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:
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