Anyways.
I try to use this blog to talk about the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Pirates alone, but tonight I feel like ranting a little bit.
The reason for my rant comes from my experience at Pirate games this weekend. The last two nights have been great; the Pirates have played great baseball and won both games, and the weather has been perfect. However, one thing happened at both games that made me real mad - and that's the wave.
Before we start, here's a little history lesson for you. The wave started in the 1960s, some say it originated at a soccer game in Monterrey, Mexico, and others say it was started at Pacific Lutheran University. Either way, it was first seen on a large scale at the 1976 Montreal Olympics before being adopted by the NHL and then eventually introduced to baseball during the 1981 season. There are other claims to where the wave originated, but it was most likely some semblance of what I just said.
History lessons over. Let's get real.
I hate the wave. I hate everything about it. You always have one really overconfident (and often drunk) guy that thinks he's the star of every crowd he walks into and for some reason has the idea planted in his head that he's the funniest guy in town step up and try to get his section to follow his lead into starting a stadium-wide wave.
Let me take a step backwards and say that I don't hate the wave in every situation. There's no doubt that it's a cool thing to see, especially with really big crowds, but the timing of it is almost always inappropriate. If you wanna do it at a soccer game when real tense action is limited, or a football/hockey game between quarters/periods or something like that, I'm fine with it. I just don't think baseball is the place for it. There's no constant action in the sport, but there's a chance for action every ten seconds or so during the innings, and breaks are only a few minutes long, so there's just no time for the wave.
The Friday night wave happened relatively early when the game was close. I don't remember the exact situation, but it was a pretty big spot in the ballgame and the guy trying to start the wave did his best to get the crowd to take their attention off the baseball game they paid to see and onto his attempt to feel good about himself.
On Saturday night, things got worse. For some reason which I cannot explain, these "green man suits" have gotten very popular at sporting events recently:
Personally, I'm not a fan. If it's done right, it can be mildly hilarious, but it's never done right. On Saturday night, 4 different guys were all together with different colors of these suits on. They decided to try and push their faceless popularity to the limit and start the wave in the upper deck of the stadium. This time it can as the Pirates were putting the final touches on their comeback, scoring their 4th, 5th, and 6th runs of the game in the 7th inning. When these guys got up to start it, it was a close game and a very good one at that.
I understand that I live in Pittsburgh and am a fan of one of the most pathetic sports franchises in history, and it might be too much to ask for fans to pay attention and care about the outcome of the game. That won't stop me from asking for it though.
The Pirates are competitive right now. They are one game away from .500 and have been playing really good baseball. Please, do the real fans a favor. If you are going to come to a game, don't wear a green suit and don't try to start the wave. And please, please don't do both at the same time.