As a Giants fan watching last Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Orioles and the SF Giants, it was something to behold. I mean it was a decent game until the 7th inning and then the Baltimore Orioles remembered why they were there, that they had come to play and were still in the game. In the 9th inning Adam Jones hit a spectacular 3 run homer and it was downhill from there, Orioles winning 10-2. It was just another disappointing game for the Giants and especially for their fans who’ve had to endure late inning come-from-behind wins by their opponents all season. So be it, la dee dah, c’est la vie. That’s baseball.
So Monday morning as I’m reading the commentary and box scores and perusing the sports section I come across an article Adam Jones had tweeted about someone throwing a banana at him in the 9th inning. I’m thinking how juvenile and not very sportsman-like it was, but didn’t give it much more thought. Until the next day. A fellow came forward Monday afternoon after reading the banana article and recognized, to his dismay, the article was about him. Evidently as he was leaving the game in the 9th inning, he grabbed a banana off one of the vendor’s carts and hurled it toward the field, thoroughly disgusted by the Giants performance in the day’s game. It was a pretty stupid thing to do, but I could relate. I felt the same way after watching the game on my telly but, there being no bananas on a cart close by, I decided to watch a movie instead.
Here’s the tweet the illustrious Orioles’ outfielder posted after the game:
“I want to thank whatever slapdick threw that banana towards my direction in CF in the last inning. Way to show ur class u jackass.”
And way to show yours Mr. Jones. Baseball players are generally a classy lot. Whether you agree or not, I’m thinking in particular of Barry Bonds, who endured bottles and cans thrown at him on a regular basis and at least on one occasion, was drenched as a bottle of beer was poured on his head as he chased the ball in left field. The particular play I’m thinking about was televised at Dodger Stadium and he ended up making the catch. But never once did I hear about Barry Bonds complaining of the fans treatment of him. Not once. Not that he shouldn’t have, but he just didn’t. And neither did scores of other ballplayers in similar situations. The Giants organization immediately responded to Mr. Jones tweet with this statement:
“We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Adam and the entire Orioles organization for this unfortunate incident. The inappropriate actions of this individual in no way reflect the values of our organization and our fans……The Giants have a zero tolerance policy against this type of behavior ….”
I don’t know about you, but it seems obvious to me the fan was being, well, a fan, which is short for fanatic. He shouldn’t have thrown anything onto the field, bad behavior, bad thing to do. Can’t do it. Whether he threw it “at” someone is debatable and I’d like to take him at his word and assume he did not. It just seems to me that everywhere you look people are trying to turn situations into something they’re not. Is it political correctness? Is it racist? Or is it just plain stupidity?
Personally, I’d like to see an apology from Adam Jones for maybe overreacting just a wee little bit. Now that would show some class. How about it Adam? Show a little class.
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