While I think that Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg is entitled to his opinion, I think he used a wide brush to generalize the behavior of ALL Yankees fans when comparing them to the Rangers fans during the ALCS. At the same, I won't say that he was entirely wrong. This what he said:
“I think our fans have been great,” Texas Rangers’ CEO Chuck Greenberg said on the “Ben and Skin Show” on 103.3 KESN. “I think particularly in Game 3 of the World Series they just blew away anything I’ve seen in any venue during the postseason. I thought Yankee fans, frankly, were awful. They were either violent or apathetic, neither of which is good. So I thought Yankee fans were by far the worst of any I’ve seen in the postseason. I thought they were an embarrassment.”
Those of who know me know that I am a lifelong Yankees fan and that I like to refer to a segment of Yankees fans as "Asshole Yankees fans". Those are the ones who fiercely heckle opposing players, fans, bystanders anyone who disagrees with their point of view. These are the fans that act boorish and that's without the aid of alcohol. Introduce that accelerant and things get worse. Trust me. I've worked in bars since 1995, its not only seen at the stadium. Plus each team has these fans. It's not a New York City exclusive.
In terms of apathy, all you needed to see was how the Stadium started to clear out during the 8th and 9th evenings before the game was even over. This is a team that as we saw in Game 1 can just bout an opposing team with runs. Sure, we know now that the Yanks feel flat on their faces but for those fans who chose to bail instead of waiting for the last out if the game are the ones I would agree with Greenberg as being the apathetic ones. I've seen those enough times at my visits to Old and New Yankee Stadiums. The people who have primo seats and pass their time on the phone with God knows who instead of watching the game. These "fans" know the names of players in passing and can maybe give you one important baseball fact aside from the ball being round. Am I being harsh? I've seen it with my two eyes and have had it sit right next to me. Give credit to the Rangers' fans who stood and cheered their team on until the final out as their team won in Game 3 and lost in Game 4. Maybe they did so since they haven't been spoiled with a team that makes they playoffs year in and year out. May they don't have unrealistic expectations that their team HAS to win the World Series every year (though we know that is an impossibility) or else the season was a failure. Remind you of a certain segment of a New York City's baseball team? BTW, I'm not referring to the team that plays in Queens.
Do I think Greenberg was right in his assessment? Partially yes and partially no. Like I said earlier, I think he used a wide brush as he generalized that all Yankees fans are Violent and Apathetic. The same way that sone fans treated Cliff Lee's wife rudely during the playoff. Every bunch if apples has their rotten ones, just don't describe and discard the whole bunch as being rotten. Just discard the bad ones.
FH
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