Stay classy, Los Angeles Dodger fans

 

There's no way to say this elegantly without sounding whiny or bitter due to sour grapes, but the Dodger fans Saturday night were pretty classless to Cub fans, and it was noticeable by all.

Don't get me wrong, as a transplant Chicagoian and a lifelong Cub fan, I take my hat off to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Joe Torre, and the ownership that put that team on the field. They took on the best team in the National League and swept them fair and square. No game was even close.

But every Cub fan who I got eye contact with on Saturday asked the same thing to me, "how are they treating you?" The answer was easy, "brutally."

Perhaps I was crazy to think that in America one could wear their colors in the stands of an opposing team's stadium and enjoy some good-natured smack talk while watching a baseball game. I was certainly crazy to think that civility could be experienced in the right field pavilion where part of the ticket price included all you can eat throw hot dogs, peanuts, nachos and popcorn. In such a section the ammo is endless.

It's also an odd section because for many years the right field pavilion was alcohol-free because "fans" got too drunk and became belligerent. Watch the video above and listen to the crowd chant "Cubs Suck" to a gentleman attempting to purchase a beer to drown his sorrows in the 5th inning as it became increasingly obvious that their team was about to break his heart for the second year in a row, thus continuing a 100-year drought.

Cub fans are no strangers to trash talk. Wrigley Field's bleach bums are notorious for ...

... the insults that they can unleash on visiting outfielders. Sure we'll heckle Cardinal fans when they're in town, but if you ever watch a Cub/Cardinal series you'll see lots of red hats and jerseys all over the Friendly Confines because Cub fans know where the line is and can treat fans of other teams with, omg, respect.

I've been to Oakland and watched the Raiders lose to a last minute John Elway drive on a Monday night, and saw how the Raider Nation was more well-behaved in defeat than the Dodger fans were in victory. Shameful is the word. Especially when considering that much of the venom that I saw in the stands and under the bleachers was directed toward female Cub fans.

I realize it's been a while since the Dodgers have been this close to a pennant, but if I believed that any advice would be taken, I would suggest acting as if you've been there before. Especially since many of you have.

An exception to the inhospitably that I experienced in my section, was a young woman named Angela who tapped my shoulder as I was being berated for daring to buy a beer. A local in front of me turned around and yelled, "this line is for Dodger Fans only!" I replied, "the way the Cubs have been playing these last two games, you should be buying me beers."

Angela said, "Sorry about all of this." And said that she went to Yankee Stadium this summer in her Dodger gear and had no harsh razzing from Yankee fans. She said she also visited Wrigley Field and was treated with respect, which is why she felt the need to apologize for what was clearly obvious to anyone with two eyes and two ears.

My Dodger fan friend, who was my guest at the game, bought Angela a beer for being the only Dodger fan who acknowledged that something was clearly missing at Chavez Ravine -- class. For an organization that has been the home of Jackie Robinson, Rick Monday, Orel Hershiser and Vin Scully, among many others who epitomized class, it was a mighty shocking trend that I hope gets squashed quickly.

-- Tony Pierce

Comments

[Jake Torres]

Tony, your blog is no surprise to me. Having attended many dodger games the last decade I have seen countless incidents of these rude fans! First they were in pavilion, then reserve level to now you can find these rude people in the field level section. They need to raise the ticket prices to squeeze these people out!!! I can't stand them!

[Ren]

Hahaha...
Good article.
BUT...
That ain't nuthin' compared to what the Dodger fans will have to endure in Philly.
Phillie fans will flat out make Dodger fans ....cry like little girls.

I guess it's sort of...Karma for La fans.
They are all into the crap anyway out there in La, aren't they?

Well..heh...get ready for some!

ren

[lizette]

omg. really? your gonna whine about getting your feelings hurt????

if your so sensitive tony, stay home, like the cubs are doing the rest of this post season.

[Javier Gonzalez]

I have been a Dodger fan my entire life and I acknowledge that there are SOME that fans that act inappropriate when they drink a little to much. However I have been to San Diego , Arizona and San Francisco so Called friendly cities and have gotten heckled myself. I have had a couple of friends go to Wrigley and get heckled by the Bleacher Bums so if you cant take a "Cubs Suck" maybe you should watch the game at home. By the way comparing us to Raider Nation is absolutely wrong. Before you are quick to judge maybe you should be at more Dodger games.

[Jorge Torres]

Whiny, bitter and sour grapes. You hit it right on the head. Hahaha, 100 years.

[EricG]

This describes fan from EVERY team in EVERY sport. I'm a Cleveland fan from Pennsylvania. I've been to Steeler games in Browns gear - same thing. I've been to PIRATES games in Indians gear - same thing. I wore an Angels hat to a Phillies-Red Sox game - same thing. If you are wearing an opposing team's colors, expect to get harrassed. That's just the way it is, I'm sorry.

