Hell is Other People...

[metsbats]

Re: Hell is Other People...

I noticed an annoying trend at games this season. Adults shouting down anyone who catches a foul ball to "give it to a kid!"

I had a discussion with the guy behind me at a game, who caught a ball and was relentlessly shouted at until he gave the ball up to a kid. Literally for like an inning, just booing and shouting (one really obnoxious woman was egging everyone else one)... He didn't take it from a kid or knock a kid over to get it, he just happened to catch it.

The guy was telling me it was the first ball he ever caught at a game but wasn't worth keeping for that pressure and he gave it to a kid in the next row to shut everyone up. I understand that most of the ballpark attendees at this point are casual fans and only there to make memories for their kids, but do they need to impose that on everyone in attendance?

Sad to say this one of the reasons why we have a bullying problem in our schools today. Kids learn from their parents!

[emann]

Re: Hell is Other People...

I noticed an annoying trend at games this season. Adults shouting down anyone who catches a foul ball to "give it to a kid!"

I had a discussion with the guy behind me at a game, who caught a ball and was relentlessly shouted at until he gave the ball up to a kid. Literally for like an inning, just booing and shouting (one really obnoxious woman was egging everyone else one)... He didn't take it from a kid or knock a kid over to get it, he just happened to catch it.

The guy was telling me it was the first ball he ever caught at a game but wasn't worth keeping for that pressure and he gave it to a kid in the next row to shut everyone up. I understand that most of the ballpark attendees at this point are casual fans and only there to make memories for their kids, but do they need to impose that on everyone in attendance?

[Jags Fan Dan]

Re: Hell is Other People...

You know what's easier than being an attentive parent? NOT being an attentive parent. Personally, I always make sure that my kids aren't "those kids" that ruin the experiences of others, whether they are at a park, a restaurant, etc. Couth and the ability to empathize are dying concepts, I'm afraid.

[abstractheory]

Re: Hell is Other People...

...as the philosopher wrote.

"unfortunately, they always came back."

Funny stuff, man...Made my night!

[godwulf]

...as the philosopher wrote.

The Arizona Fall League started up last night - something I look forward to immensely every year - and tonight's game was just about ruined for me by some of my fellow attendees. My attitude sucks pretty badly at the moment, and I feel like venting.

People who bring their kids to the ballpark and then ignore where they are and what they're doing should be slapped and neutered, though unfortunately the latter penalty isn't retroactive.

Tonight there were roughly a dozen boys, aged probably nine to twelve, running around and screaming in my section, alternately playing some "tag"-like game and whining loudly about how they hadn't found, chased down or been given enough foul balls. Every so often, they would apparently run out of steam and sit down for a few minutes and play with their smart phones (there's a classic misnomer for you). The only time any one of them appeared actually to be watching any part of the game is when a foul ball was hit to any part of the stadium, whereupon they would scream and charge en masse in that direction; unfortunately, they always came back.

A couple of times, one or two of them would wander over and stand between me and the game, and I would semi-politely ask them to move, and they would comply while looking at me like I'd just grown a ssecond and third head. One was banging on the rail right behind my head with a baseball and I turned around and simply told him, "Knock it off", and he looked as though no one had ever spoken to him like that in his life.

Unfortunately, there is virtually no League presence at these games - nothing one could describe as an usher, let alone security, and so no one to compain to. It's gotten to the point where I almost dread the night games, now, and think that I just need to take off from work and attend more day games, while the little darlings are in school.