A List of Bad Manners by Giants Fans

I personally love going to Giants games.  It's a time for me to unwind at a night game after a tough day at work, or spend time with my dad at Sunday afternoon games.

Because of the way the ticketing system works, I don't get a choice in what row to sit in; I sometimes get the choice of what specific section.  One of the more annoying seats I get assigned to is the first row in the upper reserved section.  About half of the time I get assigned the first row, I always get some kind of obstructed view and as you see in the photo, I get a clear view of home plate, but have to view the outfield through the plexiglass while seated.

I'll tell you, there's a lot of fans at AT&T Park that needs a lesson in proper manners.  Here's my list of the most annoying things fans do:

Standing for way too long:  Unless if you are in the very last row in the super nosebleed seats, don't stand-up for too long when there's a spectacular defensive play or a great offensive play like a home run.  Standing-up and cheering at sports games is a tradition, but do it for too long and you become a thorn for fans sitting behind you.  When I stand-up and cheer at an important moment of the game and I know I've been standing longer than I should, I turn around and check the fans behind me; if they are standing and cheering too, I'm okay to continue doing so, but if nearly all of them are sitting, it's time for me to sit.  I haven't noticed this in a few years, but in some cases, if you stand too long or stick out like a thorn too often, I've seen the cops escort the person out because they are too drunk.

Not making room when going through the row:  I hate those moments when you are trying to get to your seat located in the middle of the row and you have to get through about a dozen people.  There's always those people who refuse to stand-up and sometimes will just scoot their legs one way so you don't trip and fall.  Reality check folks, be nice and just please stand-up and shove your calves into the seat as far as you can so you can help your fellow fan get to their seat as quickly as possible.

Using a seat as a step to the next row:  I don't see it that often anymore; there's those fans who puts their feet on a seat to get into the next row.  As I like to say to those who likes to put their feet on seats, "I don't want your foot on my ass, get your feet off the seat!"  The floor is a nasty place, and all I don't want is a nasty beer soaked shoeprint on the rear end of my pants.

Drinking way too much: Stadiums makes handfuls of money selling overpriced little cups of beer, but when people drink way too much, they get on my nerves.  To the fans who drink, beer is treated as liquid gold, and to me, I'll stick to my 75 cent bottled sodas I bought at the grocery store.  When some fans drink too much, they can become belligerent and I've seen my share of fans being arrested for acting like jackasses.

Can #SFGiants fans learn to STAY IN THEIR SEATS until the inning is over? Stop blocking my view!
— Akit (@AgentAkit) July 1, 2012

Those who leave their seats in the middle of the inning: Sitting in the first row has its perks and weaknesses.  I don't understand why people have to leave their seats right in the middle of an inning, especially when the batter is in the box or the ball is still in play.  Is it that important to grab a hot dog or go to the bathroom at that moment during the game?  Why can't you at least wait until the inning is over to leave your seat and go handle your business?  Sometimes it's okay to leave your seat after an out, but only if a fan is sitting close to the aisle, and can make it to the bottom of the steps before the next pitch.  But if you can't make it, then just wait.

While I'm talking about people who leave their seats at the middle of an inning, I'm going to talk about the most annoying fans EVER.

Those who block the views of the front row people:  Yeah, I know you fans, the ones who tries to go to their seats during the middle of a game.  The ushers can only do so much to tell fans to wait until the play is completed to return to your seats.  As I said before, sitting in the front row has its disadvantages and this is one of them.  I'm sitting there watching pitch-by-pitch and you have those fools who walks right into the my view in the middle of a pitch, and sometimes I miss a key play.  I've even had to tell people starting to walk up the stairs to: "please wait, as you are blocking my view of the game."  Sometimes that technique works, other times, they are totally oblivious and just going up the stairs or gives a rude "excuse me."  Other times, there's the fans that goes up the stairs and instead of keep walking, they stand at the step totally blocking my view, while the fan thinks they have a totally unobstructed view of the game.  I usually give them the hand waiving motion to get the hell out of the way, otherwise I start to get verbal.  Here's my tip on when it's the right time to return to your seats: Wait until the inning is over.  Unless if you can run up the stairs and get into your seat from the time the out is declared and the next pitch, JUST WAIT UNTIL THE INNING ENDS.

