The Patriot Post® · The Old Codger Vents Again

Kudos to Major League Baseball Umpire Tim Welke for ejecting an Atlanta Braves fan from the stands during a game in Atlanta last Tuesday, September 16, 2014, and shame on the news media for once again using misleading language in the reporting of the incident. According to an Associated Press report, the fan was ejected from the game because he was heckling Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals. Wrong. He was not ejected for heckling. He was ejected because of the foul language he was using while doing the heckling. There is a big difference.

Instead of making it clear that the fan was ejected for using obscene language, it appeared that the media went out of its way to malign Mr. Welke rather than to be supportive of his action. Finally, an umpire, a person of authority on a baseball field, had enough intestinal fortitude to stand up and do the right thing. That sort of action by an umpire is long overdue. But why was it an umpire that had to be the one to do it? Why weren’t there other fans in the stands who could have taken the idiot down? What about all the law enforcement and security people who are always in attendance and on duty at baseball games? Why didn’t they do something?

I am a huge baseball fan. I rarely ever miss a Seattle Mariner game because almost every game they play is televised all over the northwest, including here in my home state of Montana. However, one of my pet peeves is the fact that there is so much obscene language being used throughout the ball parks. It doesn’t happen just in Atlanta. It happens everywhere. And it isn’t just the fans that are guilty of it. The players themselves may be worse than anybody. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a ball player strike out at the plate and immediately react by yelling out the big “F” word. Why is that allowed to happen? That is where umpires like Tim Welke need to be taking charge. If they would eject a few of the players for such irresponsible behavior, maybe we could get some civility back in the ball parks and in our communities. Young children attend these baseball games. They should not be subjected to such language. It is no wonder that there is no moral code in this country anymore.

America has become a cesspool of foul language. I am using this incident in Atlanta only as one example. Foul and abusive language is rampant in the television shows and movies that we watch and in the so-called music our young people are listening to nowadays. I guess s it must be politically incorrect to enforce some unwritten laws of public decency. Now, I certainly do not mean to be passing judgment on people who curse. I am as guilty of that as anybody. But I at least have sense enough not to yell it out at a public event. Why do we as a people tolerate it?

You can’t even walk through a shopping mall or your local Wal-Mart without hearing it loud and clear. Our young people are walking around with the waistband of their pants down around their thighs, their baseball caps turned sideways and with their ears, or at least one of them, tucked inside the cap. They talk loudly and obscenely with absolutely no consideration of or for the normal people who may be around them. Where and who are the parents that allow their kids to dress and talk in such obscene manners? Why is there no longer a sense of pride in the way we look?

And what’s up with this epidemic of tattooing? I see people who appear to be barely able to afford to feed themselves walking around with several $500 tattoos covering virtually every exposed portion of their bodies, most of which shouldn’t be exposed in the first place. And I’m not talking about a bunch of bikers and old sailors. I’m talking about otherwise beautiful young women and grandmothers.

Since I began this commentary by addressing an incident that occurred in a baseball park, and because I went from there to talking about the lack of a public dress code, it reminds me of one more pet peeve I have about Major League Baseball. I need to get a feel for what other people think about this pet peeve.

Major League Baseball players wear a uniform. Do they not? Well, why is there no uniformity in the wearing of that “uniform”? If someone wears a uniform, that uniform should be worn in a like manner by everyone who wears it. If someone is wearing his baseball cap with the bill of the cap turned off to the side, or if he is wearing a cap that is obviously two sizes too big for him, he is out of uniform! Why doesn’t Major League Baseball enforce a uniform code? Whatever happened to discipline? No wonder America has gone to hell. The people our young people look up to do not set a good example.

Okay. You can start the critical onslaught. I’m through venting for another day. I will be looking forward to reading your comments. Surely I’m not alone on this, am I?