The Classless Carl Crawford

[notfast]

The best heckling is FUNNY heckling.

Arod and Jeter will look at you smile and laugh at stuff you say, if its funny. Johnny Damon gets mad WAY too easy.

Stupid heckling is "HEY _____ YOU SUCK" and stuff of the sort.

Best heckling of the year was people in LA throwing dollars at Crawford while in on deck circle.

[crissfan172]

The best heckling is FUNNY heckling.

Arod and Jeter will look at you smile and laugh at stuff you say, if its funny. Johnny Damon gets mad WAY too easy.

Stupid heckling is "HEY _____ YOU SUCK" and stuff of the sort.

Best heckling of the year was people in LA throwing dollars at Crawford while in on deck circle.

Exactly.

Funny heckling = GOOD

Stupid heckling = ANNOYING

[DrOrioles90210]

Can't we all just get along....

You're right. I apologize to all of the fans who I've made uncomfortable and not want to come to the park anymore by sitting in my seat and not yelling at the players.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Twice in the past couple years I've been seated in center field and had some obnoxious excuse for a fan spend the entire nine innings of the game ragging on the opposing centerfielder.

When it was Mitch Maier (yes, seriously, Mitch Maier, mediocre Royals outfielder) by the late innings they were essentially looking at his BBRef page on their phone to think of new things to yell about.

If you think of something clever and yell it, that's great. That's part of the entertainment. But a really obnoxious heckler can quickly turn even a great inning into the equivalent of watching Chris Jakubauskas struggling to throw strikes and giving up a bunch of walks and runs.

I'd rather do the wave than listen to a heckler like that. And I feel a small bit of almost-homicidal rage whenever some drunken fool starts the wave.

[fish113d]

Since everyone is sharing their stories about how amazing they are at heckling, can someone explain what the point is? I'm not asking for a debate on whether it should be done or not, just why anyone would be compelled to do it at all. Are you really entertained by yelling at a person who can't really do anything back or face consequences much more drastic than what you'd have to face?

Are you being serious?

[DrOrioles90210]

Are you being serious?

I'm guessing you're astounded that I'm asking this, but no one has directly given a reason other than it's part of the game. Maybe it's just me, but I don't get it.

Just for conversation's sake, what is it about heckling that you enjoy?

[fish113d]

This entire thread with the "arguing" whether heckling is "cool" or "not" is exactly the reason when I watch the O's/Sux games on TV all I hear are Red Sux fans yelling...O's fans are disenchanted, bored, and simply are in an abused relationship where just shutting up is easier than actually fighting back.

[DrOrioles90210]

This entire thread with the "arguing" whether heckling is "cool" or "not" is exactly the reason when I watch the O's/Sux games on TV all I hear are Red Sux fans yelling...O's fans are disenchanted, bored, and simply are in an abused relationship where just shutting up is easier than actually fighting back.

I love the Orioles. I watch every game I can on MLB.tv. I follow minor league box scores and watch all of their minor games that are shown on MiLB.tv. I will not get into a screaming match with Red Sox fans or heckle a player. Does that make me a bad fan?

[Brady9Fan]

Eh, when the game is a blow out, sometimes the hecklers make it worthwhile. As long as I can enjoy the game, I could care less about the hecklers. The only real time I heckled was at a Red Sox game about 4 years ago. Of course my whole section was nothing but Red Sox fans. Only one of them were getting bent out of shape, but everyone else was laughing it off. Maybe they had pity on us.

[Highbeams]

Last night, I was attending the game (sitting three rows behind the visitor's on-deck circle). Carl Crawford comes up for his third at-bat and the 4 guys behind me, who are admittedly a little drunk, start asking him how it feels to have Josh Reddick batting ahead of him and playing his position when he's making 20 million dollars. They were also talking about how he makes $20 million and has a tattoo on his neck. Crawford actually turns around and says "What you worrying about my money for?" I was a little surprised that he would do this and merely thought, I guess he's not focused which is why he is not hitting well right now. He makes an out and the guys behind me get up and clap at him saying "good job, Carl" and while he's climbing in the dugout, he yells "F#@% You" to the guy behind me. I was extremely surprised that he did this. I've sat in those seats a bunch of times and I've said much worse than what was said to Carl Crawford to yankees players and the most I've ever gotten was a glare. Terry Francona then calls

upstairs and says that he's got some guys who are being jerks and if they do one more thing he's going to have them thrown out. I didn't watch sportscenter or anything, but I would be a little surprised if this made it. Crawford plays on the Red Sox and since he was playing the Orioles, there wasn't enough coverage of it. But, should he get suspended for doing that? What should happen?

