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Everyone loves to have a day at the stadium rooting for their favorite team. Everyone loves taking their children to their first ever game. Everyone loves heckling players from the opposing team in good fun. However, over the last few weeks, we have seen fans take their heckling too far. One such incident forced a professional baseball player to cry, while another incident resulted in a player being suspended for the rest of their season. We will discuss a few of those incidents while I share my main message. When you purchase a ticket for a game, it does not include the right to be overly disrespectful and belligerent towards the players.
Firstly, I know gambling has become mostly legalized around the United States. This has opened up a can of worms on many different fronts. Gambling fans are now reaching out to players on social media in an attempt to hold the players accountable for their failed bets. Threatening messages towards a player or their family is completely over the line and should not be tolerated from anyone. If you want to get mad about losing money on a bet, be a better gambler, but do not harass players through a social media message. This first example may not have stemmed from gambling, but the point still stands when I say do not harass players or their families.
Next, we will discuss the Ketel Marte incident that is referenced in the above tweet. I am all for having a good time at the stadium when it comes to heckling the other players. However, heckling needs to only refer to a player’s performance on the field. Their family, personal life, and their mother who passed away years prior is off limits. Ketel Marte got so emotional from what this fan said he had to be removed from the game. Fortunately, his manager stood up for his player, called the fan out, and the fan was removed the game. The fan was also banned from attending any other games in the future, as he should be.
The last incident occurred at a basketball game that involved former NBA player, Demarcus Cousins. Now, I will say I am not sure what this fan said to warrant this response, but both the fan and player were out of line in this incident. Some people may say athletes should be more prepared to deal with situations like this, which is a very valid point, but we all know there are some things that people say that are triggers. We all have those insults that just cut deeper, while sometimes you may be able to just ignore what some people say. At the end of the day, I ask fans to just be better when heckling. Be clever. Do not be disrespectful, do not involve player’s families, and certainly try to keep it within reason as we are all just trying to have a good time at the game.
My apologies for the slightly graphic word in the previous tweet. My message is when you buy a ticket to the game, it does not come with the right to be disrespectful and distasteful towards players. Please be better fans. For more of my content, make sure to check out Southern Fried Sports on YouTube, as I am the Southern Fried Gentleman and will always stand for what is right.
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