Stay classy, Los Angeles Dodger fans

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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 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