Baseball Fan Petty Rant

[Jon Grider]

I like MLB. I'm a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal fan but enjoy watching baseball whoever's playing. Now that I'm retired I watch a couple of games or a portion of several games per week on the TV.

What bugs me is watching fans that buy the best seats in the house in back of home plate and then ignore the game while they gawk at their phone for 9 innings, or

have a continual conversation with their buddy or buddiette with no clue to what's going on in the field.

Seems like a waste of 200-300 bucks or more with food.

Yes it is their money and they are free to spend it anyway they want but that doesn't prevent me from thinking they are just there to get there mugs on MLB network.

OK, I fell better now.

[Ole Anderson]

Makes me wonder too. Smart phones have changed our lives more than any other development in the last 100 years, and not always for the good. Not watching much baseball this year, with the Tigers playing as they have. But my pet peeve is that the TV producers would rather point the camera at a player standing in the outfield than focusing on the excitement of a fan that just caught a ball in the stands. Or watching the bat boy at work occasionally. (I have three young friends, all brothers, that were Tigers bat boys at the same time. And another of their friends, also a bat boy, that did get some air time when he stuck out his glove while sitting in his chair on the third base side and caught a line drive foul ball). There is a lot of interesting things that go on besides the players themselves. The game is often boring as it is, but there are many opportunities that are wasted to keep the TV audience engaged. Often caught on camera, but ignored by the guys in the TV trailer.

[Jamie Buxton]

If anybody just wants to watch the game -- football, baseball, whatever -- they can usually watch from their easy chair. They get a better view, with long-distance lenses and instant replay, and it costs way less. I think the reason fans physically go to games is the social interactions with the fans around them. The "conversations with their buddy", as you put it, is why they're there.

[Jim Koepke]

For me watching the game has been more enjoyable in the four MLB ballparks in three cities than watching the game on TV.

It rained beer in the center field seats when Mike Ivy hit a grandslam against the Dodgers at Candlestick. It was a great game even though to the best of my memory the Giants still lost.

Watching the Cubs beat Houston was a great way to enjoy some great seats at Wrigley even though our tickets were SRO.

Being in a location without good radio reception to here a baseball game, very little of my time these days spent on the only sport of much interest to me.

What kept me on the edge of my seat wan't the teams or statistics. It was no matter what, the very next pitch could be the fuse to light off something big.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

Baseball games can be pretty long and boring.

[Jon Nuckles]

I love baseball and the Cubs. I go to a game or two per year at Wrigley, but prefer the better view that television provides. My complaint is that many broadcasts pay far too much attention to things that are not the game on the field. I don’t want to see the fans, the announcers, nor any “human interest” stories. Baseball is interesting on its own, and broadcasters who try to make it more interesting by focusing on things not on the field do a disservice to the game. The people they are trying to draw in are never going to like the game. ESPN is the worst. All of the Cubs’ games are on TV and I dread the ones that ESPN chooses for their coverage, preempting the usual outlets. That’s my rant!

[Frederick Skelly]

Baseball games can be pretty long and boring.

Yeah they can. But it seems to vary with the seats. One time on a business trip, we bought seats that were "near" home plate and only about 20 rows up. It was surprising to me how different the game looks from that close up.

But it was still quite long...

[Scott Donley]

Baseball games can be pretty long and boring.

You should try being a Mariners fan if you want long and boring.

[Steve Jenkins]

I thought that baseball on tv was the most boring thing imaginable until I went to a mlb game

[Brian Tymchak]

What bugs me is watching fans that buy the best seats in the house in back of home plate and then ignore the game while they gawk at their phone for 9 innings, or

have a continual conversation with their buddy or buddiette with no clue to what's going on in the field.

Seems like a waste of 200-300 bucks.

Was watching the Indians/Twins game last night. TV cut to a shot beyond the outfield fence where several people were playing corn hole. Talk about a waste of money...

[Jon Grider]

I love baseball and the Cubs. I go to a game or two per year at Wrigley, but prefer the better view that television provides. My complaint is that many broadcasts pay far too much attention to things that are not the game on the field. I don’t want to see the fans, the announcers, nor any “human interest” stories. Baseball is interesting on its own, and broadcasters who try to make it more interesting by focusing on things not on the field do a disservice to the game. The people they are trying to draw in are never going to like the game. ESPN is the worst. All of the Cubs’ games are on TV and I dread the ones that ESPN chooses for their coverage, preempting the usual outlets. That’s my rant!


