Quote:
Originally posted by Little Jimmy
Womens fastpitch. ASA rules. Both coaches at pre-game told that we weren't going to be spending all evening arguing balls and strikes ( one coach notorious for complaing about anything).
Game was going along quite smoothly until the 6th inning. Pitcher starts loosing the corner of the plate, hitting a couple of inches off instead of catching it as she had done throughout the evening. She starts being unhappy( eye rolls and head shakes) and the bench starts going along for the ride with the normal comments of their own. I ignore this until someone from the bench area says loudly " where could that one have been?". I turn and ask "does someone have a question?". At this point a fan who is outside the fence but standing 1 foot away from the dugout and the coach says "just take care of the game, I can say anything I want to." I responded " no, you actually can't" and the fan gives a wave of his backhand. I think it's a no win situation so I return to the game and finish the inning.
Next inning the same type of situation occurs again with a loud " Oh my God, I can't believe it" comming from the bench area. I look over and once again the same fan is in the same place doing the same thing. I call time and tell the coach that I can't tell if it's the bench or the fan that's complaining and the game won't continue until the fan moves away from the bench. Fan laughs, says he"ll "move down so he can see really bad I am " and the game continues. The next pitch ends the game.
I guess my question is did I have a leg to stand on when I told the fan to move? I know I probably got myself a heckler for life but I had to be sure where the comments were comming from before any coach or player was tossed. UIC was at the game and said he would just ignore everything from everybody. What's your opinion?
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Well, you could have asked a fans from the opposing side if any of them had a camera and if they could take a picture of that fan. When asked why you did that, you just tell the fan that you don't want to inconvenience the police with the need of requesting dental records.
Okay, kidding aside, ignore it unless the teams pick-up on it. Then you just stop the game until the coaches alleviate the problem.
There are a few umpires, though I'm not one of them and do not support such action, that would made a few FYCs and stared intently at the coach associated with that fan after each pitch. If s/he has any intelligence at all, s/he will take control of that fan.