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July 07, 2007

Creatures Told Ssssssh! (By Yanks)

From Lisa Kennelly yesterday -

I spent yesterday's game in the stands with the Bleacher Creatures, the diehard fans who sit in right field and come to almost every home game. I'm not kidding, they said 50-60 games a year.

Anyway, what the Creatures are known for is the first inning Roll Call, where they chant each player's name until he acknowledges them with a wave. After that, they break into "Box Seats Suck!"

But as of last Friday, they are no longer allowed to say that. The Creatures told me a security guard informed them of a zero tolerance policy regarding "sucks", and anyone who chants it will be tossed. Obviously they're a little displeased with this.

I've been busy with this Chinese press conference today but I'll snoop around and try to find out why the crackdown. I suspect it's fallout form Alex Rodriguez's wife's "**** You" t-shirt from last week, but it might be, as one Creature told me, just because some fans got a little too offensive and there were complaints.

I suspect that the Bleacher Creatures will come up with something to replace what's been taken away.

By the time the new Stadium opens, the bleachers may have a totally different feel...no more "sucks," "gladiator" or "Tiajuana" stuff, etc.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at July 7, 2007 08:56 AM

Comments

Actually, it has been that way for a while. The disneyfication of the bleachers began sometime during the championship run (pretty early, IIRC, 97 or 98). Jen could probably give you a better idea of when it happened.

But yeah, this isn't anything new.

Posted by: Raf [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 09:27 AM

The "box seats suck" thing has been happening all season, up to the last game I went to which I believe may have been the Sunday game against the Mets. I've been away for the past couple of weeks, so I can't say anything about that. While a lot of the chants have stopped in the past few years (gladiator, Tiajuana) haven't been around, you've still got "box seats suck," and "red sox suck," obviously. Until now I guess. It would be interesting to see if everyone gets that memo.

Posted by: snowball003 [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 10:26 AM

This started last Friday, so it has nothing to do with the Mrs. Rodriguez shirt incident. I'm not sure the exact reason, but apparently there may have been complaints about other offensive remarks, so they cracked down on everything across the board. Now, instead of "box seats suck" we chant "no fun allowed".

Posted by: Jen [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 10:37 AM

"No Fun Allowed" is actually really funny.

The bleacher creatures never cease to amaze me. I do miss the gang bang song though.

Posted by: snowball003 [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 10:46 AM

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that the Yankees have apparently signed Erubial Durazo:
http://pinstripespa.blogspot.com/2007/07/yankees-sign-erubiel-durazo.html

Posted by: Dan LaToraca [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 11:52 AM

Dang, and I remember smoking a funny cigarette in the bleachers in the late 80s.

Posted by: rbj [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 02:13 PM

So to summarize some recent posts, you're not allowed chant from the bleachers, you get chained in to your location during the national anthem, and an iffy t-shirt is front page "won't they think of the children" news.

I like baseball and all, but drop one of these Yankees execs or fans at any sporting event in my home country and they'd have a nervous breakdown and run screaming from the venue before kickoff.

Posted by: jamesonandwater [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 02:18 PM

The bleachers is my favorite place to sit. The best times i've ever had at a ball game has been sittin a row behind the cow bell guy. I love those fans, they are some of the best there is. I remember during a game 2 years ago a few of them sneaking a bottle of jack daniels in and a couple of them got tanked. One of them started to pretend he was ric flair from the WWE and started whooing. Then he did the signature flop (a head first dive into the floor from a stand position), into the bleachers. I don't think I've ever laughed that hard in my life

Posted by: Corey [TypeKey Profile Page] at July 7, 2007 07:11 PM