Baseball field/park/stadium etiquette?

Tough shit. I try to mindful when kids are around but whatever fuck em.

Aren't there family sections at the Skydome?

If people are that worried, they can go up to the Sightlines/Windows level

I go to Toronto FC games and have sat in the family section. I refrain from screaming "get up you f**king c*nt" with kids within an earshot. But to be honest, those family sections often go empty and tickets are handed out to groups of (usually) drunken people.

Perhaps the problem is whether it is an exciting game. I reckon if the performance was better, more people would be focused on the game.

Yes, people should watch their mouth when they are around kids. I find this is a pretty good judge of character. This is one of the few situations where other people are practically forced to listen to you because they bought tickets, whereas in almost any other social situation they could walk away, drive away, get a different table, etc.

I was at a Packers game a couple where one of the college kids behind us was drunk and using foul language constantly. He made a little girl sitting in our row cry.

One of the good things about Lambeau Field is that every seat is owned by a season ticket holder and the waiting list for season tickets is something like 40yrs long. So if people misbehave, then they tend to just revoke their season ticket status. This helps to keep people in line unless they have been tailgating too hard before the game. Thankfully, the three guys at the Packers game got kicked out in the 3rd quarter.

This, to me, is one of those things that can be solved by simply being considerate of others. If it's going to help someone enjoy the game with their kids, why not watch your mouth? It's not going to ruin the game for you if you can't cuss the players, but it might mess up some family's day out.

This is one of the most absurd statements I've read on SF in a while. You're really, really saying that ballparks aren't for children/families? Baseball, in particular, is a sport that thrives on father-son-at-their-first-game-together nostalgia. I mean, teams offer "family packs" of tickets, and they have have policies that state their intention to create a "family friendly" atmosphere.

I understand that the ballpark is a place to drink and catch a game with friends, but it's asinine to pretend that the beer-and-buddies demographic has some entitlement to live sports.

Kids are going to hear swears, it's pointless to "watch your mouth" around them, fuck it just say whatever you want. Ooohhh wahhh your kid heard a bad word, who gives a shit, if your kid has manners then it doesn't matter.

A rather drunk guy was running his mouth behind my family at a minor league baseball game about 3 years ago and finally I had enough. I am fine with occasional curse words, especially in the heat of the moment (a bad play, a poor call, etc.) but this guy was going on and on about some dumb story that had nothing to do with the game.

I turned around and asked him politely to stop cursing. As you might guess, he told me to "f*ck off" and took a swipe at my head. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down about three rows on his head. He got up wanting to fight and told him to bring it on. Then I kicked him in the face when he grabbed my leg. Guy had a busted lip and a bloody nose. This guy's friends thought the whole thing was hilarious.

No, I am not kidding.

I spent about 4 hours in jail, but the guy did not press charges. The cop at the game put in a good word for me and the drunk guy sobered up and realized that he was an asshole.

The worst part? My kids saw this happen. Them seeing me fight some guy was MUCH more traumatic than any curse words might have been. I have talked to them about how I was wrong, etc.

Moral of the story? If you run your mouth at an event with kids, be prepared for a father to get pissed and act irrationally.

at wriggley field there seems to be a lot of security. I was at a game last year when somebody was yelling at somebody else, and then he seemed to calm down very quickly when a security guy came up. I think that ball parks are for families, and I think that kids shouldn't have to hear foul language yelled repeatedly. I think that if I was in that situation I would ask the offender to use cleaner language, and then try to leverage secuirty.

I'll curse at the occasional bad play or bad call but I won't curse constantly. The only time I cursed constantly at a games was when I was a student in college sitting in the student section. Anything goes in there. But at pro sporting events I try to be more considerate.

I found out my ex had been behaving particularly whoorish and proceeded to call her up and let her know exactly how I felt about having this information brought to my attention without leaving my seat. Cathartic for me, not so pleasant for those around me.

*I* don't want to hear constant foul language and I don't have any kids. It's just not a pleasant environment to listen to some drunken (or not) moron screaming profanity for 3+ hours. It's a public environment, people should behave with at least a modicum of decorum.

You've clearly never been to an English football match then. Take kids to a family stand if you're that bothered about swearing but they're going to hear them anyway.

I didn't realize we had so many parenting experts here on SF. I'm particularly fond of the fact that everyone seems to think that they have a license to say whatever they want because kids "are going to hear it anyway." Is that seriously the best you can come up with?

My point is not that kids can, or even should, be sheltered entirely from profanity. What I'm saying is that there's no reason for people to be obstinate shitheads. Odds are any parent isn't going to want to have their child exposed to gratuitous obsecenity, why not just clean up your language when there are kids around? I'm not saying no bad words are going to slip out in the heat of the moment, but that's not the same as nonstop profanity.

Like I stated above, it's not going to ruin your experience if you avoid letting loose streams of obscenities when something doesn't go your team's way, but it may well do so for the guy who brought his kid to see the game. That being the case, it seems to me that it would be the right thing to do to try to clean it up a bit. I will never understand why people can't resolve to treat other people with respect, rather than falling back on "herp, derp, dude, I can say whatever I want. Other people's kids aren't my problem."

I agree completely. There's a context to everything. Bringing a kid to the student section at a college football game would just be idiotic. Dude, when I think back on the things I called the referees at Georgia games... There were a few times where I'm pretty sure I actually invented new cusses.

If the line you're trying to draw between "child friendly" and "(not) for children" were any finer we'd need a microscope to see it.

This, particularly the bolded part.