[Kimbo]

I am a lifelong Dodger fan and I have been to many games. Though I have not personally seen any hostilities of Dodger fans against oposing fans, I have heard of incidences and I am embarassed for our City and our Team. We fans should clean up our act and show our oposing team fans (fellow citizens) some respect.

[Juanito]

Tony:
I have had the good fortune to have good smack talk sessions with many a Padres, Giant fans where we end up buying a beer for each other. How unfortunate that you were subjected to this chest thumping by fans of a team that has not had much to cheer about for 20 years. As for the stupid comments by Jake "I can afford to pay more and therefore have class" Torres. Money does not buy you class, it just buys you a seat closer to the infield. What a moronic statement!

[Dan]

honestly, what do you expect? It's the playoffs and we have not gotten this far in the past two decades. Dodgers fan's are probably so new to this type of feeling that many are unaware how to behave like gracious winners.

besides, the Cub's fans have been so arrogant (partly with good reason) and grilling them now is something the entire baseball world is doing, not just Dodger's fans. Sorry you experienced that at the game, but the behavior will probably carry over to the next series too. Although, I suspect you won't be booed for wearing a Cub's hat from now on.

[Dan]

honestly, what do you expect? It's the playoffs and we have not gotten this far in the past two decades. Dodgers fan's are probably so new to this type of feeling that many are unaware how to behave like gracious winners.

besides, the Cub's fans have been so arrogant (partly with good reason) and grilling them now is something the entire baseball world is doing, not just Dodger's fans. Sorry you experienced that at the game, but the behavior will probably carry over to the next series too. Although, I suspect you won't be booed for wearing a Cub's hat from now on.

[RUIZ!*]

I understand people can be rude....by what do you mean by them Jake. I hope your not mistakenly including a certain race in your complaint...are you Jake TORRES? The last thing we need is higher ticket prices. Everyone has the the right to trashtalk to an oppossing team's fan, but some fans cross the line. I've seen it on every level......so don't single anyone out!

[Mark Hodson]

It's an unfortunate part of sports when the fans take it too far.. and as a Dodger fan that attends 15-20 games per year, I have certainly seen some dispicable behavior at Chavez Ravine. That said, I was sitting in the Loge section with an entire row of Cubs fans behind my friends and I. Throughout the game we were in conversation about the 2 teams and the game itself. They congratulated us when we won, and we shook their hands as they left.. There is a lot of riff-raff unfortunately that shows up at the Ravine, and I hope it gets better over time, but try not to lump all Dodger fans into your argument. Oh, and stay out of the pavillion if you want to avoid flying hot dogs.

[Ben Pratt]

You're experience is lamentable. I was at that game, sat in Loge 143, and fortunatly did not see anything unclassy. Sitting directly to my left were 4 cubs fans, who were never harrassed or even interacted with by anyone. Directly in front of me were 2 cubs fans with a tiny weeks-old baby. They looked nervous but I suspect it was due to loud noise around their baby. They were never harrassed. The next section over, 145, a particular cubs fan was getting booed each time he ascended the stairs, which was twice. Boos can be embarassing/intimidating, but not really unclassy.
Some people do act in classless ways, but I'd say it's not the norm. My wife an I were harrassed by Padres fans in San Diego while dressed in Dodger gear. Each time we walked the stairs we got boo-ed, but also food thrown at us. In the crowded stairwell after the game, we got rudely pushed around on the stairs, and on the sidewalk some jerk harrassed my 4-year-old daughter about her loyalties. We haven't been to Petco since. I'll finish with this:
There are classless fans everywhere, there are classy fans everywhere. If you attend a game dressed in visitor's gear, beware. Your night could turn out just fine, or miserable.
However, I have been to about 7 Dodgers games at Wrigley Field, and have never been harrassed by cubs fans. Traditionally, cubs fans have treated dodger fans with class. It will be interesting next season to see if that changes. A 3-and-out NLDS sweep could put even normally pleasant cubs fans in a contankerous mood.

[Alex Hernandez]

This happens everywhere. I was in the game, reserve level where i saw chicago fans saying rude things about the dodgers, and for sure they chose the wrong place to do it. Where i was seating you could hear dodgers fans saying things like "101 years" "go back to chicago" or "sweep" nothing really offensive. They actually were throwing peanuts to dodgers fans that would throw away the beach ball. I'm young and i've been to many Dodgers game, and i can say this is the most fun i ever had.

[Jon]

Being rude is one thing, and I couldn't agree more that physical and verbal abuse needs to be stopped.

