I get some scary comments on the blog.
Not talking about insulting comments. Get those all the time. That comes with the territory.
It’s the ones in which somebody writes, and I discover how completely, frighteningly wrong they are about a really basic issue … those are the ones that alarm me.
Like this putative Dodgers supporter who says that loud fans of visiting teams are the reason for trouble at Dodger Stadium. He also claims he has been “assaulted” at no fewer than four stadiums, which makes me wonder if he knows what the word means.
I have edited this for language, but the message of “blame the victim” comes through loud and clear. To wit: “Alcohol + loudmouth fan of opposing team = altercation.”
Read on.
Dodger Stadium is perfectly safe, in fact, the fact that the levels are segregated the way they are provides even more safety. The problem lies with the idiot away fans who think they can come in and talk trash and act like there will be no repercussions. Dodger fans stick up for their team.
[snip]
People have been nothing but friendly towards me over all of the years. In fact, I have found Dodger fans in every mlb city to be the best and friendliest fans ever. These “thuggish†fans treat you like family when you are a Dodger fan.
I have been to (old) Yankee Stadium (in a Dbacks jersey) and been assaulted, been to Progressive Field and been assaulted, Chase Field and been assaulted, and The Vet & been assaulted. There are [bad] fans everywhere. The idea that Dodger fans are in any way worse than others is complete nonsense. Alcohol + loud mouthed fan of opposing team = altercation. That’s just the way it is. It doesn’t change when you enter Chavez Ravine and sure isn’t any better in other baseball towns. When you get fans who care about their team, they are going to stand up for them. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Go watch your team from your HOME ballpark if you can’t stand getting picked on.
So, in this guy’s world, you cannot cheer for a team unless it is the home team. How twisted is that? If you cheer for your team, and you’re in another ballpark, you’re “acting like there will be no repercussions.” Well, yeah. Exactly. There should be no repercussions for cheering for whichever team I care to cheer for.
Certainly, it’s not even remotely permissible to jump a guy in the parking lot and nearly kill him just because he was wearing a Giants jersey and cheering for his team.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Hv // Apr 8, 2011 at 6:13 PM
I don’t get that guys comments. Ive been to safeco field wearing angel gear and there was some back and forth team friendly trash talking but that was it. At the end of the day its a game just a game.
Tugs are thugs, I grew uo in east la and its about one thing, looking like your the s*** in front of your homies, so if you kick someones ass then your rep grows. Unfortunately that’s the type of people ive been seeing the last few years at diddler stadium which now I completely stay away from.
2 Harry // Apr 26, 2011 at 1:12 PM
I generally agree with HV’s comment. If you have the temerity to wear a team’s licensed merchandise to a game at the stadium of a rival, you’re going to hear some insults. But at Fenway, that’s as far as it will go. Yankees fans may be excoriated, but they aren’t customarily shot or stabbed. As Hv points out, it’s just a game, and if it becomes something else, it’s time to stop playing it.
I saw my first Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium the year it opened, after seeing my first Angels game at Dodger Stadium. (“Google” that one, kids.) Unlike Hv, I didn’t grow up in east L.A. I was a white boy who grew up in Glendale. But I worked at Bethlehem Steel, in Vernon/Maywood. When I got hired, I didn’t have the brains to come in out of the rain, but certain Mexicans who’d worked there since the dawn of creation took me under their wing, which is the only reason I didn’t get killed in my first week by a falling lift or a pass of hot rebar that flipped out of the track and hit the ceiling. I have a university diploma, but was educated at Bethlehem Steel, and my academic adviser was Prof. Chato. Violence at Dodger Stadium was unimaginable. If you’d spent as much time at Dodger Stadium as I have, you’d be as upset as I am.
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