In summary:

1. Respect others
2. Give courtesy to your fellow fans
3. And have some patience!

I'm probably missing a few items on the list of bad manners.  What's your list of your peeves while at the ballgame?  Leave your comments.

Response from SF Giants - The Sippy Cups poor performance

Here's the reply from Giants Guest Services about my comments on The Sippy Cups' REALLY BAD performance at a recent San Francisco Giants baseball game I attended:

RE: sf - Other - AT&T Park Questions -Poor Reaction towards "Sippy Cups" on 4/7 game

Thank you for writing and sharing your thoughts with us. I don't believe that the Sippy Cups will be making another appearance.

Best Regards,
Giants Guest Services

-----Original Message-----
From: NOSPAM@NOSPAM.org
Sent: Sat 4/7/2007 11:04 PM
To: Customer Service
Subject: sf - Other - AT&T Park Questions -Poor Reaction towards "Sippy Cups" on 4/7 game

Hello, I wanted to comment that the Sippy Cups has to be one of the poorest and worst performances I've ever seen at this ballpark. I am also embarrassed of their very poor rendition of our National Anthem. I do not want to sound too negative, but I was also one of the thousands of booing attendees that gave them a boo when they were introduced for the 7th inning stretch. I hope that this park's management consider that the negative fan reaction should be a consideration to blacklisting them from ever performing here ever again. On a lighter note, kudos to the field club concession area for NOT playing their music during the pre-game over the PA system.

Another reason why I don't ride Muni

For the past few days, local San Francisco news media outlets, including the Chronicle has been reporting about the new "T" Third Line, which replaces the classic "15" Third Street bus line that has been operating on San Francisco streets for many decades.

This new project has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, and a five year construction project in order to promote gentrification in the low-income areas, such as Visitacion Valley. Gentrification has already started a phenomenon in the Mission Bay district with the extension from the Embarcadero MUNI station to all the way to the Caltrain terminal at 4th street. Much of the credit also goes to the Pac Bell Park/SBC/AT&T Park that opened in 2001, and in six years, has skyrocketed the price of land and new condos and businesses have established themselves to cater to the baseball fans and people looking for a quick metro ride to downtown for work.

But back to the new "T" line's woes. The Chronicle reports that the new "T" line is still having some operating problems since opening for public use on Saturday, and passengers are complaining of delays ranging from 30 minutes to one hour. Typical train frequency is supposed to be 8 minutes, but frequent train breakdowns, electricity problems, and clogging in the Market Street tunnel is making passengers upset.

Does anyone remember Muni's classic "meltdown" when the metro was so clogged that people hated Muni for at least a year? I was stuck in a tunnel for 15 minutes with no air conditioning. The reason, they were running their new automated train control system, and it was not working well with the old trains, and other trains had to run manually, causing headaches with the system.

"T" means trouble, says the Chronicle. It makes people wonder, is it really worth getting in your car and paying expensive gas and parking fees for being inconvenienced by Muni? I say yes because I got fed-up with Muni a year ago, and now I drive everywhere I need to be. It's definitely faster, and while I pay about $25 every few weeks to fill the tank, I say it is really worth it.

Let's summarize my rants:
Muni's "T" line needs some work
Bring back the 15 line until the "T" is working
Just another Muni meltdown?
Just drive

Giants vs. Dodgers with Larry King and Lou Seal

I'm probably the luckiest man right now, I was able to get tickets on a Friday morning at 1AM for near front row tickets at the Giants game. Sure, it was $110 for just myself, but the experience and the great photographs was well worth it. The ticket said row "A" but it was not the super luxury tickets that get you right next to the field behind home plate, my seat was one section left of home plate in the front row, behind the luxury "field club" pit.

Here's proof:


But it was so close to the action that I was able to get some great action photographs, but I won't post them here because of the large file size.

Also, I could not believe that Larry King was in the park too! Ya know, that talk show host on CNN was sitting in a nearby section, and he was purchasing some cotton candy and chatting with the vendor. I was able to get this great shot of him. I was joking with my fellow fans next to me and that I would give the photo to the Enquirer.



Lastly, here's one of Lou Seal:


Let's summarize my rants:
Other than the ticket being quite expensive, nothing else to complain about!