On the other hand, the people in the video saying that the Dodgers are fair-weather fans when an average of 40,000 show up for every game (yes, that's accounting for no-shows) is a bit rich. And it'd be nice if you could acknowledge that the problem Dodger fans were a minority, instead of saying "Cub fans good - Dodger fans bad." Clearly, most fans were there to cheer the home team rather than curse at the visting team.

Respect can go both ways.

As for replays, Dodger Stadium never shows replays of close plays, no matter which team they benefit.

But I definitely have witnessed bad behavior from Dodger fans and am eager to see it change.

[Cynthia]

I was at the game on Saturday and was VERY embarrassed--I sat in the Right Field Reserved section and saw an older Cubs fan and his son get slapped, punched form behind and spat on---I also heard drunk Dodgers fans yelling every possible profanity at any Cubs fan passing by---but hey, Dodgers fans were not safe either...a guy was shouted at for ordering water, another had food thrown at him for dropping a beach ball into the section below...it was a sad game because so many Dodgers fans showed no sense of class or decency.

[Cheryl]

Fans of the opposing teams know what they're in for when they go to Dodger stadium. So they shouldn't have even shown up, if they weren't prepared for the dodger fanatic. I was at that game, and actually saw a lot of aggressive cub fans who were just asking to for it.

And I just love how Dodger fans are unapologetic about it. This is LA!!!

See you guys in another 100 years!!!

[Dodger Fan]

As a lifelong Dodger fan I have noticed that fan behavior has deteriorated over the years. There is a "Raider Nation" vibe that has come into the stadium.

I will say that I attended Game 3 against the Cubs at the stadium and there were quite a few belligerent Cub fans around the stadium. I do not condone the behavior of some Dodger fans but just like there are good and bad Dodger fans there appeared to be good and bad Cub fans at the game.

Regardless there needs to be a better effort at Dodger Stadium to crack down on this behavior because it is getting worse.

[Anti]

My dad is from Chicago, and so i've been to my fair share of Cubs games.

One relevant time was when the Cubbies were in the play-offs against the SF Giants. My dad and i flew up to Candlestick park in 1989, and we witnessed our boys in blue lose the 5th game in the series, losing the playoffs.

Boy was that a long walk to the car with our cubs hats on, and yes there were one or two people who wanted to say, "neener neener!"

But by and large everyone was hugely respectable, and i am shocked to hear that dodger fans are so... MEAN!

[Noah]

Fair Weather???? 4 Million fans per year! Give us credit, we took it to you and could'nt the Cubs fans gotten someone better than 3 drunk idiots to represent themselves and there city? What A Joke!

[Tony]

Tony you're a huge, whiny baby. Visiting fans always have a tough time in Dodger Stadium, especially Giants fans.

But during the Cubs game, there were no fights, no major incidents. Lots of heckling, sure. But that's what you get for being over-hyped, trash talking Cubs fans that you are. In my section there was one Cubs fan who was talking some smack of his own, one the Dodgers got some runs on the board, the Cubs Suck chants began.

It was AWESOME.

Oh, and by the way? Cubs Suck.

[Ryan]

Tony, I absolutely agree.

The crowd has gotten worse over the years. When I go to games with my family, we don't get reserve anymore -- we moved down to loge -- because the types of people that you'd get in the bleachers, ten years ago, are now all over the reserve section.

They throw stuff at the fan's of other teams and yell profanity - disregarding ALL the other Dodger fans that just want to enjoy the game and disregarding the fact that there are kids in the crowd. These people don't know how to handle themselves - I can't wait for the day that McCourt prices them out of Dodger Stadium.

[Jose Cueva]

Isn't amazing that L.A. Dodger fans are supposed to be the laid back crowd that shows up and leaves late? Now, all Dodger fans are in it and people don't like it. I was at the game on Saturday and sat in the reserve level by the left field foul pole and did see a lot of smack talking back and forth. However, the trash talking was a two way street (and also the drunkenness). I saw an older Cubs fan stand up repeatedly with his hands up as if he was asking, "who wants some of this?" What do you expect? Last time i checked its the playoffs! The guy ended up getting slapped and a fan was removed. After the game, he acted as if nothing had happened and wanted to shake everybody's hands to say congratulations. I guess the beer heals all wounds? However, it seems some fans are more sensitive than others. Get over it! Besides, it's not like there were any kids around. It was a Saturday night filled with great anticipation. We love our Dodgers! Go back to Chicago! And the stupid comment about raising ticket prices to squeeze them out? I don't know who would show up to the game if they did that!

[4rilla]

I know you went to one game at Fenway a few years ago, but come to a Red Sox Yankees in either Boston or NY and you will see plenty of hardcore insults going back and forth.

In the Yankee Stadium bleachers drunken Yankee fans surround fans of another team and sing their own version of YMCA called Why Are You Gay to fans decked out in opposing team gear.

[Jivan Najarian]

Its called home field advantage.