Real Fans Let it Hit Them in the Head
Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports via Getty Images
It wasn’t that long ago that Tropicana Field couldn’t fill its park, nor was it that long ago that the fans who were in attendance were rooting for the other team.
Those days are gone. These days, the Rays seem comfy hanging blame on their newly swollen fan base, such as they did at the end of the Rays’ 5-3 loss to the Red Sox on Sunday.
With two outs in the ninth inning, Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury hit a pop-fly near foul territory on the third base side. Rays third baseman Evan Longoria made a play for the ball that would have ended the game and given Tampa the win. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on the team logo embroidered on your hat) a fan stood up, arms outstretched (pictured) and snagged himself a souvenir to put on his desk at work.
Former Rookie of the Year and butt of millions of “Desperate Housewives” jokes, Evan Longoria was unable to catch the ball and replaced the out he failed to make with a hissyfit directed at the fan who stopped him from making it. On top of that, Rays manager Joe Maddon, without being asked about it by a reporter, took time out of the normally rote postgame press conference to call out the Rays fans who paid money to watch his team compete:
I’d like the fan to understand, the one on the third-base side, you don’t do those things. Really. Our fans need to know that. In a game like that, you’re in our ballpark, you let our fielders field that ball, because once the fielder reaches in [to the stands] the fan can catch it and there’s going to be no interference called.
And this is where I got pissed off.
Look at the above picture: Who’s leaning into who’s territory there, Joe? The Rays ended up winning the game several pitches later, making Maddon’s postgame response all the more … ahem … “Maddonning.” Let’s not lose perspective, if I’m shelling peanuts and paid athlete hits a ball at me giving me less than three seconds to react, here’s a list of what goes through my head:
- Drop the peanut! No, seriously there’s more in the bag. Just sacrifice it!
- This thing isn’t actually heading toward me, is it? Holy Moses, it is!
- If I don’t catch it, everyone is gonna boo me. Strangers, small children, Floridians…the hot girl three seats over, everybody.
- How bad is this gonna hurt my hands?
By that point, the ball has arrived. and if you’re the guy who caught it at the end of Sunday’s game, you didn’t have time to think about your spacial relations to Evan Longoria, or the strategy involved in leaning back with your hands over your eyes.
The idea that Maddon, with time to compose himself,* decided to take the fan to task for not fleeing the scene is insulting. What should he have done? Ducked? Leaned into the lap of the guy in the second row? Covered his head hoping that the ball didn’t crack the backs of his hands? Fans are not athletes, they’re people who pay the athletes’ salaries. That Maddon and Longoria (and perhaps Rays closer Troy Percival, who mouthed something after the non-play) are shaming fans for not “letting the fielders field” makes me wonder why that fan isn’t also getting paid millions if he’s just as responsible for an almost-loss as the players on the field.
* Compose himself from what, you ask? I dunno. From Longoria not getting everything his heart desired on that day?
Fan interference was not called on the play, mostly because no fan interfered. If anything, Longo’ interfered with the fan finishing his beer before the end of the game. Take a look at the photo again (last time, I swear), that ball left the field. If a player leans into a guy’s lap and expects him to keep tabs on not only where he is in relation to the ball, but where the players are in relation to him…well, that’s asking too much of non-athletes.
This team has World Series talent and the fans are starting to notice. Don’t forget the days when Longoria would’ve made that catch because no one bothered to buy a ticket for those seats.
Leave a Reply
