Results tagged ‘ fans ’
Brooms Example of Bad Fan Behavior
Today at Chase Field the Arizona Diamondbacks dropped their third game in a row to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (how stupid is having to call them that??). This, of course, means the Angels swept the Diamondbacks at their home field. Several Angels fans at Chase Field were brandishing brooms, particularly at the end of the game. I consider this to be bad fan behavior and I object to it.
As a fan I can’t say I’ve never been happy about a sweep my team made, or that I would never bring a broom to Chase Field if I thought the Diamondbacks would sweep a team. However, I do agree with something Mark Grace said. He said he did not object to fans bringing brooms to a series sweep at their own field or stadium; however he also said he did not care for fans bringing brooms to the ballpark when they were the visiting team. I agree and find it very uncool for fans to bring the brooms to the ballpark as a visiting team. I can’t swear that no Diamondbacks fans has ever done this; however I can swear that I never have and I never will; even if the opportunity arises. It just doesn’t seem right to me.
Maple Bats Must Go
For quite some time now our Diamondbacks announcer, Mark Grace, has been crusading against maple bats. Certainly he makes a lot of valid points: they break too easily and too often, the pieces fly out on to the field and into the stands, and someone is going to get hurt. He also has expressed the opinion that it appeared it would take a serious injury to a fan, umpire, or player, or God forbid, even a death, for Major League Baseball to do something about maple bats. Grace has mentioned how much better he personally feels ash bats would be for professional baseball.
I am here to say I agree with him. I’ve seen a number of games where no bats seemed to break; but I’ve seen many where multiple bats were broken. I’ve seen bats fly out on to the field and hit players, and I’ve seen multiple pitchers dodge pieces of bats when the pieces flew out of the batter’s hand and headed toward the pticher on the mound. This past Tuesday, June 23rd, a bat broke at Chase Field and a piece of it flew into the stands and hit a fan. She had to be escorted from her seat and examined. It turned out not to be a serious injury, but it so easily could have been. What if a piece of a broken bat hits a child in the stands and seriously injures them? What if the bat hits someone in the head? What if the broken end of the bat hits a player, coach or umpire in the throat? An incident like that could result in a serious injury or even a death if the bat hit a jugular vein or something.
The biggest reason catchers and umpires have the masks they have now that cover part of their neck is because a number of years ago catcher Steve Yeager of the Los Angeles Dodgers was hit in the neck by a piece of a broken bat. I also remember him being knocked cold by a runner sliding into home but that’s another story… In any case, after the neck incident Yeager started experimenting with various ways of protecting his and other catchers necks and that helped lead to the masks we see today. (added July 11, 2009)
What’s it going to take for Major League Baseball to see the light and get rid of these maple bats?
Booing Unacceptable
I know that fans of some teams seem to think that booing your own team’s players is acceptable, and even amusing. I disagree. I think that in general Arizona Diamondbacks fans have class and in general behave better than fans of almost ever other team out there. During the team’s 2007 playoff run embarrassed Diamondback fans were quick to point out the fans at Chase Field whose abherrent behavior in throwing items onto the diamond is probably all the National viewing audience will remember about the game. Even the announcers pointed out that wasn’t the usual sort of behavior you would expect from Diamondback fans.
With the team now having an extended rough patch I have noticed some fans at Chase Field booing our own players. This is not the first time and unfortunately will not likely be the last time. I’ve even heard a few players state they understand the fans booing. I, however, do not. I was embarrassed one day last season when a young man who had just moved into the Phoenix area hopped on to the same Red Line bus I was riding on after a game and mentioned how it had bothered him to hear some of the Diamondbacks players get booed by their own fans.
This is not Philadelphia or Yankee Stadium folks, this is Arizona and we do not behave like this here. It is, in my opinion, unacceptable to boo your own players and your own team. Yes, I understand the frustration; I’m frustrated myself. However, just because you spend money on tickets and refreshments does not mean you need to boo these guys. It seems like the better a team does the more idiots come out of the woodwork to criticize everything a team or athlete does; and the same is true of when a team is performing badly. They need our support. Most of these guys are trying very hard and are just as frustrated as the fans are and maybe more so. Sure we all want to win, but as long as the players are putting in the effort they do NOT deserve to be booed.
If you don’t like how the team is doing and feel it’s necessary to boo the players over it, stay home. We don’t need you out at Chase Field.
wheresmykoppy
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