Every Friday afternoon, NPR's All Things Considered features a sports-week wrap-up conversation with Wall Street Journal sportswriter Stefan Fatsis. Last week, Fatsis and Rebecca Roberts chatted mostly about Jason Giambi and the ongoing tragedy concerning the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB (listen here).

They also commented briefly on a story in the Seattle Weekly in which a Boston Red Sox fan trespassed against a code of conduct (heretofore unknown to him or me) for guests at Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners.

The Code:

Foul/abusive language or obscene gestures

Intoxication or other signs of impairment related to alcohol consumption

Displays of affection not appropriate in a public, family setting

Obscene or indecent clothing

Any disruption of a game or event, including throwing of objects or trespassing on the playing field or other restricted areas

Sitting in a location other than the guest's ticketed seat

Fighting, taunting or making threatening remarks or gestures

Smoking or the use of tobacco products, in any form


Fans are issued Red Cards for "abusive behavior," which is a final warning before removing the violators from the arena without refund. An entertaining story and worth the read (here).

Fatsis referenced the Sports Law Blog, which had weighed in on the issue with their post "Speechless in Seattle" (here and more here).

Quoting Sports Law Blog (abridged):

"[F]an-conduct policies have been the major focus for my arguments about the [First Amendment] constitutional protection for "cheering speech."

"The Mariners essentially are trying to enforce civility norms in a public space--something that the First Amendment does not permit."

End quote.

Wow! Let's hear it for the Rights Revolution. We now have the right to get drunk and be obnoxious at the ballpark; it's in the Constitution!

The NPR discussants laughingly made the point that this story reinforces West Coast baseball versus East Coast baseball stereotypes.

I love West Coast baseball.

I grew up going to Dodger games in Chavez Ravine. I still hear Vin Scully in my dreams.

An aside: different sport, but I continue to mourn the death of Chick Hearn. I came of age during a glorious period of sports broadcasting in the City of Angels.

My dad took me to my first baseball game when I was five or six. Someone told him that one-dollar tickets were available--but upon inspection of the grandstands, we opted for the three-dollar loge seats (FYI: those seats are now $45.00 per customer for walk-ups on game day).

There were no banners back then (or facial hair on the players, for that matter). The O'Malley's didn't allow that sort of thing; it wasn't in keeping with "winning the Dodger way." I can't remember anyone selling beer--but I know it must have been for sale. People must have been imbibing--but I can't remember any drunks.

I rarely sat close enough to see balls and strikes--or near enough for the ballplayers to hear anything I yelled--but I don't remember riding the umps or taunting the opposing players.

Undoubtedly, my memory has filtered out much ugliness; my mind tends to work that way. On the other hand, California was a more laid-back place back then.

For example, living our lives in the world's foremost car culture, hearing a car horn was extremely rare. And it was almost always friendly or essential (employed for the elevated purpose of avoiding an accident). People who drove around honking their horns were looking for trouble. The dominant Southern California subculture back then was "Okie" or Southern. Honking your horn, yelling coarse insults and/or obscene gestures was tantamount to "calling out" another motorist. The recipients of such calumny were honor bound to answer these insults with physical violence. One might reasonably argue that such retaliation was the opposite of civility--but, in effect, the strict code automobuello kept most folks relatively docile and polite. The influx of "New Yorkers" (meaning all East Coasters and Yankees from the "Old Northwest") and later Middle Easterners and other international cultures changed all that. Now there is plenty of honking, yelling and "flipping people off." Forgettaboutit! Of course, the one exception to all this communication involves motorists who look like they may be gang-bangers. For fear of lethal retaliation, most Angelinos mind their manners in confrontations with "dangerous looking" young people.

Having said all that, I can imagine Dodger Stadium is a much rowdier (and probably more dangerous) place than it was when I was growing up. Back then we were the guests of the O'Malley family; if we didn't treat their facility with respect, I think we expected to be asked to leave. We certainly would have never questioned the ownership's right to tell us to go home. Perhaps, such a request might have elicited an "easy, dude, I'm going" sort of huff--but I can guarantee none of us would have reached for our First Amendment lawyers.

We live in interesting times.

Disclosure: I have not actually been back to Dodger Stadium since the O'Malleys sold the club to Newscorp in 1998, which subsequently sold the team to some guy from Boston.