Dont go to the game to be comfortable

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:32:21 PDT

I'm going to start my first Orioles blog entry by talking about one of the O's minor league affiliates - the Aberdeen Ironbirds - and an incident I was witness to during their home game on Monday, August 4, 2008. For those of you who don't know, The Ironbirds are a Single A affiliate of the O's, and they are owned by legendary Baltimore Oriole and Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. The entire operation up there in Aberdeen is really first class. The stadium is beautiful, the staff is friendly, beers are big and cheap, and best of all, the players are hungry, which makes for some really great ball play. Well, myself, Kim, her sister and her boyfriend sat down to take in a game against the Hudson Valley Renegades, and no sooner were we getting comfortable than a group of Aberdeen teenagers sat behind us and started heckling one of the Hudson Valley players. At first, I was annoyed, but then I got to thinking about it. Heckling is part of baseball - pretty much all sports, in fact - and what right did I have to stifle the good time of four teenagers - two boys and two girls - who could have easily been up to worse on a summer night? Besides, I knew after a beer or two, I really wouldn't care. If that thought didn't soothe my nerves, I soon realized that these kids seemingly went to the trouble of research the player they were going to hassle. They apparently went through the Renegades roster prior to the game and isolated one player - third baseman Jason Tweedy, from Newark, California. Maybe they thought his name was funny. Maybe they ran into him out in public and thought he was an ass. Maybe it was just random...I don't know. But what I do know is that these kids were participating in time honored rite of passage in sports every time they yelled "Twweeeeddy....Twweeeeddy....Twweeeeddy." I mean, I can remember being in the stands at the Yard and heckling Albert Belle when he played for the Indians. "Jooeey....Jooeey....Jooeey." And I was right, after a couple of beers, the consistent "Tweedy" taunts stopped bothering me. But then something happened to really irk me. A man who was sitting two seats down from these fun-loving teenagers interrupted their chanting. "You see all of these people here?" he asked, motioning to the dozen or so people in the section. "They're season ticket holders." He then admonished the teenagers for heckling Tweedy, pointing out that they were the only ones in the section heckling the players and that "It is getting a little old." Old? This guy apparently doesn't know the meaning of the word. Old is going to baseball games and talking about work. Old is bullying a group of kids into stopping them from doing the only thing they know how to do - be kids. But I suppose I too am old, as I did not have the balls to say something to the guy right then and there. But Kim and I made up for it. As the game wore on, we prodded the kids into continuing there homage to "Tweedy." I myself was even going to join them when Tweedy came back to the plate, but alas, Ironbirds relief pitchers Joe Esposito and Brandon Cooney did well to quickly get through the 8th and 9th innings and Tweedy didn't make it back to the plate. If only the Ironbirds bats could have put more runs on the board. Aberdeen lost 3-2. But by the time the game was coming to a close, the teenagers were back at it. "Twweeeeddy...Twweeeedy...Twweeeedy." So what is the point? Heckling, whether you do it or not; whether you like it or not, it is part of the game. And what's more, it helps people blow off a little steam. Sure, there is a line, and Lord knows I've seen it crossed, but these kids were no where near it. So I say this to the man sitting in Section 112, Row D, Seat 1 in Ripken Stadium on Monday, August 4th, 2008; you did the game of baseball a disservice that night. Comfort is for the couch. Sell your season tickets and stay home. TWEEDY!

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Dont go to the game to be comfortable