Deluded into sado-masochistic behavior, uncivil fans ruin an entire culture--Spring Training Baseball

Baseball is going the way of soccer in Europe--GAMES TAKE PLACE WITHOUT FANS/SPECTATORS DUE TO FAN VIOLENCE. Our violence hasn't reached their level yet, but EXCESSIVELY RUDE AND OFFENSIVE BEHAVIOR BY SPECTATORS HAS RESULTED IN A PATHETIC FAN EXPERIENCE, WITH A NORMAL, POLITE HUMAN BEING/FAN LEFT FEELING LIKE A CRIMINAL, SEPARATED FROM THE SPRING EXPERIENCE. AUTHORITIES LACKED THE CHARACTER NECESSARY TO SAVE IT, SO THEY JUST DENY EVERYONE.

• People today feel they're entitled to do whatever they want, & they've found little consequence for boorish behavior. Police and security people work in laissez-faire environments for irresponsible or neutered bosses who think you can't stop bad behavior anyway, so why try. The result: civil, polite baseball fans (such as myself) get hurt, baseball dies, kids are completely prevented from getting any feeling of the game. I've experienced this for the past several years, now AP writes an article about it--but fails to make the connection between fans' poor behavior and greater distance between players and fans. I don't necessarily need to be autograph-seeker distance from players, but 100 feet PLUS heavy metal bars plus a security guard? NONE OF THIS WOULD BE NECESSARY IF PARENTS HAD DONE A DECENT JOB OR IF A CULTURE HADN'T LOST ITS WILL TO SURVIVE.

"Brad Penny finished his two-inning stint, then took off on the dead run. The All-Star ace cut across the field at Dodgertown, darted behind the right-field fence and ducked into the clubhouse.

• Almost out of sight, too, is one of the great spring training traditions: pitchers jogging around the outfield warning track after their exhibition outings.

"It's weird that nobody does it anymore," San Francisco reliever Steve Kline said.

Like doubleheaders, infield practice and the pregame routine of pepper, those in-game trots on the track have faded like an aging right-hander. Instead, most pitchers retreat to back fields.

For those who want to, teams prefer that their pitchers stick to practice fields. They can work there in private and stay out of harm's way --

• no heckling from fans and no chance of getting hit by a David Ortiz drive into the gap, either.

At some places, it's more than a suggestion. At Legends Field, it's an order.

A sign on the door leading from the locker room to the dugout succinctly tells New York Yankees' opponents: Do not use main field for jogging during games. Use practice field #3.

"It started here," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Thursday. "George Steinbrenner thought it kind of cheapened spring training to see players running on the field during games, even if it was a tradition to some people."

Those foul line-to-foul line jogs always made for a unique scene in spring training. They also let fans hope to see a shot that might scatter some unsuspecting pitchers.

• "I spent a lot of time on those tracks, and I never got hit," Yankees pitching coach Ron Guidry said. "We used to run out there all the time. You don't see it anymore, so you don't remember the way it was. It's the way of the world."

At many of the newer complexes, such as the one Florida and St. Louis share in Jupiter, there are bunches of practice fields. That's where pitchers head after they're done for the day.

"It's right next to the training room, so it's real close. It's much better. They can get their work done back there," Marlins pitching coach Rick Kranitz said. "There's no need for it."

• Maybe not, but Milwaukee pitcher Chris Capuano intends to stay on track. He stuck with the old-time ritual after facing the Angels over the weekend in Tempe, Ariz.

"I like it because it's a spring training thing. It reminds me when I was young, I used to go to the games and I used to see the guys run around the track and I thought that was cool," he said.

"That's something that you only ever see in spring training. I like to keep tradition alive," he said. "I hope it doesn't fade out. It's important to keep it alive because it just keeps the whole atmosphere of accessibility to the players for the fans and just kind of a light, fun baseball atmosphere going.""

SO YOU FOLKS THOUGHT YOU WERE EXPRESSING YOUR FREEDOM, BOOING, HECKLING, HARASSING. YOU'RE SO SELF ABSORBED YOU PROBABLY THINK YOU STILL HAVE YOUR FREEDOM. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU FREE TO DO A MILE AWAY FROM PLAYERS IN SPRING TRAINING? NOTHING, AND YOUR BEHAVIOR ROBBED EVERYONE ELSE OF A GREAT TRADITION.

• From AP report, The Sporting News, 3/8/07, "A Spring Tradition Fades: Fewer Pitchers Run on Warning Track"

Have a nice day.

• P.S. Chris Capuano is my new hero because of this article.

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