Saturday, June 28, 2008

BRUTAL. [6-27-08]

Mets v. Yankees

This was probably the most unpleasant evening I have yet to experience at Shea. I realize that’s not saying a lot, but it is what it is.

Tonight was absolutely brutal. Truly, truly brutal. We would have been able to deal with the pathetic on-field performance were it not for the arrival of Yankee fan friends of the folks in Row F, who proceeded to fulfill every stereotype of the preening, obnoxious, ignorant, classless Yankee fan....emphasis on ignorant. As TBF finally said to one of them, “Don’t let facts get in the way of your argument there, buddy,” and then dropped it.

(This was the same guy trying to snidely make fun of TBF keeping score… although part of me really thinks that he just didn’t understand what TBF was doing, so he figured he’d just make fun of it.)

“I’m being a fan, just like you are” is an argument that doesn’t cut it. Their behavior wasn’t “being a fan.” That was being an obxnoxious, overbearing asshole… in someone else’s house. Shea didn’t feel like home tonight. There was a tinge of violence hanging over the ballpark. There were fights EVERYWHERE, constantly. There was no good natured gamesmanship, it was harsh and jagged and there was no feeling of goodwill or fun or enjoyment. It was fierce, and unpleasant. 

I will admit that I am not quiet, and am not afraid to be outspoken. But I am not violent. However, the sisters next to me were seriously concerned the female in the crowd behind us that arrived in the 5th inning was going to hit me, and we exchanged maybe a dozen words. Even after we went back to ignoring her, she could not let it go, and did everything she could to re-engage us. I realized the threat, but was not worried: I was bigger than she was, and she would have hurt herself. I am not quite sure why she felt she could waltz into our section and have her bullshit not be challenged, but let’s go back to the definition in the first paragraph.

I know this sounds dramatic but it was like that at Shea tonight. A little bit unhinged, a little potential for things to get out of hand quickly. This was one night that I was glad to see the NYPD command post out in the parking lot and didn’t think, “Overkill.”

I know… not all Yankees fans are like this. The folks we sat next to up in the Bronx in May were not like that, but they were real baseball people, people who had stood by their team when they were terrible. There wasn’t the sense of vicious entitlement that these people had. Unfortunately, they’re a minority.

As TBF said when we were leaving, “Even at our worst, our very very worst, the most obnoxious Mets fan doesn’t even come close.” I might not know… but he would.

Thank god we already sold our tickets for tomorrow’s game.

I’m so disgusted I can’t even be bothered to edit my photos from tonight. Tomorrow is another day, but I’m taking the rest of the weekend off from baseball, or at least watching baseball. These games don’t matter and I need some breathing room already.  There’s a horrid, bad taste in my mouth from tonight. It’s behavior I cannot even begin to pretend to understand, nor do I want to even remotely ever be a part of it.