Post by Dave on Jan 2, 2009 20:53:25 GMT
The good thing about this forum only being in its first year, is we keep having events happen for the first time.
Now last week we had our first Christmas poster of the week winner, a man who is not only very educated, but also very knowledgeable, the one and only Chris Hayes.
Now we have another first, our first New Year winner and the word first really does apply to the winner this week. He said he thought he was my number one, but soon found out he really was the first and he was the very first person to join the forum, so that really does make him my number one.
Always writes first class posts and has made some real top ones again this week. I have picked out the post below, because It was for me such a good read and first class answer to a question I had asked.
So this weeks winner is
Capitalgull Well done, fully deserved
One Of Capitalgulls posts made this week
It's an interesting question Dave but really the two sporting cultures are like chalk and cheese. Firstly it is very rare in the US to get an away following, unless it is the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, both of whom have large followings across the whole country. Most of the time, if they are playing a road (away) game, there will be fans local to the home side who go to games and support the Yankees/Sox despite their geographical situation. I guess you could equate it to the people from Guildford who only ever see Manchester United play when it's at Chelsea or Arsenal.
But because of it, the support inside the ground is often very one-sided, and there is a distinct lack of abuse from the crowd. Imagine every game at Plainmoor being against teams with the following of say Histon or Lewes and it would take away a lot of the 'team v team' chanting, where a good deal of the abuse comes from.
The other area is, of course, officiating and as in England things are fairly similar in the US. Umpires and referees will get abuse, but usually in the States it comes in the form of plain old booing. You might get the odd person effing and blinding, but it really is frowned upon, and I can't say in the dozens of games I have watched across the five main sports (including MLS in that) I can't say I remember hearing much swearing at all, unless it came from Stepho sitting next to me.
There is also very little in the way of player abuse, and most of it would come in the form of Australian style sledging - often it is light-hearted and I would say never in my time have I heard the 'C' word used at an arena I have visited.
You are right to say the atmosphere in US sports arenas is more family orientated, especially in baseball where you see hundreds and thousands of kids at games with their parents. Most often they will buy a family season ticket and sit among the same people every game of the year; 81 for baseball and 41 each for basketball and ice hockey. It's a little bit different in American Football, where tickets are much more expensive and there are less home games per season, at only eight in the regular season at an absolute maximum. Plus games in the NFL, mainly being played on Sundays and often taking place in the evening, the very young kids will be at home getting an early night ready to go to school or college the next day. There is a preponderance towards teenagers being the youngest fans at those games, and the older demographics will dominate the crowd.
The other big difference is the ease with which alcohol can be purchased...you might think it would make swearing and obscenity more frequent, but in my experience all it does is relax people, make them more likely to have fun than get stressed at every decision or bad piece of play that is made, and generally drunkenness is not a huge problem despite fans being able to take as many beers as they want to their seats, while watching the game, although many games have a deadline by which alcohol can be bought (say the start of the final period/quarter or the seventh inning in baseball).
It can get a little more ribald in baseball games in the middle of summer when it is sweltering hot, but even then it only often happens in the bleacher sections, also known as the cheap seats, where the abuse of alcohol is more likely and there might be a bit more blue language, but often these areas are restricted to over 21s/18s and the family section will be situated some way away, where there will also be restrictions on alcohol consumption or even a total ban.
But having seen probably over 50 games in the States, I can honestly say I have never seen a single bit of crowd trouble or the kind of abuse that occurs on a daily basis in football. I'm not sure I have ever seen a fan ejected from a ground when I have been in attendance. All in all, the day is far more pleasant than visiting football grounds in this country, although the atmosphere is much more sterile and less exciting unless you happen to be a supporter of the home team. As a neutral to most games I have seen, you do often get left wondering whether people are there to watch the sport, or people watch, and in many arenas you will find a lot of people leaving after only a third of the game...this especially happens at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where quite often as early as the fifth inning (of nine total) the stadium if half empty since fans seem to have better things to do and move on to whatever that may be.
As for the actual topic of this thread, I find Mr Bartlett to be one of the most obnoxious characters I have ever had the misfortune to meet, and I would suggest were he to attempt such behaviour in the US, he would firstly not be allowed into the ground for being intoxicated and would most likely be thrown out inside the ground since the 'grassing' culture is far more noticeable. If he were to behave as I have seen, fans in his section would most likely report him to police and he would be ejected...in England it seems he is given a chance to sober up and behave himself...would it be different if he were actually arrested and spent a night in jail?
I remember him getting thrown out of The Shay in Halifax many years ago in the middle of a thunderstorm, being an arse to police and stewards as well as peeing off most of the away support that day. I've never liked him since that day and would happliy do anything I could to avoid him. There aren't many people I would actively avoid, but he is one of them for sure, and I really don't like having to say that about another human being. The man has issues, but never seems to want to try and correct them.
