One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

[jobathenut]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

Well yeah of course the only reason its news worthy is because it's a kid.That was my point,as this country and sports has become, it's all about the kids.Who are usually by the way,the ones not paying attention to the game.But i don't want to get on that rant again as me and xpress already have a thread about that.And that is the attitude when it happens to a guy.As thats the attitude i got from everyone sitting around me and security who told me "to shut up or get out".

Well put, Anthony. That's the principle I tend to operate by, as well.

And, Joba, I agree with you. The intent of the action is wrong no matter who is being victimized. However, I think the event only becomes a news item when the victim is a kid, or maybe a hot female. If it happends to a middle-aged adult, the general attitude from announcers and nearby fans is "so sad, too bad, deal with it!"

Dave Miedema

[Skizzick]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

I think nowadays there are some parents and kids out there with a huge entitlement complex when it comes to foul or thrown balls. I've had people yell at me for not giving a foul ball to a kid. Most of the time, those kids go to ten or more games a year, where they'll probably get more balls. I was at a game wants where a little kid had three balls! What the hell? These kids will have a ton more chances to get foul balls in the future. If somebody catches it without fighting anybody, let them keep it.

[frikativ54]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

Well yeah of course the only reason its news worthy is because it's a kid.That was my point,as this country and sports has become, it's all about the kids.Who are usually by the way,the ones not paying attention to the game.But i don't want to get on that rant again as me and xpress already have a thread about that.And that is the attitude when it happens to a guy.As thats the attitude i got from everyone sitting around me and security who told me "to shut up or get out".

Not meaning to start an argument, Joba, but many kids do pay attention to the game. When I was a youngster, I watched every pitch, digesting what was going on before me. I didn't have the money to afford game-used memorabilia, but I did have a love for baseball. And baseball is about the kids. If they have positive memories at the ballpark, they will be more likely to pass the love of the game on to their children when the time comes. That's why a lot of ballplayers like to sign for kids only. It's about giving them memories of their idols that they won't soon forget and about handing down the game from generation to generation.

[Skizzick]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

Not meaning to start an argument, Joba, but many kids do pay attention to the game. When I was a youngster, I watched every pitch, digesting what was going on before me. I didn't have the money to afford game-used memorabilia, but I did have a love for baseball. And baseball is about the kids. If they have positive memories at the ballpark, they will be more likely to pass the love of the game on to their children when the time comes. That's why a lot of ballplayers like to sign for kids only. It's about giving them memories of their idols that they won't soon forget and about handing down the game from generation to generation.

That is a pretty big generalization you're making. Just because you paid attention to the game, doesn't mean every kid does. In fact, I'd say that most kids don't. I've been to plenty of games where kids are whining to leave or not even knowing what teams were playing. And often, those are the kids whose parents have season tickets and go to 50 games a season. BASEBALL IS NOT FOR THE KIDS. IT'S FOR EVERYBODY THAT APPRECIATES IT. An nobody deserves a baseball, whether you are die hard fan or an innocent little child.
An appreciation of baseball grows with age. My family didn't have the time or money to go to many games when I was younger, but my one trip to the ballpark in 1993 was amazing. And as I got older, my love for the game grew. I recall plenty of times I was trying to get autographs in my teens, and there would be little kids pushing to the front of the crowd to get autographs. Then when a player comes out and everybody asks for him, the kids go "Who is that?"
It isn't about giving them memories, it is about sharing the knowledge with them that will allow them to gain memories on their own.

[godwulf]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

I won't repeat my rants and stories about kids and foul balls, most of them concerning the Arizona Fall League, which I attend religiously, except to say that - in my view and experience - the percentage of kids who actually watch the game, and don't spend the whole time whining about how many foul balls they didn't get, and how they want some pizza now, is somewhere between 10 and 25 percent, on a good day.

Recently, I have thought, with some nostalgia, about those Baseball crowd photos you see from the turn of the last century, of row after row of dark-suited men wearing bowler hats. Nobody changing a full diaper on the seat behind you, no screaming babies or fidgety toddlers. And to be extraordinarily un-PC, no little gaggles of giggly, middle-aged women having a girls' night out, who after half a beer think everything they say is hysterically funny, and might as well be at Denny's for all the attention they actually pay to the game.

[sox83cubs84]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

I think nowadays there are some parents and kids out there with a huge entitlement complex when it comes to foul or thrown balls. I've had people yell at me for not giving a foul ball to a kid. Most of the time, those kids go to ten or more games a year, where they'll probably get more balls. I was at a game wants where a little kid had three balls! What the hell? These kids will have a ton more chances to get foul balls in the future. If somebody catches it without fighting anybody, let them keep it.

