Stadium etiquette

[youtalkfunny]

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this is my number 1 pet peeve about going to any live sporting event...

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I haven't been to a big-league game in any sport in years (I don't count the Grizzlies as "big league"--the place was 2/3rds empty, with zero passionate fans in attendance). High ticket prices is one reason; the ridiculous behavior of the fans is the other.

If things have gotten so tame that this has become the "number 1 pet peeve", I might have to catch a game soon.

[Richard Tanner]

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Last year about halfway through the season all colts season ticket holders got a letter that told us not to stand up because it was inconsiderate to those behind us.

Obviously I (and everyone else) completely ignored it.

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Noodle, is this a level? This can't be serious. Did Polian sign it too with a "pretty please" at the end?

Cody

[TheNoodleMan]

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Last year about halfway through the season all colts season ticket holders got a letter that told us not to stand up because it was inconsiderate to those behind us.

Obviously I (and everyone else) completely ignored it.

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Noodle, is this a level? This can't be serious. Did Polian sign it too with a "pretty please" at the end?

Cody

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I'm not kidding. It was signed by Irsay, not Polian.

[MicroBob]

Regarding the OP's first one:
If nobody else is standing in the whole section and they are the only ones then it's probably appropriate to sit-down imo.

On the 2nd one, I've had that happen to me too actually. But I was young and pretty hyped about what I was talking about with my friend at the game regarding the team I dropped a few F-bombs in there and the Dad in front of me turned around and said I was offending not just his daughter but him also.
Oops, yeah, I need to keep my voice down.
Sure, it's a hockey game, but I was WAY out of line and inappropriate after having jsut lost myself for a bit.

If the guy in front turned around to tell you to be quiet it's possible you were practically talking right into the back of his head and really annoying him.
Not sure though. I wasn't there. But there are ways where a barely-louder-than-normal conversational volume at a sporting event can sure annoy somebody.


Anyway, back to the first one:

The people at the concert or at the sporting-event who are ALWAYS the ones standing when EVERYONE ELSE is sitting do tend to bug me.
Anyone remember the SNL skit about the section with the one girl standing and dancing a little when everyone else was sitting? Not a great skit really but this discussion reminded me of it.

Usually I'm okay to stand when everyone else stands and sit when everyone else sits. It's not hard.
I think I've only said anything on one occasion and that was at a recent Memphis vs. St. Louis exhibition baseball game where 3 or 4 drunk guys ran down to the front of our section and just stood there blocking everyone's view and being generally annoying.
Everyone was muttering and complaining but kind of waiting it out to see if they would leave.
They didn't.
When I offered a, "Ummmm, Hey Guys?!?!" in a tone of "you're kind of in everyone's way dudes" then they finally left but not before shouting at the whole section about "where's your team spirit?" blah blah blah.
It's an exhbition game guys and you just ran down there and stood in front of some 10-year-old kids.


On the other end, I remember at Miami (Ohio) they wanted to get more team-spirit going. Some of the front row seats are way-away from the court and it's really tough to get it going at some of their games with 3k or fewer in attendance.

So they had the P.A. guy every game 'invite' the fans to stay up and cheering from the opening-tip until Miami scored their first basket.

Ummmm, it's not the same if you have to TELL the fans to do it.
Also, Miami plays some really slow-paced, defensive style basketball. Not unusual for the game to be 2-0 or something at the 17:00 mark.
Kind of funny when the fans are still standing after the ball has gone out of bounds for the 8th time and people are just hoping they will score already so they can finally sit down.

There were a couple of games where Miami still hadn't scored by the time they hit the first TV timeout at 16:00. So they had to stand back up again when play resumed.
Other times when their first score comes on a free-throw also feels especially lame.

[legend42]

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If nobody else is standing in the whole section and they are the only ones then it's probably appropriate to sit-down imo.

