Don't Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I used to wait anxiously for my Cardinals to come to Cincinnati two or three times each summer so that I could go see them play in person. For some reason, maybe the proximity of the cities and their similarity, the stands always had plenty of fellow fans for me to smile at and nod to. There would be a fair amount of joking around with Reds fans. The people sitting next to me might say "Eww, I have to sit next to you?" But they would smile, and after a little baseball talk, maybe a debate about whether Pujols was one of the greatest players they've ever seen, or oohing and aahing over a great play by one of the Reds, we'd depart as friends.

And then, Molina (my favorite Cardinal) and Phillips (who I like pretty well) got into that altercation last year. While I still like them both as players, I sure wish that had never happened.

In April in St. Louis, I witnessed my fellow St. Louis fans actually boo a player like I've never heard them before. My town I was so proud of for being good fans of the game, appreciative of good players from whatever team they represented, let me down. In May, we went to see the Cardinals here with the boys, and the atmosphere was a little less friendly than I remember it.

Then came last night. It was an exciting game in the end, though the first 6 innings were not much to look at, other than a couple of Heisey homeruns. The 7th was spectacular (on both sides), and the Reds and the Cardinals spent the rest of the game duking it out. I didn't even mind when in the end, my Cardinals lost due to a walk-off homerun by (of all people) Brandon Phillips. You see, I'm used to witnessing the Cardinals lose in Cincinnati. For a while, it was sort of a running joke that if I wore my number 5 t-shirt to the game, it was guaranteed they would lose. I've rarely been to a game where they won here, but I come to see them play-- win or lose.

But the whole experience of the evening was enough to make me think that next year, I'll just wait until we make our annual trip to St. Louis to go see them play. Sure, I still saw a lot of Cardinals tshirts and jerseys in the stands and walking around. But there was no friendly joking with the other fans. And on the way to the stadium, a guy yelled at me about how the Cardinals F***ing Suck (twice), and then called me a F***ing B****h, just because I was wearing my jersey. I had to watch as John ran off to defend my honor, wondering if he would end up walking into the game with bloody nose or a broken hand. After the game, waiting by myself in a crowded area for John to come out of the restroom, I was jostled and pushed by fans making several unfriendly comments about the Cards. I was feeling claustrophobic and just wanted to get the heck out of there.

It's like the Reds finally pulled themselves out of the bottom half of the NL Central for a couple of years, won the Division once, and their fans think they're the Yankees all of a sudden. They still can't fill the ballpark with fans on a regular basis, but the fans who come seem to have an awfully nasty attitude.

When I went to see the Bengals play the Jets on their turf in November, sure, there was the guy a few rows in front of us who turned to flip us off every time the Jets made a first down. But most of the people around us joked with us about how bad the Bengals were (we fully admitted that) and admired our tiger face paint. We at least got compliments for showing our colors. We all laughed at the trash talk and I never felt threatened or scared.

I'm a Reds fan for most of the season. I'll go to plenty of Reds games. I've lived here now almost as long as I lived in St. Louis. My kids will be Reds fans, and I dress them in Reds gear all the time. But when the Reds play the Cardinals at Great American next year, I may not be in the stands. Because I can't go see the Cards play without showing my colors. As big of a fan as I am, I'm not going to get in a fistfight with someone over it. And I'm certainly not going to let my kids see that sort of bully behavior. They can be Reds fans, but I want them to be fans most of all of the sport itself, like my dad and my grandfather taught me to be.