I was at a Cubs/Rockies game in the mid-2000s when a kid and his father near me went home with SEVEN baseballs...one caught on the fly off the bat by the dad and SIX mooched by his kid, including one during the game. Scenarios like that are why my sympathy for kids who don't get lucky enough to get a baseball (and haven't been pushed around) is limited.

Dave Miedema

[AutographAddiction]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

I have a somewhat similar story about my game-worn Dwight Howard jersey...

As Dwight Howard was delivering me a game-worn jersey earlier this season, he pointed me out, pushed hands away, and put it in my hands. As I grab it and start to pull it in closer to me, another kid decides to grab on as well. He tries to start a tug-of-war, I--not wanting to damage this game-worn artifact--play very nicely and try to talk it out. At any time I could have ripped the jersey from the poachers hands, but l did not want to harm the jersey one bit. The kid is offering me money, begging me to let him have it, says that Dwight had no one in mind while he passed it up, but the jersey belonged to me. All of the bystanders knew it, and were telling the kid that it belonged to me(keep in mind, I am also a kid). Long story short, security guards run to our side, trying to break up a fight-- so I thought. They end up saying that either we decide amongst ourselves peacefully, we take it outside, or we give up the jersey. The other kid wouldn't admit that Dwight gave it to me specifically, so we weren't figuring it out amongst ourselves. I, of course, was not giving my jersey up so I was ready to take it outside at that point. But luckily(for the jerseys well-being and the much-smaller-than-me-kid who was hanging on) a security guard who had talked to Dwight as he walked off the floor came rushing up the steps. She was yelling acknowledging the jersey belonged to me and that Dwight asked her to make sure it got to me. The kid finally realized his chance was diminished, and he let go, says, "See ya later", and walks off as if we were best friends and nothing happened. A few people who had stuck around for the five minutes or so watching clapped and I finally got to have some alone-time with that sweaty, game-worn jersey from Superman.

[jobathenut]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

THANK YOU "SKIZZICK",You said everything i was going to say in response to "frik".I am so tired of hearing "it's all about the kids".So even though i have been a fan since i was kid,i don't matter anymore.And i am sorry but i go to a ton of sports and i rarley see kids pay attention to the game.And the new stadiums would'nt have batting cages and all those extra features now a days if not for that reason.They know kids dont go for the games.Heck most adults i have seen at game seem to be going for the food more than the game.When me and my brother were kids ,we paid attention to the game or my dad would make sure it was the last game we went to.I even kept score of the game.I have never seen a kid keeping score at a game.They all have thier gloves out demanding a ball in seats that don't have tickets for.And the parents don't do anything about it.Its a new generation of kids and not like it was way back then when you went to the game for the game.

That is a pretty big generalization you're making. Just because you paid attention to the game, doesn't mean every kid does. In fact, I'd say that most kids don't. I've been to plenty of games where kids are whining to leave or not even knowing what teams were playing. And often, those are the kids whose parents have season tickets and go to 50 games a season. BASEBALL IS NOT FOR THE KIDS. IT'S FOR EVERYBODY THAT APPRECIATES IT. An nobody deserves a baseball, whether you are die hard fan or an innocent little child.
An appreciation of baseball grows with age. My family didn't have the time or money to go to many games when I was younger, but my one trip to the ballpark in 1993 was amazing. And as I got older, my love for the game grew. I recall plenty of times I was trying to get autographs in my teens, and there would be little kids pushing to the front of the crowd to get autographs. Then when a player comes out and everybody asks for him, the kids go "Who is that?"
It isn't about giving them memories, it is about sharing the knowledge with them that will allow them to gain memories on their own.

[coxfan]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

A basic rule of life (often ignored these days) is that people are individuals, never stereotypes. Some kids value the game and their balls; others do not. But all kids should be polite, and never act entitled to have something that someone else (even an adult) has gotten.

There's a funny story that happened with me. A few years ago at a minor-league game, a foul bounced right into my hands. I saw a boy about 12 years old nearby, looking sad because his friend had gotten a ball and he hadn't. But he didn't asked me for the ball. Instead, he congratulated me politely.

So I gave him the ball as a reward for his politeness. He responded by hugging me! Then his friend whispered to him: "You're not supposed to hug a guy!" So he walked back up to me, deepened his voice, and shook my hand with a "Thank you, sir!"

I thought it was funny. Politeness has its rewards.

[godwulf]

Re: One evil woman, one sweet girl and one baseball!!

At the DBacks game just the other night, there were two boys, probably 10 and 12, a father and a grandfather, sitting directly in front of me. The grandfather and the older boy were both watching the game - in fact, the boy was scoring - and the younger boy and his father were playing games on their cellphones. So it's not just kids with attention problems.