Silence of the Fans
What a crazy stupid baseball game yesterday.
Baltimore.
Camden Yards.
No fans.
Rather than postponing the game, they played it.
With no fans.
Yes, for the first time in the history of Major League Baseball, fans were shut out of a game.
It was referred to as "the weirdest baseball game ever":
The silence was eery.....
"But what was it like there today, really? With no ushers and no venders? With no instant replay visible in the overhead fan TV sets? Were the sounds of conversation between players in the dugouts audible to a pigeon pausing somewhere along the silent, empty rows of seats in Section 280?
None of this matters much, to be sure, except as an unexpected reminder of the massive and relentless add-ons and distractions of modern-day ball. The Kiss Camera, the racing mascots, the T-shirt cannonades, the God Bless, the deafening rock, the home-team anthem, the infield sweepers’ dance, the well-plaqued Hall of Heroes, the retired numbers, the gymnasium-sized souvenir shops, the Texas steak restaurant in right (with its roped-off waiting areas thoughtfully supplied with overhead screens), the pizzeria in left, the bleacher kiddie pool, and so on. Fans love this and eat it up, but today’s silent anomaly in Baltimore is a mirror reminder that what’s been taken away from the pastime isn’t the crowd but the game: what we came for and what we partake of now in passing fractions, often seen in a held-up smartphone."
Should they have rescheduled the game?
Should they have moved it somewhere else?
Should they have let the fans in?
Who knows?
But the decision they made..... made history.
And didn't make much noise.
Out for now.......
Matt
