Regarding the Cubs fan (you know the one)

[ironflange]

I think far far too much blame is being heaped on the poor slob's head, when it's the umpire who should take most of the blame. It was an obvious case of fan interference, and why it wasn't called as such is beyond me.

[StopTheMorans]

1. well, a buddy at work checked verisign to see just

how bad people are about this thing, and it turns out that "http://killstevebartman.com" is already registered. I love sports, but people need to take it easy, that's just f*ckin nuts, it reminds me of the Fan.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. Ashcroft should take that site down NOW

I am not kidding. That is fucked up. (And I think the fan is guilty of robbing the Cubs too.)

[StopTheMorans]

10. isn't it!

i was amazed, my coworkers and I were joking yesterday that he would have to leave the country if the cubbies lost, and then we came in today and he said was checking url's and said "i wonder if "killstevebartman" is registered" and it was, but there's no site. That domain shouldn't even be allowed to be registered, it's just wrong, and I don't care, sports are still JUST SPORTS at the end of the day, even tho many of us (myself DEFINITELY included) tend to forget that in the heat of the moment.

[bowens43]

15. There's a site now

[Wickerman]

24. And its some sillyass stuff

Bibs, goats, moveon folks.

[MUAD_DIB]

14. The fact is that the Cubs sucked for the rest of the game.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

16. fact is that was one less out needed to be made

people who don't see how that F'up canged the rest of the inning and the game just do not understand baseball.
The rest of the inning was played with the knowledge that they were forced to make an out that was already "made" yet taken away from them.

[JVS]

20. This is quickly taking on the dimensions of the Green/Dem wars

G: The Cubs fucked up 3 games in a row.
D: It is all the fault of that one play

[papau]

2. I agree as to Fan interference - and wondered why it was not called.

but I already have 99% plus scar tissue as a Cub Fan - so

"Wait till next Year!

:-)

[bif]

3. It was a foul ball

Which means it was out of play. So it wasn't fan interference.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. I think if it were the visiting team it can be called

really. And that only makes sense too.

[Don_G]

9. It's Not Out Of Play

Unless the player can't get to it. Bartman's hand was clearly just over the glove and he knocked the ball into the stands.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

13. So the ump could have called the out even for the Cubs? nt

[quispquake]

4. Someone needs a scapegoat...

The Cubs were ahead 3 games to 1 and they blew it...this guy ACCIDENTALLY interfered with one play (come on, how many of us in the same position would have been trying to catch the ball??? In the excitement of the moment, he didn't see that it was in play...I don't think a person deserves death threats over this!!!!), and now his life is ruined...

Just an occasional baseball fan's two cents worth...

pp23

[bbernardini]

6. Feel free to let the guy know what a loser he is...

Go to his "shop" and leave him feedback.

[bushisanidiot]

23. You Mean The Loser Who Has the Kill__________.com

yeah, that guy should be left some negative feedback. he needs to grow up and get a life.

[MaineDem]

8. It's not fan interference if the ball is foul

And, conversely, it IS fan interference when the ball is fair...Jeffrey Meier notwithstanding. (If I remember his name correctly.)

[HERVEPA]

12. Not true

Depends on whether the ball in field of play or in stands. Alou's glove was in field of play, not stands.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. If the player can stand on the field and get the ball it is potentially

"playable" and therefore interference is a possibility.

[Devil Dog Dem]

22. That's not the rule

FAN INTERFERENCE: Major League Baseball rules require that fans not go onto the playing field, throw objects onto the playing field, of interfere with balls STILL IN PLAY. (emphasis added)

That ball was still in play.

Having said that, as a LONG suffering Cubs fan, the Cubs choked, plain and simple. Prior shouldn't have walked him, Gonzales shouldn't have committed an error, and the catcher shouldn't have let so many pitches get past him.

Championship teams don't allow 8 runs in the 8th inning of an elimination game.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

25. think of Prior's frustration at having to throw more ptches

he needn't have had to. Geez. He had the guy out. He had to then throw more pitches that he wouldn't have! The pitch count gets really critical at that stage- the fatigue ever more a factor. Everything snowballed downward from that one play. Including the shortstop later having to make a DP when just the force would have sufficed. The mental and physical toll of having that out taken away is not to be dismissed.

[JVS]

26. If you let the frustration get you like that, then you are not a champion

[MUAD_DIB]

11. My GF is from Chicago...

and is saddened that the Cubs lost.

I would actually liked to have seen the Cubs kick the Sock's ass just for the comic value.

She doesn't think that the fan/mob mentality of making this poor shmoe's life a living hell is very mature, but it goes hand in hand with the */mob mentality of attacking sovereign nations based on BS lies.

It doesn't matter that the cubs had their butts kicked for the rest of the game. The only thing that matters is that this shmoe lost the game for Chicago. Now he and his family has to pay.

