Rangers "bullypen"
I am embarrassed to be a Rangers fan today. I know that fans can be hideously ugly at sporting events. I've sat around assholes who shout ugly things to players. I'm just thinking that if you paid me X number of millions of dollars per year to play a game, I think I could learn to listen to someone call me a fag or insult my mother's morals. I really do. Hell, you could even yell your undying love for Osama Bin Laden and I will wave my hat at you.
Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING warrants throwing a chair into the stands at a baseball game. I honestly don't care what was said to the Rangers bullpen. I have seen hateful Yankees fans throw giant things at baseball players in the outfield. That is unexcusable. I still can't justify throwing a chair into a crowd. Professional athlete or not, he had no fucking clue where that chair was going and I'm willing to bet that the woman whose nose was broken wasn't the one cat-calling the SOB.
If you have no clue what I'm talking about, here are a few links to the story. Rangers reliever Frank Francisco hurled a chair into Oakland fans at a game last night. Conked one dude on the head, then the chair ricocheted into a woman nearby, breaking her nose and cutting her face.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-rangers-fanfight&prov=ap&type=lgns
During a search for more links, I went to Major League Baseball. This is how they portrayed the event:
Monday night's Rangers-A's game was delayed for almost 20 minutes after a verbal confrontation between Rangers relievers and A's fans escalated into a fracas alongside the visitors' bullpen at Network Associates Coliseum.
A fracas? I'm sure that woman would describe it just that way - even as she files her complaint with the police to have the asshole who assaulted her arrested. I'd sue his ass so fast, it wouldn't be funny and I'd have other parts of me fixed in addition to the rhinoplasty she may require.
This just pisses me off even further. I have already ranted once about how professional sports franchises are conspiring to keep avid sports fans like me and Army of Dad away from these events because we can't afford to take ourselves, let alone our kids, too. But, now I hate to take my kids because if these are the role models they are to look up to, no thanks. Not only that, but how do I even guarantee the safety of my children if these assholes are going to be flinging chairs into the seats?
ESPN.com's headline was Bully Pen. I love it. I had to steal it. Sorry ... no plagarism intended.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1881073 This story said Francisco was arrested. The other stories didn't have that. He should be arrested. That is ridiculuous. I guess the bull pen will need a babysitter out there so they don't get der itty bitty feewings hurt. Pussies.
Nothing. Absolutely NOTHING warrants throwing a chair into the stands at a baseball game. I honestly don't care what was said to the Rangers bullpen. I have seen hateful Yankees fans throw giant things at baseball players in the outfield. That is unexcusable. I still can't justify throwing a chair into a crowd. Professional athlete or not, he had no fucking clue where that chair was going and I'm willing to bet that the woman whose nose was broken wasn't the one cat-calling the SOB.
If you have no clue what I'm talking about, here are a few links to the story. Rangers reliever Frank Francisco hurled a chair into Oakland fans at a game last night. Conked one dude on the head, then the chair ricocheted into a woman nearby, breaking her nose and cutting her face.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-rangers-fanfight&prov=ap&type=lgns
During a search for more links, I went to Major League Baseball. This is how they portrayed the event:
Monday night's Rangers-A's game was delayed for almost 20 minutes after a verbal confrontation between Rangers relievers and A's fans escalated into a fracas alongside the visitors' bullpen at Network Associates Coliseum.
A fracas? I'm sure that woman would describe it just that way - even as she files her complaint with the police to have the asshole who assaulted her arrested. I'd sue his ass so fast, it wouldn't be funny and I'd have other parts of me fixed in addition to the rhinoplasty she may require.
This just pisses me off even further. I have already ranted once about how professional sports franchises are conspiring to keep avid sports fans like me and Army of Dad away from these events because we can't afford to take ourselves, let alone our kids, too. But, now I hate to take my kids because if these are the role models they are to look up to, no thanks. Not only that, but how do I even guarantee the safety of my children if these assholes are going to be flinging chairs into the seats?
ESPN.com's headline was Bully Pen. I love it. I had to steal it. Sorry ... no plagarism intended.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1881073 This story said Francisco was arrested. The other stories didn't have that. He should be arrested. That is ridiculuous. I guess the bull pen will need a babysitter out there so they don't get der itty bitty feewings hurt. Pussies.
9 Comments:
At 10:59 AM, September 14, 2004,
~~J said…
Agreed - nothing justifies hurling a chair into the stands - too many innocents there. HOWEVER, the security and management at the venue itself bears huge responsibility here, in addition to Frankie and the group of too-rowdy fans. While it is the job of human beings to act like human beings - be they atheltes or fans - it is also the job of the security folks and managers at such gathering places to MAINTAIN A SAFE AND UNTHREATENING ATMOSPHERE. This incident was not spontaneous. It heated up and escalated over the course of the game until it blew. Surely the attendants and security team noticed something was getting ugly way before this thing exploded. If a lawsuit(s) results - and it will - I would imagine the venue operation itself will be named and held just as resposible. Again - no excuse for tossing a chair into a crowd, but atheletes are human beings and often from other cultures where you are not expected to put up with you and your family and your heritage for all that matter being called names and what-not. It is the job of the attendants and security at these functions to keep this nonsense from happening. THEY FAILED.
