Yankees Sending Team Security To Away Games To Stop Heckling Fans?
Sportto Network – Fans of Toronto beware: the New York Yankees can pretty much kick any fan out ofRogers Centre. How you ask? Bullpen trolls. Individuals paid to travel with the team to enforce and control the fan environment that their players participate in. On the surface, this may seem harmless, but on Friday night during the Blue Jays-Yankees matchup, these individuals preyed on fans who did nothing but be fans. They told the Yankees bullpen staff they sucked, booed them, creatively chirped them and then, as if a threat to the safety of these players, these fans were removed by police, one bloodied and arrested.
To eschew any accusations of bias, I and many others in our section witnessed two individuals in Yankees jackets, complete with Yankees lanyard ID tags walk into our seating area and point out to Toronto police two fans who were chirping and heckling the Yankees bullpen. One individual, who was later violently arrested, did nothing but look at these two Yankees “men in black”. After starting a chant to the tune of “Yankees suck”, one of these bullpen trolls decided to photograph me with their mobile device. With a disgusting smile, he waved at me.
My response was not as kind.
As a fan, my rights are to cheer, jeer, chant, yell, boo and generally vocalize my adulation of the home team or my derision of the visitor. That’s what my ticket gets me. I am allowed to disagree.
One thing that is not allowed is for a member of a foreign organization to have any say in who is removed from a game for breaking rules of a ballpark they do not call home. The last time I checked, only the Toronto Blue Jays security team and Metropolitan Toronto police can make that call. Any interference or perceived influence to allow a visiting team the right to dictate the overall fan experience to that team’s fans is ludicrous.
Seeking answers, I approached the two men, specifically the one who photographed me. I asked two very simple questions: a) what is your job and b) why did you take a picture of me?
His response?
“You need to sit down, or I will remove you as well.”
Such a Yankees move right here. Classic snobby Pinstripes bullshit. Its like Coach K crying about teams storming the court against Duke. Just such a high horse, holier than thou move. Sending body guards everywhere the team goes to make sure nobody is hurting their feelings. Give me a fucking break. Such an over the top, unnecessary, crybaby tactic.
Imagine that being your profession? Basically a full time tattle tale. Walking around baseball stadiums trying to ruin the fun for the home team fans. I’m sure they’re just some guys with some security guard background working this cushy job for the Yankees but thats a pretty pathetic existence. Only thing more pathetic is that the Yankees think their professional athletes need this service at all.