The Idiocy At the Cubs Game Tuesday Night

I was not at the Cubs game last night.  I am in Omaha (and Lincoln) for the College World Series.  Go Hoos (i.e., Virginia)!  However, I saw a video of the guy catching a foul ball while holding a baby.

 

A couple of comments.  First, when you go to Cubs games, before the game, they tell you, on one of the new video boards, that it is a felony not only to enter the playing field, but also to interfere with any ball that is still in play.  While I don’t understand why either one is a felony, and while I certainly don’t think what the guy last night should be charged with a felony, the fact is that he interfered with a ball that was still in play.  He should not have been applauded or made a hero by the media for what he did.

I remember twelve years ago, in October, when a fan did something similar.  Actually, it wasn’t similar back then because that ball wasn’t still in the field of play.  Fortunately, last night we had video replay so the umpire’s call could be corrected.  It is too bad we didn’t have video reply back in 2003 because then we would have seen that the fan in question did nothing wrong.*

But the media, and a certain Cubs outfielder, made a big deal out of it in 2003.  Accusing the fan.  Vilifying the fan.  Making his life miserable.  I guess they thought it was good story.  The fact it wasn’t true didn’t matter.

And they did the same thing last night.  Except this time, they made the fan a hero, instead of a goat.  Well, they were wrong in 2003, and they were wrong last night.  The fan in 2003 did nothing wrong, and the fan last night should have been escorted out, instead of being interviewed and hailed.
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* I realize there was no umpire’s call to review in 2003.  Still, if we had had a video system in 2003 like they use for replays today, and a more responsible media, maybe it would have been better back then.