# Sporting Event Annoyances **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 1, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925 "2002-08-01T21:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/41 "2002-08-02T22:16:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > **How about MPSIMS threads? "It’s a fucking labia. None of it really matters in either the long or short term in terms of any sort of impact on the world."** I don’t completely agree, but this line will have me giggling like a schoolgirl for the rest of the night. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/42 "2002-08-03T03:11:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jorel \* > \*\*One thing I want to add: > > DO NOT INTEREFERE WITH A BALL IN PLAY! > I hate people that do that!\*\* Er, pardon my ignorance but how does one interfere with the ball in a stadium game? What I mean is, if the ball goes into the stands, it’s gone, right? Are fans allowed to sit on the edge of the field? Octavia (who has never been to a major league baseball game (and isn’t likely to anytime soon) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/43 "2002-08-03T03:32:10Z")
**Oct** , if the ball really does go into the stands, it’s up for grabs. But the people sitting in the front row are close enough to reach into the field to try to catch it as a souvenir. They’re not supposed to, but they do. It’s called “fan interference”. It’s the umpire’s job to call the play based on where he believes the ball would have landed if there had been no interference. This was a hot issue a few years ago when [Jeffrey Maier](http://www.flowonline.com/archives/1996/1196/baseball2.htm) reached over the outfield wall and caught a ball that would have been caught by the outfielder. (Replays confirmed this, although the umpire ruled it a home run for the Yankees.) Maier, 12 years old, was hailed as a hero when he should have been kicked out of the stadium. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/44 "2002-08-03T06:31:14Z")
There’s that overuse of the word “hero” again… Thanks **Robot**! I figured it was something like that, but wasn’t sure. ---
**Author:** ![Monkeypants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Monkeypants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkeypants)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/45 "2002-08-03T14:16:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > \*\* > > Then your Playbill would be wrong. The Mets’ backup catcher is Vance Wilson… 🙂 > > \*\* Of course! :smack: That will teach me to post before 7 AM. I have had tickets for three games this year, all rainouts ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/46 "2002-08-03T17:42:49Z")
[ESPN.com](http://ESPN.com)’s Bill Simmons was the author of the similarly themed column a while back. [http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/010808.html](http://espn.go.com/page2/s/simmons/010808.html) ---
**Author:** ![WSLer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WSLer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WSLer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/47 "2002-08-04T00:11:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > Oh please. Does anyone here not realize that? C’mon. Do you stroll into Cafe Society threads and say things like “It’s a fucking movie. None of it really matters in either the long or short term in terms of any sort of impact on the world.” How about MPSIMS threads? “It’s a fucking labia. None of it really matters in either the long or short term in terms of any sort of impact on the world.” ATMB? “It’s a fucking message board. None of it really matters in either the long or short term in terms of any sort of impact on the world.” > > Sheesh yourself. \*\* First off, the accent is on the “please,” **not** the “oh.” And yes, I do stroll into Cafe Society threads and say pretty much that exact same line. Now, if paying upwards of $85 for a ticket to a ballgame leads to some people belief that they can spend 3 hours screaming, schreeching and bleating fuck, cunt, dickface, etc, while ignoring the fact that there are childrne under the age of 10 sitting near him, and he doesn’t get called on it, then kindly leave me the **fuck** alone if I choose to bring my glove or a book or the newspaper to the game. If it’s not life and death to Phil Rizzuto, why the fuck should it be so for me? ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/48 "2002-08-04T23:58:07Z")
Okay, not sure how much the rest of you are going to agree with me on this, but here goes… I was lucky(?) enough to be given two respectable tickets to see the Cardinals play Arizona out here in Phoenix. As the Scheduling Gods have deemed it unnecessary to these two teams to \actually play more than one series in a season here in Phoenix for some unknown fucking reason\ I felt it best to attend. I’m a Cards fan from way back, and don’t get to see them much. Now I’m all for fandom, and backing your home team, but the couple behind us were absolutely ruining any and all enjoyment of the game for just about everyone around us. They had a HUGE banner flag on a fucking flagpole, and were actually shouting at \ each and every Diamondback player individually\, as if they were on a first-name basis with each of them. So loudly, in fact, that I started to get that crackly-speaker sound in my left ear every time they’d say anything. To the both of you, I’d like to address this special Soliloquy of Spite with a Heapin’ Helpin’ of Righteous Indignation: Since my seats were NOT anywhere near the dugout (ergo, neither were yours) I’d like to point out that you obviously have absolutely NO connection to any of the players, except an obvious rabid love of the team. Fantastic. Now shut the fuckity-fuck up before I grab the flagpole and wedge it in your wife’s batters’ box, so to speak. I’m tired of having to shout over your half-assed cries of “DO IT GRACIE!” and “LOUIE!! LOOOOOOEEEEE!!!” every time I try to say something to Mrs. Chastain. So do me a favor: If you’d like to back your team 110%, great. I think that’s admirable, and God knows if I was in Saint Lou, I’d go to the games all the time. But some of us don’t get to go to baseball games all that often, and it’s annoying as fuck when I have to deal with people that don’t seem to realize the players are the focus of the game, not the nutball fuckos in the stands. I also want to point out that I overheard them talking about the series coming after that one, and they both lamented the fact that they’d not be able to be there, because “The Diamondbacks need us!” :rolleyes: They were absolutely, soberingly serious when they said this. Give me a fucking break. So I don’t know how many of you are going to get on with me, and how many are going to call me a heathen for even suggesting an overabundance of enthusiasm is a bad thing, but Christ. I got my tickets for free, but if I’d paid for myself, my wife and my (fictional) two or two-point-five children to see a game, and I had to deal with brain-dead morons like this, I’d be even more pissed. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/49 "2002-08-05T18:15:58Z")