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I agree with probably, but certainly not always. Often, the majority of fans in a certain section or even most of the stadium are just flat-out wrong about when it's appropriate to stand and cheer. And even though the pressure to conform can be stifling, there are some situations- and, if accurately described, the OP's circumstance definitely qualifies- in which you're absolutely warranted, if not obligated, to stand, no matter how many people around you choose to remain on their asses.

Just because your section happens to be full of corporate stiffs, minivan families, and other generally clueless or comatose strap-hanging drones, doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to exercise your right to act like a real fan.

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The people at the concert or at the sporting-event who are ALWAYS the ones standing when EVERYONE ELSE is sitting do tend to bug me.

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Yes, some people tend to overdo it, and aren't real good at picking their spots (2nd inning of a scoreless game in May, man on first, two outs, and Ronnie Belliard at the plate...maybe not the best spot to hit your peak of frenzy). But I've also found that occasionally these obnoxious boors can help liven up the crowd. And if not, they usually either wear themselves out or get the message that they're overdoing it, and eventually settle down. I'd still rather have a couple of those guys in my section than a bunch of lifeless morons sitting on their hands the entire game.

[hoyasnaxa]

Baltimore Orioles fans are the most pathetic fans in all of sport. If you lay flat on the ground people will tell you to sit down, and if you quietly snap your fingers people will tell you to be quiet in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game with the bases loaded.

[legend42]

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Baltimore Orioles fans are the most pathetic fans in all of sport. If you lay flat on the ground people will tell you to sit down, and if you quietly snap your fingers people will tell you to be quiet in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game with the bases loaded.

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This is pretty much true. I'm a Boston native living near D.C. and my friend is an O's season ticket holder, so I go to about 10 games a year at Camden, which I think is still aesthetically the most beautiful park in the league, but the crowd is completely lame, aside from Sox and Yankees series, when the visiting fans dominate the stadium.

I usually sit right next to some serious O's fans, who are very knowledgeable about the team and the game, but even they're extremely subdued when it comes to cheering in big situations. And most of the "fans" there are much more concerned with getting their kids the cotton candy they want and playing the jumbotron games than anything that is happening on the field. Sad, really, especially for the remaining true fans of the team.

[MicroBob]

I went to a game at old Memorial Stadium in their last season there and thought the atmosphere with the fans was terrific (BAL 7 - TOR 5. Pretty good game. Can't believe I remember the score).

Have been to Camden Yards quite a few times in their first 6-7 years or so of existence.
Great park obviously. And near sell-out crowds all the time in those days.
But atmosphere amongst the fans was extremely 'meh' imo.

For that reason, even though Camden Yards is a 'nicer' ballpark I actually prefer Memorial Stadium.

I say mostly similar things about Comerica vs. Tiger Stadium and Jacobs Field vs. Municipal Stadium too fwiw.

Screw the luxury-boxes and extra amenities. Some of these pseudo-retro type stadiums just aren't that exciting a venue to watch a ball-game no matter how 'nice' they are.


BTW - I don't care how unenthusiastic the Orioles fans are these days. The team with the most pathetic fans in all of the 4 major sports are the Memphis Grizzlies.

[JaredL]

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This is pretty much true. I'm a Boston native living near D.C. and my friend is an O's season ticket holder, so I go to about 10 games a year at Camden, which I think is still aesthetically the most beautiful park in the league.


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I haven't been to a lot of parks. I went to Candlestick and whatever the stadium is that the As played at when I was a kid and within the last year I've been to RFK (ugh), Camden and PNC park. Camden and PNC parks are very similar. PNC clearly took a lot of the design from Camden yards. I give the nod to PNC because the view out of the park is nicer but both are great parks to watch a game in even if the home teams suck.

[kidcolin]

I went to RFK a couple of 4th of July's ago. The park sucked, but we were there watching a Mets/Nats game (my friends are huge Mets fans), and there a bunch of Mets fans in our section and it made the game quite enjoyable. This was during the Nats first season. Nats fans were pretty weird.

We did see two dudes presumably from Quebec with Expos hats on, though.