New York, New York? What the hell?
Sunday, September 18 2005 @ 12:00 AM EDT
Contributed by: Named For Hank
On Friday night, someone made a monumentally idiotic decision: after the Jays loss to the Yankees, the song "New York, New York" was played over the Rogers Centre sound system.
I was so fiercely angry about it last night that I wrote the following comment and came very close to posting it. I decided not to, to give myself a day's distance to calm down, but it hasn't worked.
Fellas, why don't you just field a team with only three defenders or something when New York or Boston comes to town? Then you could guarantee them a win along with guaranteeing that fans of the Jays won't make too much pro-Jay noise near them. And then you can play New York New York after the game! And maybe even show highlights of great New York teams of the past on the big ol' scoreboard! Just think of how many New Yorkers you'll attract!
Some of my irritation and anger comes from my own experiences at games when New York has come a-callin'. I've been moved because I cheer too loudly and it has disturbed New Yorkers on more than one occasion. Those of you who attended games with me in '03 or '04 can attest to the fact that while I can generate a lot of noise with my lungs I have always opted for "clean" cheering and the mildest form of heckling imaginable. But for engaging in the scoreboard-led cry of CHARGE, I've been asked to move. (Okay, maybe it was the "O-VER-RA-TED" chant for Derek Jeter, which seemed to offend a lot of New Yorkers. They reacted like I was telling Mother Theresa jokes.)
We had to fend for ourselves when New Yorkers were throwing beers at us when we had the drum at a game. One older security guard told me that if we wanted to have the drum at a game we'd just have to deal with beers being thrown on us.
Nice.
Why do we have to feel like we're the unwanted fans when New York comes to town? Even the souvenir guys run up and down the aisles selling Yankees flags and Yankees caps. It's disheartening.
Now, I fully understand and support the idea of making money. I've been trying to make money for years with mixed results. But would the Yankees fans not come out if they were treated like visiting fans rather than visiting royalty? They can't get a ticket at home -- that's why they come to see the team here! Sure, give them a package deal with hotels and shows and meals, it's great for the whole city. But for crying out loud, don't pretend that they're some better class of citizen than your local fan who has the potential to buy 60 more tickets than a New Yorker.
I felt more comfortable as a Jays fan, vocally cheering for the Jays while decked out in Jays regalia, at RFK in Washington than I have at the Rogers Centre when New York has been in town, and there's something wrong with that.
Mrs. Hank won't go to games when New York is here anymore. And I really don't think I will, either. It's just not fun or pleasant.
We had planned to go to three or four more games this year, but we're both angry enough about "New York, New York" that we're going to skip the rest of the season. Sure, we'll watch on TV or listen on the radio, and the Jays won't lose much if any money on us because we're Season's Passers. Couple of cups of coffee, couple of slices of pizza, a meaningless drop in the bucket. But I can't think of how else to express our massive displeasure.
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