ESPN is the worst, agreed. The Sunday night crew seems oblivious to the game sometimes. The camera spends so much time in the broadcast booth the game becomes secondary.

[Rob Luter]

My bride and I enjoyed a game last night at our local minor league park. Great seats (right behind home plate). I've been to three games in the last week and a half and didn't last through the 6th inning in any of them. Good thing the tickets are cheap.

[Stan Calow]

You can make the same complaint about concerts.

[Paul McGaha]

I love watching Nationals games, right up to the time when the Nationals bullpen gets involved.

I go to 3 or 4 games per year. Mostly I watch them on TV. We have really good guys doing the TV work (MASN). Easy to listen to.

PHM

[Andrew Seemann]

Was watching the Indians/Twins game last night. TV cut to a shot beyond the outfield fence where several people were playing corn hole. Talk about a waste of money...

In their defense, that is one of the things the Twins do well; provide entertainment for people during the game. My wife is a pretty die hard baseball fan, and even she gets bored during the course of three hours at the park. Locally, the Twins have to compete against the independent league Saints. The Saints are well known for their "Fun is Good" motto, and have lots of entertainment on and off the field of play (the Drag Queens - guys decked out in wigs and dresses to drag the field, Sumo suit races, etc). A person who hated baseball could still have fun at a Saints game.

This has rubbed off on the Twins, who have realized that to stay competitive in the Majors (and locally), they need to bring in die hard baseball fans, plus people who kind of want to watch a baseball game, but don't want to sit in a hard backed chair for three straight hours. It also helps with kids like my 12 year old, who watches every single pitch until about the 6th inning, and then kind of fizzles out and wants to go walk around. When you throw in that you still can get some pretty cheap nosebleed seats, you end up with something fun to do that isn't any more expensive than bar hopping (and without the drunks and deafening music).

Saints photos from a recent game:
414180 414181

[Frederick Skelly]

Well, it's whatever your fans like, I guess - and whatever keeps people in the park spending money. I sound like a grumpy old man saying this, but the Saints' silliness wouldn't keep me there past the point when I was bored/tired. If I want to laugh, I'll go find a comedy club or channel. But it's like everything else - to each his own. Nuthin' wrong with that.

Fred

[Bruce Wrenn]

Never been to a MLB game, and don't watch them on TV either. Used to go to Durham Bulls when they were in the old park. Sat in the bleachers behind first base . Newer park has individual seats, instead of bleachers. The mojo isn't the same. Local paper here no longer publishes minor league standings either. Heck they don't publish much of anything anymore. Mainly adds for furniture, hearing aids and men's clinics, with a little news scattered in between. Obits are the most exciting section of newspaper anymore.

[Myk Rian]

But my pet peeve is that the TV producers would rather point the camera at a player standing in the outfield than focusing on the excitement of a fan that just caught a ball in the stands. Or watching the bat boy at work occasionally.
They do both of those all the time.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I moved to the united states as a teenager, so I came to baseball late enough that I missed the strike but got to watch the home run (steroid) era of the 90s. I never played it much but I do like watching it, at least passively. I find it makes great background in the shop or when I am otherwise engaged. It is rhythmic, a little slow, but there is always something happening, even if it is not frenetic action.

My pet peeve is when the broadcasters spend an entire half inning talking about anything but the game. This is especially grating in the local broadcasts (since none of them are local to me), where you hear no announcing for three outs because they are talking about freeway construction or the buffet at their hotel.

My other pet peeve is how MLB is fiddling around the edges with pitch clocks and mound visits and such when the real culprit of four hour games is the 5 minutes of pickup trucks and ED medication twice an inning or three times if there is a pitching change.

[Jon Nuckles]

My pet peeve is when the broadcasters spend an entire half inning talking about anything but the game. This is especially grating in the local broadcasts (since none of them are local to me), where you hear no announcing for three outs because they are talking about freeway construction or the buffet at their hotel.

