Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

Take Me Out to the Ballgame Column for the week of September 26 - October 2, 2004

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It was just a regular baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers. Oakland fan Craig Bueno accompanied by his wife decided to participate in one of America’s favorite pastimes, heckling the opposing team. Ranger relief pitcher Frank Francisco had his fill and hurled a plastic folding chair in Bueno’s direction. The brunt of the impact hit Craig’s wife Jennifer square in the face, breaking her nose. Francisco was arrested, is out on $15,000 bail, and is suspended for the rest of the season. Craig and Jennifer are consulting with their lawyer Gary Gwilliam.

Several things bother me about this scenario.

Should Francisco have thrown a chair? Of course not! Maybe we should sign him up for Jack Nicholson’s anger management class. Children learn the little saying, “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me.” Maybe he could write it 100 times on a blackboard as part of his therapy. He was way out of line.

Is it justifiable for baseball players and movie stars to be open targets for whatever the fans dish out just because they make scads of money? Evidently attorney Gwilliam must buy somewhat into that philosophy. He said, “When they get those huge salaries, they should learn to take it.” The movie Paparazzi addresses that issue and the results made Francisco’s chair incident seem tame. Society has decided who merits preposterous salaries and the recipients demand what the market allows. Even with that understood, it doesn’t give tabloids, paparazzi, and fans the moral right to be cruel even if legally it’s deemed okay.

Should those who make the big bucks in the entertainment and sports industries be considered role models? All too late we learn the real “stars” in life are not these “big-wigs” but those who do the dirty jobs like soldiers, teachers, nurses, and policemen. Ben Stein recognized this in his last gossip column for Monday Night at Morton’s entitled How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World? He says, “How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a ‘star’ we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model?”

Has heckling gotten out of hand? Craig Bueno feels that heckling is part of the game. “You call the guy a bum and make fun of their ability,” said Bueno. “It's an American tradition.” They bought tickets near the bullpen just so he could “get them amped up.” Jennifer thinks her husband did nothing wrong. Well he must of said more than “and so’s your old man” to infuriate someone enough to hurl a chair at him. Unfortunately Bueno may be right about the American tradition part. Just last July a seminar on the Art of Heckling for the Society of American Baseball Research was given by Gene Sunnen, a former umpire who loves the game so much he was married at home plate. According to Jim Young, a spokesman for the Oakland team, heckling has limitations. He insists they don’t allow hecklers to use obscene language or gestures, or they are removed. Too bad they don’t enforce such rules at the University of Maryland where students chant the f-word in unison at basketball games and hurl it at opposing players openly. Administrators refuse to stop it because it’s their “freedom of speech.”

Who sets the good example for our children? Evidently it’s not Bueno even though he has three teenage sons, is a fire department battalion chief, and coaches youth sports. That kind of heckling wouldn’t even be allowed at little league. In past years the biggest problem at these games was not the children but the parents. That had to change, though, because the kids weren’t having any fun. Now parents must behave or be ousted. They are required to set a sportsmanlike example for their children whether they want to or not. (Matthew 7:12) But not to worry! Soon those little darlings will be off to college where they can cheer for the home team and jeer the f-word openly at the opponents. When they graduate they can heckle the pros like good old dad. I hope they learn that “sticks and stones” saying well. After all, the Bueno family can attest to the fact that “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me…. however, a chair in the face is almost guaranteed to break your nose every time!”

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.