A few Chicago papers and sportscasters gave out this guys name and address. If anything happens to he or his fammily they should be sued for endagering his life: the same way that * should be for outing a CIA agent.

Comon sense doesn't apply in sports or war.

[Don_G]

28. The Guy Gave Out His Name Himself

When he issued that statement. I can't help it if his neighbor went on national television to issue his own statement and that they're both listed in the local telephone book.

Common sense dosen't apply to this dweeb.

[stickdog]

17. I'm sick of people feeling compelled to yell at anybody who simply

knows an idiot doing something unconscionable when he or she sees one.

I'm sick of everybody who thinks it's just fine for an idiot to interfere with a player on his own team trying to make a critical catch just five outs away from the World Series.

See, the thing about Bartman was that even though the Cubs always found a way to lose, Cubs fans could always take some satisfaction in the fact that they were the best fans in all of sports.

Now Bartman has ruined even that conceit. As it turns out, even diehard Cubs fans like idiot headset boy are just as big of complete losers as the Cubs themselves.

Thanks, Bartman.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

21. He's not a real fan from what I can tell

a real fan would have let Alou make the play as is evidenced by the perosn holding their arms back right behind him.

[kanrok]

30. What about the 10 other "fans"

Reaching for the ball at the same time? The front page picture in the Sun Times yesterday is very telling. Leave the guy alone. The Cubs suck. They had 3 games to win and they choked. This guy did nothing to help the Cubbies lose. As it turns out, they were perfectly capable of screwing the pooch all by themselves.:cry:

[liberalhistorian]

34. So let's just tar and feather him, impeach him,

fire him from his job, burn down his house, enslave his family, ruin his credit, smash his car(s), kick his dog, bury his cat in quicksand, unplug his mother's respirator, force his wife to file for divorce and take him to the cleaners, crucify him on a cross, hound him to a tiny Third World country where he'll have to live in a tiny one-room hovel with a dirt floor, with no water, no electricity, no plumbing, no beer or TV or radio or books, and make him work in a sweatshop 23 hours a day!!!!!! I mean, come on, this is the worst crime ever known to man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheesh, people, get a clue and a life, this was a FUCKING BASEBALL GAME FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!!!!!!!!! GET A LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get outraged and riled up over IMPORTANT things, not shit like this. And the poster above was right, championship-caliber teams do NOT allow eight runs in the eighth inning of a championship game when they're on top, and championship-level players and teams don't let things like that affect their entire game. This is why I hate and don't give a flying fuck about sports, anyway!

[BlueJazz]

40. Oh Yea.?...Liberalhistorian?.

If it was a "Womens Game" like bridge or volleyball or had to do with
a "womens work" you'd be just as upset as us Manly Men!

[JVS]

42. When Monica Seles got stabbed, nobody seemed to give a shit.

But this Bartman guy appears to be the worst human since Hitler. Get a grip, folks!

[liberalhistorian]

43. I don't know exactly what you define

as "women's games" or "women's work" (glad I'm not your wife when it comes to that one, lol!), but I know plenty of women who are rabid sports fans right alongside the men. And I hate bridge and volleyball and that kind of shit, and I resent that kind of patronizing attitude. And, for the record, a lot of women would have a lot more sense than men in not making their "women's games" a lot more important than what they really are.

[BlueJazz]

46. Aw Geez... Lib...I was just being Facetious......

I was just being silly....
It seems this whole baseball thing is growing feet on it's own.

I also feel perturbed by it all..
Yesterday I was pissed about it and tomorrow I'll be annoyed at it..
....a week from now I'll probably ask: What Catch?

And besides, you've been around long enough to know that I'm a staunch Libber. :)

[Pithlet]

36. Unconscionable?

See, this is where I have the problem. Perspective. Many things are unconcionable in this life, and attempting to catch a ball at a ballgame is not one of them. I also don't agree that what he did was idiotic. If you're sick of that opinion, then I don't know what else to tell you.

I'm a baseball fan, and would love to have excellent seats at a playoff game. Having a ball come at you at a playoff game is a once in a lifetime occurence akin to winning the lottery. I can totally see getting caught up in the moment, just like everyone else around him was. If that makes me an idiot, well, I'm just glad I'm not the one who's being made fun of and called names like idiot headphone boy, let alone getting death threats against myself and my family.

[stickdog]

37. The Cubs winning the pennant is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Maybe.

It's like this guy was walking by a burning building and instead of running in the save the baby, he pulled away the fireman's ladder because he thought it would look great in his garage.

BTW, Alou had already flipped a ball to the EXACT SAME GUY earlier in the game.

