First off, hats off to all of the servicemen and women who have served the for the United States of America. Holidays seem to be the only time we remember them, but I don't believe its enough. Whether your brother, sister, aunt, uncle, grandparent, etc served, be sure to spend as much time as you can with them when you have the chance. You just never know what tomorrow brings.
For the next three days, not including yesterday, Major League Baseball is holding Interleague Play games between "Geographical Rivals." Some aren't as geographical, such as Atlanta/Toronto or Seattle/San Diego, but there are those that make sense such as Tampa Bay/Miami, Mets/Yankees, Angels/Dodgers etc. Major League Baseball says that this time is a great time for the fans, which I tend to disagree with this statement.
Being a "fan" of a sports team or anything in general, I consider to be a loose term. For example, I am a big fan of cheese, but I don't educate myself in the history of cheese. I just love to eat cheese. To a person who knows the best kinds of cheeses and their history, they may not consider me a fan of cheese and choose to avoid talking about the subject with me. Some people are willing to educate those that are less knowledgeable, while others don't care and say "I believe what I want and I don't give a rat's ass what you say" mentality. The example about cheese, can really apply to anything. No matter how educated one is about a subject, people will always have an opinion about something. Opinions about a subject will usually be based upon one persons past experiences, as well as general stereotypes which are subconsciously thought about. If we were to play word association with the words below, what would be the first word that comes to mind? Please keep these answers to yourself as these are just to prove a point.
Asians
Mexicans
Caucasians
Oakland Raiders
New York Yankees
Democrat
Republican
Depending on your background and what geographical region you live in, you can probably associate those 7 groups with different names. For the sake of example, lets go with Asian. Being Asian myself, I am pretty sure you can think of a wide range of words from extreme ends of the spectrum from, "Go back to China because your blind ass can't drive" to "Smart and beautiful people that are awesome."
The reasons I stated above are the reasons, I dislike attending the current "Bay Bridge" Series between the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. I feel that there are too many fans on both sides of the spectrum at these games and all these can lead to is problems. All teams fans are guilty of this, whether we admit it or not. Tensions are high between fans at these games and fights will happen, especially if there is alcohol involved. Friendly jabbing among fans can escalate quickly and someone could get hurt. My problem with this through experience via fans and family members is that some "fans" are only interested when two of the local teams get together. With the advent of social media such as facebook and twitter, this is much more prevalent. Joe and Jane Smith who never post about sports are posting about how awesome their team is, while the fans who have been there the entire time are thinking, "Since when did these people care about my sports team?" Also on social media sites, there are people known as "trolls" which is defined to be those who stir up problems between different fan bases. Since they are "hiding behind a keyboard" chances are the people that are "trolling" will not be reprimanded for their actions, so you could really call people whatever you want to and I am very disappointed with some of the language that I see. I believed that the USA had some of the most open people on the planet at one point, but after seeing what is said on twitter, I am not surprised that we are behind in some of the times in major issues, but that is for another day.
On the flip side, I have met fans and talked to fans on twitter of teams I don't root for and have had great conversations with them. I find that talking baseball with a knowledgeable baseball fan is very fun and entertaining especially if they know their teams history. If there is a way I can be educated about their team through these experiences, this will make me a much better fan in the future. If there is someone that is interested in the game and wants to learn what you know, then don't be afraid to open up and take them under your wing. We could always use a few more A's fans on this planet =)
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