[MicroBob]

Some of the athletes who deal with this stuff just blow me away.

I really don't harbor much of a grudge against those who aren't 100% classy to the fans all the time because I've seen some of the crap they have to put up with.


I saw a spring-training game in Vero Beach where the Orioles came to town. Cal Ripken made the 2 hour drive seperately, had breakfast at a local restaurant, played about 5 innings, and then came out to the front of the stands and signed autographs for fans for the next 2 or 3 hours.

He was always polite and nice. But some of the fans were just plain embarassing and obnoxious. "Cal! Cal! Cal! Sign this Cal! I'm next Cal! You suck Cal!" etc etc etc.
Just really awful behavior.
And he kept smiling and signing autographs. Tried to turn away those who he thought he recognized as coming back for seconds (likely were just trying to sell stuff on e-bay).

Of course, most of the fans are nice enough and well behaved (although still too enthusiastic sometimes) but those in the worst 10% behave really badly and it's just disgusting.