[liberalhistorian]

41. I'm sorry, but I really wouldn't equate

someone stealing a ladder from a burning building making escape for the inhabitants impossible to someone reaching out to catch a ball at a fucking baseball game. The first is a matter of life and death, the second is ENTERTAINMENT!

Look, I'm in Cleveland, home of the long-suffering Cleveland Indians, and I'm well aware of how important these things become to people. I remember when the Indians lost the seventh game of the World Series against the Florida Marlins in '97, they lost in the last few minutes. It was the closest they ever came. And there are many, many other such moments in Indians history. It had been 49 years since they'd won the pennant. Hell, I was disappointed too, and I didn't even really give a fuck. Especially since they'd lost the World Series to the Braves two years before, in '95.

But, my God, with all the weeping and wailing and mourning and carrying on, you'd have thought there'd been some great natural disaster and half the fucking city had died. You couldn't get people to give a damn if the schools were going to hell because they hadn't passed any levies in 25 years and the buildings were about to fall in on the students, or the fact that the inner-city teenage murder and suicide rate was soaring, or that more people were going hungry and turning to food shelters. Oh, no. The only time they ever cared about anything was for a fucking BASEBALL or FOOTBALL game!

They refused to pass school levies or social services levies, but they fell all over themselves to pass megataxes for stadiums and other playgrounds for spoiled, overpaid brats and their pampered, arrogant owners who thought nothing of fleecing the public for something they could well have paid for themselves. And none of those great "jobs and economic growth" promises ever panned out, either. So, I'm afraid that you really do need to get some perspective. And from what I've heard, the Cubs didn't need any help from an overzealous fan to lose.

[bushisanidiot]

18. I love baseball, BUT IT'S JUST A FRIGGIN' GAME!

Gawd! it's not worth all this hatred and bitterness. I'm a cards fan, but I will always root for the cubbies if they are the ones to advance to the playoffs. the cubs lost the game themselves. superstitious fans are bringing about their own negative outcomes because deep down they believe in 'the curse'. its' just a game, for the love of gawd!

[donotpassgo]

27. NO WAY WAS IT INTERFERENCE.

(d) Spectator interference occurs when a spectator reaches out of the stands, or goes on the playing field, and touches a live ball. On any interference the ball is dead.

Alou's glove was not in fair territory. The ump was 4 feet away and made the right call. Alou would have had to make a REMARKABLE catch (since he was leaping at the time) and you can't assume the player is going to do that.

[Don_G]

29. He Deserved The Oppourtunity To Try

And he may have done it if the dweeb hadn't put "that" ball over a possible National Championship for the Cubs.

[Devil Dog Dem]

32. Now we have to listen Yankee fans lecture us about fan interference?

PLEASE!

[NoPasaran]

31. So does this represent

The start of a new curse or just another chapter in the old?

Just a Disastros fan wondering.

[ArkDem]

33. A much bigger play was when Gonzales blotched

the double play grounder. Hard to blame 8 runs in one inning on one foul ball. The Cubs choked. It is what they do.

[RetroLounge]

35. You miss the point.

If alou catches the ball, there's 2 outs.

Gonzo doesn't need to rush. he scoops up the ball and tosses to second, three outs.

[donotpassgo]

39. THAT misses the point.

A pro makes the double play. THE FAN DIDNT LOSE THE GAME, THE CUBS DID. What if Alou drops the ball and the inning goes on just like it did? Then its ALOU'S fault?????

[ArkDem]

48. The dog would have

caught the rabbit if it hadn't stopped to pee.

[Don_G]

38. How Much Is He Getting For The Movie Rights?

http://money.cnn.com/2003/10/16/news/companies/movie_fan/

[liberalhistorian]

44. If he got any money, he'll definitely need it

since he'll have to hide somewhere on a tiny island thousands of miles away from now on thanks to idiots who have no life and who think a fucking baseball game is more important than someone's life.

[greatauntoftriplets]

47. That is one movie I will boycott.

A friend (who is usually right about such things) predicted that Bartman will capitalize on his new-found 15 minutes of fame and show up on Leno and Letterman before too long.

[VermontDem2004]

45. I like the guy, We need more like him in this world

In high school, he won academic achievement awards, served on the student council, acted in plays and was a member of the National Honor Society.

After college, Bartman worked as an associate at the Lincolnshire office of Hewitt Associates, a global human resources outsourcing and consulting firm. He is among thousands of employees who handle calls from employees about their benefits.

Melchior, his college friend, said Bartman worked for Hewitt in large part because the company was sympathetic to his youth league coaching schedule, which often took him out of state.

Known to players as "Coach Bart," he was one of two coaches of the 13- and 14-year-old Niles-based "Renegades," an elite youth league baseball team on which Bartman also had played. The squad went 49-25 last year and team members described him as a dedicated coach who was intense, yet nurturing.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/7023555.htm

[ArkDem]

49. I agree

.