A friend and I drove to Chicago for the long Memorial Day weekend so that we could attend all three Cleveland Indians-Chicago White Sox games at Comiskey Park. As longtime Indians fans, we had also done this in previous years and had wonderful memories of those games. This year it was less than fun. We found the White Sox fans to be rude and intimidating, behavior that I thought was reserved only for New York Yankees fans. I am certain this does not apply to all White Sox fans, or even to most of them, but there were quite a number of fans who really did a good job of spoiling our three days at the ballpark. The first game was the worst. After the two-and-a-half-hour rain delay, many of the fans were quite drunk on beer and continued to drink throughout the game. I could not believe the comments and gestures that were made by the Chicago fans toward the Indians fans, players and coaches.
When I first heard of the Dodgers players attacking the fans, I felt their actions were inexcusable. But after sitting through three games where we were fortunate enough to have seats very close to the field, I have some sympathy for those players.
Baseball is meant to be entertainment. It is difficult to enjoy the games when you cannot even be comfortable in your own seat. We heard much on Chicago radio about how the team is still failing to draw the crowds they would like. The team management needs to look at the crowd’s behavior to encourage better sportsmanship and support a more positive environment.