Nothing? I don't know. I just couldn't believe that he did that.

Let me see...Carl said "F#@%" and you've said "much worse than what was said to Carl Crawford to Yankee players" and fans here are banging on Crawford on behalf of the kids who are listening to your crap? You want to heckle - fine...I hate the pounding we take from the guys whose payroll doesn't have an end, but keep it clean, and get ready to take it back. Or shut the hell up!

[BaltimoreTerp]

This entire thread with the "arguing" whether heckling is "cool" or "not" is exactly the reason when I watch the O's/Sux games on TV all I hear are Red Sux fans yelling...O's fans are disenchanted, bored, and simply are in an abused relationship where just shutting up is easier than actually fighting back.

If it annoys you, go to the games. Frankly, I don't give a damn about anything you hear on TV.

[Baldimore, hon]

Let me see...Carl said "F#@%" and you've said "much worse than what was said to Carl Crawford to Yankee players" and fans here are banging on Crawford on behalf of the kids who are listening to your crap? You want to heckle - fine...I hate the pounding we take from the guys whose payroll doesn't have an end, but keep it clean, and get ready to take it back. Or shut the hell up!

I'm astonished at how many people are getting pissy at me when all I'm doing is relaying a story. I was a bystander in this instance. I thought Crawford was getting some reasonably well-informed, good-natured ribbing from some fans and he lashed out at them in a pretty classless way. And I thought Francona over-reacted by trying to get some guys kicked out of their home team's ballpark for doing practically nothing. Oh, and the guys behind me did keep it clean. Carl Crawford didn't. That's all I'm saying.

As to why heckling is fun: I think it allows fans to feel like they are more a part of the game and can have an effect on it in a way that they normally wouldn't be able to have any effect. Trying to get inside the head of the opponent, per se, thus giving your team (hopefully the O's) an edge.

[JDubs]

I love the Orioles. I watch every game I can on MLB.tv. I follow minor league box scores and watch all of their minor games that are shown on MiLB.tv. I will not get into a screaming match with Red Sox fans or heckle a player. Does that make me a bad fan?

Edited due to over-heckling:

Seems like you need to lighten up, Francis.

[Tony-OH]

There are several reasons why I actually heckle while at a ball game and none of them have anything to do with me being jealous of the baseball players. Let me preface this with the fact that I don't curse or say anything vulgar in nature. My main, number 1 goal, is to fluster the opposing players. Maybe some of you don't remember playing baseball growing up, but if someone was heckling me or would exchange words on the field (for example, The Sandlot), it could make me lose focus for a few moments. In a MLB game, those few moments if you get in a players head could have an effect on the game.

My other goal is to simply have fun with heckling and watching the game. One example of this was some buddies of mine a few years ago were in the CF bleachers yelling to the Rays dugout heckling David Price for being in the bullpen and not in the rotation (he was up a September call-up). He actually responded to us with the WWE Generation X cross-armed hump. It was absolutely hilarious, got our whole group and the entire Rays dugout cracking up. Another example is when and friend and I went to an Angels game and yelled in spanish to Bobby Abreu "you play ball like a girl". Simple, but we got a laugh out of Abreu.

Heckling is apart of baseball and is an advantage to the home team but it should be good mannered and not vulgar.

This is really what heckling should be all about. There's nothing wrong with having a little fun, especially if it's done with a little wit and definitely without vulgarities.

[Tony-OH]

Twice in the past couple years I've been seated in center field and had some obnoxious excuse for a fan spend the entire nine innings of the game ragging on the opposing centerfielder.

When it was Mitch Maier (yes, seriously, Mitch Maier, mediocre Royals outfielder) by the late innings they were essentially looking at his BBRef page on their phone to think of new things to yell about.

If you think of something clever and yell it, that's great. That's part of the entertainment. But a really obnoxious heckler can quickly turn even a great inning into the equivalent of watching Chris Jakubauskas struggling to throw strikes and giving up a bunch of walks and runs.

I'd rather do the wave than listen to a heckler like that. And I feel a small bit of almost-homicidal rage whenever some drunken fool starts the wave.

Especially when it's a close game and there's something going on that actually means something towards the outcome of the game. I absolutely despise the wave at baseball games. As for heckling, I agree, if someone is just totally being obnoxious it will get old real quick.