April 26, 2008
One, Two, Three Stupid Baseball Fan Incidents
America's favorite past time is also apparently when fans like to drink and go crazy!
Last night, there a Mets fan was arrested and other were removed from Shea Stadium when a series of fights occurred in the stands. According to 1010 WINS, "fights and food-and-beverage-throwing altercations cropped up on two decks on the third-base side"--which happened right after the Braves took the lead!
Just last week, some Mets fans were arrested during a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park. As The 700 Level's Enrico wrote, many "obnoxious" Mets fans traveled down i-95 for the game--"You can’t blame them really. It’s hard to pass up a chance to spend a beautiful Saturday at a ballpark infinitely more enjoyable than their own."
Burn! Anyway, the fight was apparently started when a "moron in a hideous Mets Dykstra jersey threw haymakers at a rival fan." Dykstra fan was led out in handcuffs to an ovation and someone sent a picture of him to The 700 Level
And when the Yankees and Red Sox met last week, someone captured the a fight in the stands. (There's nothing like fans who take off their shirts!)
Some of other stupid fan incidents: A Mets fan "shining" a flashlight at Braves pitchers, the Mets fans who tried to steal Shea seats, the Yankees fans who tried to steal a banner, the Yankees fan who fell into foul ball netting, the Mets fan who pretended to be a member of the press to gain access to players, the Red Sox fan who buried a David Ortiz jersey in the new Yankee Stadium... okay, the list is very long.
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"Last night, there a Mets fan was arrested"
"...someone captured the a fight in the stands."
It goes to show that we New Yorkers are crazy about our baseball teams.
Literally
Easy solution, STOP serving beer at sporting events.
Ace is right. The morons who consume too much alcohol at a sporting event and then go on a rampage ruin it for everyone. I don't know if they still have a "family section" at Shea, but that was a dumb idea." No son, we can't sit there because people drink too much and this is our national sport and we have to sit here so you we won't get hurt".
I'm not a prohibitionist nor a teetotaler, but I don't want to subject myself or my family to these drunks, let them watch the games in a bar where the server should know when to cut them off. Let's not have them in a situation where the beer sellers are on commission and really don't care how drunk they get.
That guy that was thrown over the railing could really have been seriously hurt, but the two of them probably wouldn't have been missed anyway.
I suggest reading sections of Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch," where as a young man he was both exhilarated and afraid for his life from the sheer mass of the crowds at Arsenal home games and their potential to go wild. As he's grown, he actually approves of certain modifications to the crowd situations at English soccer stadiums, while acknowledging the loss of certain sense of psychotic group intensity.
Don't blame the concessionaires. Those guys are there to make money and aren't babysitters. Everyone can easily identify the guy in his or her section who has had too much to drink and is on the verge of being an a-hole or has already crossed the line. Stadium security should be a little more pro-active in bouncing those jerks, without negotiation. Maybe people will eventually get the message that a ballgame is not the place to tie one on to the point where you're a nuisance.
If this were Brazil, fans would be passed toward the exits in body bags. New Yorkers are pussies.
A few things...
I'm in love. I want that old, beer bellied, shirtless, loudmouthed, obnoxious blowhard for my soulmate! Address please! Think we can do like that guy months ago did on the subway, when he saw that girl? Maybe we'll be on Good Morning America! I will fight for this man!
During a fight, a baseball game was played.
For every fan, there should be a security guard. This would sell out all the games, and put a lot of folks named Bubba and Butch to work. Solve two problems at once.
Ok, to be serious...I agree with Ace. Ditch the beer. Of course there would still be fights, and drinking. Whenever more than 4 people get together, chances are, at least one of them thinks he or she is Ruler of the World, and Must Be Obeyed. But, cutting out the booze, would calm a lot of them down. Of course, people are going to find ways to hide a flask, but let 'em drink Pepsi! If they can't do that for a few hours, let them sit at home in front of the tv, and watch the game with their 12 pack.
So basically, Met fans are emulating Yankee fan behavior? Great...
Hey Karen lets get the joke right:
I went to the fights and a baseball game broke out.
Originally it was a hockey joke, but these days, you could substitute any sports event.
How are drunks fighting at a baseball game newsworthy? That happens EVERY TIME THE METS PLAY THE PHILLIES.