Now last week we had our first Christmas poster of the week winner, a man who is not only very educated, but also very knowledgeable, the one and only Chris Hayes.
Now we have another first, our first New Year winner and the word first really does apply to the winner this week. He said he thought he was my number one, but soon found out he really was the first and he was the very first person to join the forum, so that really does make him my number one.
Always writes first class posts and has made some real top ones again this week. I have picked out the post below, because It was for me such a good read and first class answer to a question I had asked.
So this weeks winner is
Capitalgull Well done, fully deserved
One Of Capitalgulls posts made this week
It's an interesting question Dave but really the two sporting cultures are like chalk and cheese. Firstly it is very rare in the US to get an away following, unless it is the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, both of whom have large followings across the whole country. Most of the time, if they are playing a road (away) game, there will be fans local to the home side who go to games and support the Yankees/Sox despite their geographical situation. I guess you could equate it to the people from Guildford who only ever see Manchester United play when it's at Chelsea or Arsenal.
But because of it, the support inside the ground is often very one-sided, and there is a distinct lack of abuse from the crowd. Imagine every game at Plainmoor being against teams with the following of say Histon or Lewes and it would take away a lot of the 'team v team' chanting, where a good deal of the abuse comes from.
The other area is, of course, officiating and as in England things are fairly similar in the US. Umpires and referees will get abuse, but usually in the States it comes in the form of plain old booing. You might get the odd person effing and blinding, but it really is frowned upon, and I can't say in the dozens of games I have watched across the five main sports (including MLS in that) I can't say I remember hearing much swearing at all, unless it came from Stepho sitting next to me.
There is also very little in the way of player abuse, and most of it would come in the form of Australian style sledging - often it is light-hearted and I would say never in my time have I heard the 'C' word used at an arena I have visited.
You are right to say the atmosphere in US sports arenas is more family orientated, especially in baseball where you see hundreds and thousands of kids at games with their parents. Most often they will buy a family season ticket and sit among the same people every game of the year; 81 for baseball and 41 each for basketball and ice hockey. It's a little bit different in American Football, where tickets are much more expensive and there are less home games per season, at only eight in the regular season at an absolute maximum. Plus games in the NFL, mainly being played on Sundays and often taking place in the evening, the very young kids will be at home getting an early night ready to go to school or college the next day. There is a preponderance towards teenagers being the youngest fans at those games, and the older demographics will dominate the crowd.
The other big difference is the ease with which alcohol can be purchased...you might think it would make swearing and obscenity more frequent, but in my experience all it does is relax people, make them more likely to have fun than get stressed at every decision or bad piece of play that is made, and generally drunkenness is not a huge problem despite fans being able to take as many beers as they want to their seats, while watching the game, although many games have a deadline by which alcohol can be bought (say the start of the final period/quarter or the seventh inning in baseball).
It can get a little more ribald in baseball games in the middle of summer when it is sweltering hot, but even then it only often happens in the bleacher sections, also known as the cheap seats, where the abuse of alcohol is more likely and there might be a bit more blue language, but often these areas are restricted to over 21s/18s and the family section will be situated some way away, where there will also be restrictions on alcohol consumption or even a total ban.
But having seen probably over 50 games in the States, I can honestly say I have never seen a single bit of crowd trouble or the kind of abuse that occurs on a daily basis in football. I'm not sure I have ever seen a fan ejected from a ground when I have been in attendance. All in all, the day is far more pleasant than visiting football grounds in this country, although the atmosphere is much more sterile and less exciting unless you happen to be a supporter of the home team. As a neutral to most games I have seen, you do often get left wondering whether people are there to watch the sport, or people watch, and in many arenas you will find a lot of people leaving after only a third of the game...this especially happens at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where quite often as early as the fifth inning (of nine total) the stadium if half empty since fans seem to have better things to do and move on to whatever that may be.
As for the actual topic of this thread, I find Mr Bartlett to be one of the most obnoxious characters I have ever had the misfortune to meet, and I would suggest were he to attempt such behaviour in the US, he would firstly not be allowed into the ground for being intoxicated and would most likely be thrown out inside the ground since the 'grassing' culture is far more noticeable. If he were to behave as I have seen, fans in his section would most likely report him to police and he would be ejected...in England it seems he is given a chance to sober up and behave himself...would it be different if he were actually arrested and spent a night in jail?
I remember him getting thrown out of The Shay in Halifax many years ago in the middle of a thunderstorm, being an arse to police and stewards as well as peeing off most of the away support that day. I've never liked him since that day and would happliy do anything I could to avoid him. There aren't many people I would actively avoid, but he is one of them for sure, and I really don't like having to say that about another human being. The man has issues, but never seems to want to try and correct them.