I am dying to know what AoD thinks......
At 11:01 AM, September 14, 2004,
gone_1 said…
Professional sports has degenerated to the point that you can't let kids read about the athletes personal lives, lest they think snorting cocaine, throwing chairs, beating girlfriends and running over people is okay, and you can't take them to the game because of the sheer amount of vile language coming out of the fans around you could set your hair on fire and you really don't want Johnny to know that shooting the finger or throwing yesterday's garbage at a player is an appropriate way to respond to a bad call.
Athletes make unholy amounts of money and piss all over the fans, the sports leagues and anyone who tries to tell them they aren't behaving professionally. Fans have responded by becoming a teeming mass of bad behavior previously only accepted in a biker bar and, then only after 2 a.m.
It's called common courtesy, folks. It's called manners. It's called showing a little dignity and class. I know these are difficult concepts to grasp when you are making more money than God and have your face plastered all over every magazine on the planet or if the umpire has just made the billionth stupid call in a game against your team or you are going to end owing the office pool a great deal of money at the end of the game. However, maybe if we all take a deep breath and vow to do a little better, a woman in Oakland wouldn't be waking up this morning in a hospital simply because she went to a baseball game.
At 11:35 AM, September 14, 2004,
Army of Mom said…
Preach on folks. J, you're right. I shouldn't have left that out. Security has a role there other than handing out the dots for the dot race.
At 12:00 PM, September 14, 2004,
Anonymous said…
Well I bet it started when someone called Cordero a fag.
Throwing a chair is pretty bitchy. I would expect more manly behavior out of Francisco. (the whole machismo thing, would he have pulled hair if he got close enough?) He had better be glad he didn't hit anyone in my family with that chair, a lawsuit would have been the least of his worries!
I agree with Kat that MLB, the As and stadium security should bear a large percentage of any damages. More so than the player or the Rangers. They have the responsibility to take care of the overgrown babies they employ. I thought that warning about objects leaving the field of play only pertained to actual baseball equipment!
That said I think it is only fair in these days of equal opportunity to raise the possibility that she was involved before getting hit with a chair and ,ay bear some of the blame. :P
I am interested in finding out what happened as last I heard no one was saying what started it all.
Army of Dad
At 1:46 PM, September 14, 2004,
Unknown said…
Where does it say in the manual that you have to suffer insults just because you are a sports star? The only thing he did that was stupid, in my opinion, is forget how much such an action could cost him financially. From everything I have heard on this, every single fanatic in the stands there deserved a chair in the face. If I was a filthy rich ball player, I would hire a couple of Samoan hit men to sit in the stands near where I play. Dole out the pain as neccesary, boys...I'll pay your bail and court costs, and a nice bonus.
At 4:22 PM, September 14, 2004,
Army of Mom said…
No one should have to subjected to name-calling. That is one thing I hate about going to the ballpark, sitting by the drunk assholes being obnoxious. But, my feeling is they should be bigger than the trailer trash yelling at them. *shrug* The more I hear about this, the more I think the A's stadium operations people share some of the blame. This was allowed to escalate to a point of no return.
At 4:48 PM, September 14, 2004,
Uzz said…
Just to make sure...the idiot that threw the chair was Frank Francisco...Franciso Codero kept his chair on his butt...thankfully...we can live without the former, but not the latter. I have heard from some sources close to the Rangers that the fan in question kept shouting at Doug Brocail something like, "Where is your stillborn son?" Apparently a comment about some personal issues in Brocail's life and that is what prompted Brocail to start shouting at the fan. Frank Francisco was actually in the dugout and ran with other players down to the bullpen and picked up the chair and threw it at the fan in question. Apparently Kenny Rogers said he reached out a split second too late to keep the chair from being flung. Frank Francisco's career is done.
All that being said, there is no way to justify his actions. He just came off being AL Rookie of the Month...not a good followup to that! Too bad the security did not do something to quell the issue earlier when requested, but still, there is no excuse and I hope he gets suspended the rest of the year.
Uzz
At 5:22 PM, April 23, 2007,
Anonymous said…
The fan and his wife were mocking Doug Brocail for the birth of his most recent child which was stillborn. Maybe everyone should think about what they would do in that situation before jumping to any conclusions.
At 8:56 PM, April 23, 2007,
Army of Mom said…
If the fan who was yelling awful things was the one who would be injured, I have no problems with tossing a chair at someone rude enough to mouth off about the loss of a precious child. However, if I understand it correctly, the person who was injured was NOT the one hurling the hateful words. If you want to pummel the hateful person, just climb up the bleachers and yank him out. A professional athlete could likely inflict some harm on the appropriate person, not on some innocent bystander who probably doesn't share the beliefs of the hateful person. Perhaps everyone should think about what they would do if they could injure innocent bystanders. Inflicting pain on them doesn't do anything to relieve the pain felt by the hateful comments.
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