But to scapegoat this guy, who, if you watch the replays, obviously had no idea Alou was anywhere near him, much less able to catch the ball, is plain fucking stupid. I don’t think any of the fans near him had any idea. The ball was out of play, and it was just plain bad luck that the Cubs didn’t get the out.
If the Cubs lose the series, it’s their own fucking fault for crumbling under the pressure. There was a double-play ball a couple batters later which would have gotten the Cubs out of the inning with minimal damage, that the Cubs failed to capitalize on.
Don’t blame the fan. Blame the Cubs. Forget about it, let’s win Game 7 and get into the Series, because so far this is feeling suspiciously like 1984.
Sincerely,
a die-hard Cubs fan
The difference in the Maier thing was that he reached out over the wall into the playing field, and caught the ball away from the Os, but the ump ruled it a HR.
Bad behavior at ballparks certainly isn’t a Chicago phenomenon - in Milwaukee they throw food at each other in the stands. Peanut shells, and messier stuff. Ya know, just for fun :rolleyes:.
He was in the seat right next to wall! He stretches his left arm out and it’s in the field of play!
If doesn’t think the left fielder could make a play on that ball, then he’s fucking stupid. Or just doesn’t have any undrstanding of the game.
At Comiskey, not Wrigley.
Baseball is the only major game I know of where the fans can actually reach into the field of play and affect the players/ball. The players can also reach into the stands to make a play. This is well known, not a secret to anyone.
The fans who are fortunate enough to get seated in the first two rows should be aware of this and have a responsibility (IMHO) that other fans don’t. Just like the Hippocratic Oath, ‘Do no harm’, at least, not to your own team. You should be a bit more concerned with whether or not your team wins than whether or not you get a souvenir ball.
If your team is in the field, you must not interfere with their ability to catch a foul pop up like that. That is the cost, if you will, of having great seats. If your team is batting, you should interfere with foul balls coming down in the stands. Being down there at field level, you are part of the game, act like it!