Over the last few years, it seems as though stories of people getting hit and seriously injured from foul balls while attending baseball games have become more common. It’s especially heart wrenching when it’s a young kid who gets hit. The response has been to extend netting further down the baselines, and in some cases, all the way to each foul pole.
So an interesting question arises: should everyone else be punished because of a few isolated incidents? The easy answer is a hard NO!
Baseball has been played literally over a century, and just now we’re deciding this? This is a flagrant overreaction. Here’s a better deal, while you’re at the game, actually pay some damn attention. Especially if you brought your kid. 1 person typing their 45 hashtags on an Instagram post should not be able to ruin the experience for everyone else. It sends the wrong message, and is unfair to people who use their hard earned money to get good seats at a ballgame.
If you’re not a complete moron, you should be aware that there are risks when you sit near the action. The people who actually pay attention to the game are aware, and they act accordingly. If you want to spend all your time on social media during the game, sit literally anywhere else and save the baseline seats for fans who assume the risk, yet still want to sit close to the action.
This guy is right, and good on him for telling it like it is. He got some pretty angry replies from the pro-net crowd. God forbid you tell anyone to take responsibility for themselves on Twitter…This is easily the biggest ratio I’ve ever seen on a tweet that I completely agree with. I would guess that a lot more people agree with him than there appear to be.
This tweet (and the replies) is telling. The people who are the loudest were the ones that MLB heard. Also, I noticed that many of the people leading the charge are sportswriters. As we’ve seen before, there is often gap between how sports fans and sports media members think. Just like with a lot of political issues, the loudest wield the most power. The sane opinion doesn’t get its due. With the net issue, and other issues that MLB has brought about, fans need to speak with their wallets. As a lifelong baseball fan, I want the game to do well. The experience of live baseball is still wildly popular, and I want it to stay that way.
Baseball has botched a lot of decisions in recent years, and this is a big one. All in an attempt to avoid alienating potential consumers who couldn’t even tell you which guy on the field is the shortstop.