Those times when you may question is it worth your time and effort to share with us for no monetary reward. This support should be great reward.

It certainly helps that you were on the polite correct side. You demonstrated great character,which you do in your writing. Especially fond of your sharing your Mother’s and your going to the game.

The clapping would have pushed me over the top. One just feels sorry for a person whos life must be so unpleasant after being pissed off and reflection.

Wonder how the senerio would have played out if DMZZ were in the mix?

Common courtesy is thinking of others and how your behavior impacts them, not the other way around…not letting the situation get as tense as it apparently did between the lady and Dave/friend. I’d guess no one in that situation really considered that, although Dave and his friend definitely get points for leaving the scene quietly.

A lot of you are guilty of obfuscating the simplicity of the situation by castigating the woman for showing up ~the bottom of the 2nd inning (some of you mistakenly implied it was later than that), for suggesting she was criticizing non-baseball talk in general during the game, or that she was requiring complete silence. Tsk.

I have a couple of stories, too, but they’re about common courtesy and regard for others, not ballpark behavior. They’d be funny if they weren’t so obliviously rude.

My husband and I had just ordered dinner at Tony Roma’s restaurant right across the street from Disneyland one night a few years ago. About halfway through my salad I began to smell the worst smell (in a restaurant, anyway). Phew! Some thoughtless self-centered young mother lacking in common courtesy was changing her baby’s stinky diaper in the booth in back of me. All she was apparently concerned about was that her baby’s diaper needed changing. She never gave a thought to the milieu possibly being totally inappropriate, or who else her actions might impact.

Another story, more recent: Last January my husband, my sister and I were returning from Florida. About a half hour into the flight, the bulkhead passenger next to my husband and I asked to get up. We moved out so she could, then sat down until she got back. When she got back, though, she stood in the aisle in front of us and asked my sister to exchange seats with her so she could have an aisle seat. Since we’d specifically booked these seats months before, my sister refused (politely).

The woman then got insistent, saying she realized we were all related and that we should want to “keep the family unit together” (my sister and I both were in aisle seats side by side, and my husband was next to me). It took almost 10 minutes of the woman haranguing us and my sister and I standing firm before the woman finally sat down (the attendant pointed out there was a single vacant seat in the row ahead of us, but she didn’t take it).

For the rest of the flight the woman made my (stroke brain-damaged) husband miserable by hoisting her armrest up to about 3/4 vertical, then leaning against it and propping her feet up against the bulkhead, and sleeping. He couldn’t lean back but one shoulder at a time. I spent most of the flight with my arm up around his back so he could lean towards me, then lean back against the back of his seat. I could have moved him to that vacant seat, I suppose, but I don’t think he would have gone willingly (he doesn’t like to be distanced from me these days).

What could we complain about? She was “within her rights” to use that armrest any way she wanted. Finally, about 20 minutes before we landed, she woke up, packed up all her belongings, and moved to the vacant seat the attendant had pointed out several hours before.

I vented my irritation by writing a letter to the airlines. I hope the next time she flies, the airline makes sure she’s sitting between 2 behemoths on a full flight…

My wife and I have season tickets in the front row of section 333. One night, right behind us, was some drunk birthday chick and two guys. The gal had a voice like a foghorn and used it on occasions when the rest of the crowd was dead quiet. Such as: John Olerud coming up to bat.

She would yell, “COME ON JOHNNY OOOOO”, at the top of her leather lungs, leaning forward so her lips were within twelve inches of my ear. I mean, they could hear her down on the field, so at a range of twelve inches, this was roughly 2,000 dBA.

After about the third time (approx six beers for her), I turned to her and asked her to “keep it down, please”.

“We’re at a f***k*N ballgame, buddy”, was the response. The boyfriends/whatever, actually had the grace to look sheepishly embarrassed at the trucker-mouth on their “date”.

After the next couple of foghorn blasts (maybe 4th inning), I’d had enough, so immediately after the last one, I stood up, turned around and yelled in her face, at a range of maybe six inches, “WOULD YOU MIND KEEPING IT DOWN!!!?!?!?!?”

Freaked out everyone within about 20 feet, including Dave “Softy” Mahler and his wife at the time, who had season tickets immediately adjacent to drunk chick. Seriously, if anyone ever calls Softy and asks about it, I’m sure he’ll remember.

Drunk chick shut the hell up, though.

Shortly after that, an usher came over and asked for a word with me, saying that a patron had complained about my behavior. We retreated to the usher’s home area, by the handicapped seats. I described the sequence of events, mentioned that I was a season ticket holder of about 10 years, that I had attempted to reason with drunk chick and been rebuffed in an impolite manner and that my ultimate reaction was merely one of exasperation.

Shortly after that, drunk chick and her boyfriends were quietly moved to seats unknown.

Ah, good times…

I talk at ballgames. I talk about the game and talk about other things. That’s what I do.

I was in an identical situation as Dave at a game at Safeco last September. Buddy I haven’t been with in about ten years had just moved to town. We talked about everything–absolutely everything…my marriage, his divorce, and eventually we got into a heavy-duty political debate (how to fix up American public education). He’s in law school, I teach…we went to town on it. And at the end of the debate, the woman in front of us turned around. And she said:

“That was great! You guys should write a book!”

Well, that was nice. If she’d said “you’re a little loud,” well, I’d have tried to be quiet, as I know I’m a little loud. But it’s grossly unreasonable to expect people to not be social. I talk to my dad, my wife, my friends, etc., about the ballgame and about anything else that crosses my mind. This is part of the reason why I prefer baseball to other sports. Its tempo encourages conversation during games.

Dave, you went way above and beyond the call of duty in leaving. I never would have left. I’d have said “We’re not breaking any rules here…we’re just chatting. If it bothers you, then you can go, but we’ve paid for these seats the same as you, so we have a right to have a conversation here.”

And the clapping? Forget it. I’d have turned back around. You showed admirable restraint.

Those of you who disagree, please email me your seat locations for any nights you’re going to games at Safeco or in Everett. I’ll let you know if I’m going to be nearby so you can change your seats before you take offense at me [GASP!] enjoying a night out with my friends and family. Or maybe you can wear headphones and listen to Rick Rizzs.

Or just stay home.