I agree with you completely, Günter. It is particularly bad if the announcers think they are funny when they are not. The Cubs often, though less often than in past years, have quasi-celebrities come in to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch. Most spend a half inning in the radio booth and another in the TV booth. During the radio booth visits, it is hard to tell that a ball game is still going on in the background.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I agree with you completely, Günter. It is particularly bad if the announcers think they are funny when they are not. The Cubs often, though less often than in past years, have quasi-celebrities come in to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch. Most spend a half inning in the radio booth and another in the TV booth. During the radio booth visits, it is hard to tell that a ball game is still going on in the background.

This is only acceptable when Bill Murray does it.

[Jon Nuckles]

Bill Murray is one of the few "guest conductors" that might be more interesting to me than the game. He has sung on rare occasions, but I haven't seen/heard him in the booth in a long, long time. Most of the celebs are there to promote a project. I guess he doesn't need to do that.

[lowell holmes]

I suspect people at the ball game that do that are not there to see the game, but to bee seen.

[Roger Feeley]

I don't think the people that hang around the Creek are the kind that would understand being at a game with your nose in a phone. As craftsmen/women, we are perfectly capable of putting the phone aside and concentrating on just one thing for extended periods of time. The folks who have to be listening to a podcast while facebooking and tweeting all at once don't seem to be able to focus on just one thing. They call it multi-tasking. I don't see how it can possibly work.

I was with a guy at a family dinner who ignored the family for the first half of the dinner because he was posting to facebook, texting and tweeting about how he was enjoying a family dinner. I pointed out that he seemed to be experiencing an abstraction of the dinner while ignoring the real thing. He didn't get it.

[Derek Meyer]

My wife and I were watching a Mariner's game a few weeks ago (yeah, we're diehard fans), and she said "Look at the girls behind the batter." Sure enough, there was a row of 4 or 5 girls almost directly behind home plate in the 2nd row. Prime seats and probably very expensive. They were all staring at their phones every time we saw them. I think one of them glanced up at the game one time and then went back to her phone.

We went to a game at T-Mobile Park last month and had seats in row 5 right behind the ball girl along the first base line. The only time I got my phone out was to take pictures before the game and when Mike Trout was batting. Trout, BTW, put that game away with a 3 run homer in the top of the 9th. My wife jumped out of her seat when he hit it.

[Bob Glenn]

IMO, cell phones have changed society for the worse. I've seen really rude behavior with these things. It's not unusual to walk into a restruant and see couples both playing with their cyber binkies totally ignoring each other and being oblivious all around them. Don't get me started on phone use while driving, should be a crime worst than drunken driving since it is totally voluntary. When someone is drunk they have lost all sense of reasoning. Just my take. Thanks for reading.

[Charlie Velasquez]

Watching sports has changed dramatically in the last ten-fifteen years.
When my kids were growing up in the 80’s and early 90’s we were all sports fans. We had our favorite teams and we followed them closely.


My kids are still big sports fans, but their focus has changed.
Enter fantasy sports. Fantasy leagues has allowed the fan to be more interactive in their viewing. They can draft players to be on their team, then decide which ones will play on any given game.
When they first started, TV would sometimes spend more time on the player’s fantasy potential, than the actual game effect.

So during any game, the one that is on the screen or they are at, is only a portion of their interest during that time period. They might have an Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay at quarterback and an Antonio Brown from Oakland at receiver.
There are web sites that cater to displaying just the stats of players absent the outcome of the games they are in. Their smart phones are their conduit to how “their team” is doing. They compare their “managing skills” to the rest of their friends in the league. They are now more than spectators but personally vested in the results of the players.

They are still big fans of sports, but the results of the actual games are less interesting to them than the results of “their teams” that they formed themselves.

[Günter VögelBerg]

I think often times those prime seats are actually owned by big companies or other entities who give tickets away more than they use them themselves. The company I work for has a box at Arrowhead stadium, but when you go to a Chiefs game there it is full of people who could not care less about the game and would rather post on social media about how they are in a swanky sky box because their spouse/parent/friend works for the company. It reminds me of that beer commercial from years ago where the beer guys burst into the sky box and ask if anyone can tell them what inning it is. When no one can they confiscate all the beer and hand it out to the fans in the nosebleed seats.

[Art Mann]

Remember, to lots of people, a "no hitter" is a game where nothing happens, at least for one of the teams.