I disagree with Bill Simmons (link provided above) on a couple of points: first, it’s not always uncool to wear the jersey of a guy not on the team anymore. Retro jerseys are a big trend now. It depends on what kind of terms the guy left the team. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be alone if I wore my Arturs Irbe jersey to Sharks game. He plays for Carolina now, but he was once voted the most popular player in team history. But the guy wearing a Doc Gooden or Darryl Strawberry jersey at a Mets game needs to let go. Second, I have an authentic Sharks jersey with my name on the back. I wear it when I play hockey. I think it’s only lame to do that if you don’t actually play the sport (at whatever level). **Chastain** makes a good point too. We had season tickets for hcokey in front of people like this. Thankfully, they are now gone. ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/50 "2002-08-05T20:10:32Z")
I don’t see a problem with someone wearing the jersey of a player no longer with the team. Those jerseys are expensive! I still see folks with Piazza jerseys when the Dodgers come to play the Diamondbacks. Just as I fully intend to hang onto (and wear!) my Jim Thome jersey and t-shirts regardless of whether the Indians re-sign him this winter or not. And I’m not changing my Thome-oriented license plate, either! ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/51 "2002-08-06T07:42:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > **The urinal line isn’t a comedy club**. Had a friend go into the bathroom and see someone he knew. Guy turned to him and said…“So…this is where the dicks hang out.” 😃 LMAO!!! **As an employee…** 1.) Don’t tell us how to do our jobs. I don’t care how they did it where YOU are from. This is how we do it HERE. 2.) STAY THE FUCK OUT OF OUR PRESS BOX! You would NOT BELIEVE how many people just waltz in, because they are trying to score the game and missed a play because they had to go to the shitter or something.:mad: 3.) We can’t change things at the last second. Everything that happens at a baseball game (except the game of course) is SCRIPTED. Lady came up the other day and asked us to announce fucking **THIRTY-NINE NAMES** of people who won door prizes.:rolleyes: 4.) Don’t bother us in the press box. Aside from those that come up and actually come IN, a huge number of people just come up to ask us questions. We announced the birthday readings already, we announced how to get your birthday’s READ already, so why the hell are you coming up in the bottom of the EIGHTH and pissed off because we aren’t announcing them anymore. Not to mention we’re busy…like…WORKING!!! And MOST of all… **WATCH THE FUCK OUT PEOPLE!!!** I’ve seen so many people have their head taken off by a foul ball that it really doesn’t effect me anymore. You are at a game…WATCH IT!:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/52 "2002-08-06T12:31:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dooku \* > \*\* > > It’s not the sense of eternal youth that offends me, it’s a grown man who thinks he needs a friggin’ GLOVE at his age to catch a baseball. Use your damn hands. Plus, if a 40 year-old man with a glove takes a ball away from a younger kid without one, no amount of heart softening is going to make me think that’s OK. > > \*\* I agree wholeheartedly about any adult who takes a foul ball away from a kid. I also agree with those who have observed that many foul balls that go into the stands are screaming line drives that you might be able to catch with your hands but also have a decent chance of breaking, bruising, or in some other way damaging a finger while doing so. I watched a game this weekend where a man in his twenties or thirties used the glove he wore to grab a hard liner that was hit his way - which he promptly gave to the kid sitting next to him. But that aside, why exactly is it so annoying to people when an adult brings a glove to the game? I would imagine that it’s just hyperbole on your part, but are you _really_ offended by lack of co-ordination in an adult? Some of my best friends are klutzy people who happen to be fanatical sports fans (one of which would not be seen dead wearing a glove to a game, mostly because she has the unfortunate tendancy to be “too cool to have fun”). And fortunately, athletic ability is not yet mandated to be allowed to go see a game. It hurts no one when a 40 year old man brings a glove to a game and yes, I truly do believe that many who do are simply trying to briefly re-capture that lost magic from their youth. I think a lot of people, Mr. Simmons from the above linked column included, need to look into surgery to remove the bat they must have sat on at one time in their life. I agree about the annoying nature of some sports fans (such as those who leave in the 8th inning of a tied game, those who scream profanities in front of kids, or idiots who run out on the field during a game), but come on now! Ranting against someone who has a replica jersey with a former player or with their own name on it? Granted, I have heard this complaint most often from smug, condescending columnists or sports talk show hosts, but the idea that a $60-100 dollar jersey (even the replicas are expensive) should be chucked just because your player fled for greener fields elsewhere is ludicrous. And frankly, in these days of free agency, I think it makes _more_ sense to put your own name on a jersey, authentic or replica. You’re more likely to still be a fan 5 years from now than the player is likely to be still playing for the team. YMMV. Oh, and **Medea’s Child** , some families do **both** baseball and musical theater. Although I must admit that it took more convincing to get my wife to attend her first baseball game than it did to get her to go to the theater. I’m slowly, but surely turning her into a real baseball fan. As a brief aside, if you are interested in learning about the game, may I recommend [The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156005808/qid=1028636086/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_2/104-3541496-9791910)? After about the 100th question about _why_ they do it that way, or where _that_ slang term comes from, I checked it out from the library and it was a very valuable resource. I’m probably gonna pick up my own copy one of these days. Back to the subject of this thread. As far as I’m concerned, as a fan at any sporting event, you should just do what we (hopefully) aspire to do on this board. Have fun, and don’t be a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925/53 "2002-08-07T18:06:22Z")
Shit faced drunk fans. C’mon theres better behavior in a prisons. Theres this one guy that shows up for the game already drunk and proceeds to drink more beer and razz this one player all night with “way to go War-ren!!” obviously drunk to almost causing a scene. Disgusting!..oh wait, that was my Brother!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sporting-event-annoyances/121925.md?page=2)