I don’t support fans on the field—but honestly, somewhere deep down inside, you're kinda cheering for these idiots. On the radio last night, John Gordon made this particular incident sound pretty epic ("Oh wow, this is ridiculous! Looks like they have him trapped.... oh no! My goodness!! He jumped back into the stands…. That is one of the longest delays I have seen for a fan on the field in quite some time.").
Then I saw a video.
WHAT KIND OF FAN ON THE FIELD WAS THAT?!? The kid wasn’t even running! The police weren’t even running! It dragged on until the kid just stopped and pretty much said “ok, I’m done.” What the heck!?!
Apparently, the Orioles have a no-chase policy. Yeah. The “no effort” approach.
I understand how this no-chase policy could work. But I’d really rather see that idiot tackled a la the famous Boston batboy fan on the field tackle of 2006.
While listening to this fan on the field business last night, I realized that I have yet to see any fans on the field at Target Field. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is a little odd considering this used to happen quite frequently at the Metrodome. Not as frequently as wedding proposals on the jumbotron, but frequently in a similar “oh my god this would be more exciting if this was the only game I came to” type way.
Why no fans on the field at Target Field? Probably because many of the seats are raised up further off the field than at the Dome, and there’s that moat that separates most fans from the seats where one could easily jump onto the field.
It could also be because one of the consequences of running onto the field is that you are kicked out of the stadium for life.
Oh, and you’re arrested and fined thousands of dollars. I only know this through word of mouth, but if you don’t believe me you are free to test it out yourself.
So basically, if you wanted to be smart about it, you'd have to run onto the field in the bottom of the 9th inning during the stadium's last game ever.
From what I understand, they actually showed this fan on the field on TV. I’m not sure why. Maybe because it was on a national station, or maybe because everyone watching suddenly felt very nostalgic (like I did). “This is it. This is the last fan on the field I'm ever going to see at the Dome. ... GO, GO, GO!”
Man, if he had gotten over that fence that would have been so epic.
Moral of the story: Fans on the field can be annoying. No-chase policies that allow fans to jog around the field for several minutes can be even more annoying. And I prefer wrestling holds over tasers. Thanks.
Target Field's policy is that if a person run on field, security will just wait until him/her to tire out and escort out even with whoever go game with the runner. The person will be banned from the Target Field for one year. I will ask my frineds who work at the field to double check if its true. Here is article of first jumper, you may need to scroll down- its under youtube. It happen few days ago. http://weareoffthemark.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/recap-twins-vs-white-sox-game-1/#more-1753
ReplyDeleteThere is no escape at the field.