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Re: Two Texas Rangers fans: douchey or not?
i can't watch the video but i think it is telling that another player threw the kid a ball later. they don't usually throw 2 balls to the exact same spot in the stands.
did the announcers mock them over the pa at the stadium or just on television? if it was the latter, i think the ball was probably "meant" for the kid and the players made sure he got one later in the game. if it was the former, well..... throwing a fit to get what you want may have been reinforced big time?
i don't know if i would go to douchey, perhaps bad baseball etiquette, but they would definitely be booed where we sit.
O.k.- I watched it again.
It doesn't look like the player was throwing it to anyone directly. It looked to be a pretty random toss.
Also, if you look closely, the father is holding the boy and before the dad even tried to get the ball, the boy was already crying. Then the DAD tried to reach down for the ball, and the other guy got it.
I think the kid was already crying about who knows what, and the parents themselves don't seem upset by the other guy getting it.
I think it's the announcers who turned this into something that it wasn't.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
Douchey.
I didn't watch the video but I think they should have given the ball to the kid.
I remember as a child thinking it would be the coolest thing ever if I caught a foul ball or was tossed a ball. It would have made my year. As an adult? I could give a crap about a ball. I would automatically hand it over to a child. It just means more to them.
I agree with you in that there's a great chance I'd probably keep the ball myself, but I also think it's objectively douchey not to give it to a kid that (if) you're aware really wanted it.
Sometimes it's just worth it to be a douche. - Ruth 3:14
This. The parents don't seem bothered by it, why should the rest of the world be? When I watched the video, my first thought was, "I don't think the kid even knew what was happening." And as ECB stated, the kid wasn't even reaching for the ball at all. So I am on team "the adult gets to keep it."
Are we watching the same video? I saw the kid reach for it twice.
I didn't say that. I just think a lot of people are coming down hard on the kid, considering he likely is still in the developmental stage where he believes he is the center of the world.
Hmmm I watched (I need to get a life)...now I am thinking they were purposely ignoring the kid. The kid is letting loose and they are *right there.*
I think a lot of people tend to give kids the balls, I know my brother and I both were given them as kids at Red Sox games. While I think that's awesome and really 9 times out of 10 the kid is going to appreciate that far more than an adult would, I certainly don't think people should be vilified for choosing to do what they want with the ball.
Semi related story. Probably 10 years ago my mom got hit by a ball. We were checking on her while some guy scurried and grabbed the ball. Our entire section lashed out at the guy and was trying to get him to give us the ball. Even the usher went up and tried to get him to give her the ball. Of course, we were all saying it was fine, we have balls at home, but sometimes mob mentality gets the best of people and they get more concerned with what they think is "right" than with reality. The reality of the situation is that he got the ball first and can do whatever he wants with it.
Also, to me the lighting looks like it might be a night game. If so, that kid might also simply be tired!
He was already crying when his dad stood up - we're busting on these people for not "hearing" him cry, but if he's been crying for awhile, they may still have no clue that NOW the issue is that he wants the ball they just caught.
I know when I'm around a child who is crying and upset, I actually try to be polite and not look and stare at the parents like they are doing something wrong.
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
I re-watched it. You're right. Looks like the kid reaches for it and is staring at the ball as the woman is taking a picture with it, so there's a level of awareness for the kid that I didn't pick up on the first time. Still, this is how baseball games go. The couple didn't "rob" the boy of anything. Yes, it is a disappointment to not be the one to get to take the ball home. But at the end of the day, the other guy did get it fair and square. It fell on the floor of the stands, his hand got to it first. It isn't like the guy was barreling over the kid's dad to grab it. So I still don't think they're the "meanest baseball fans ever" as the blog claims.
Related anecdote (because I know how P&CE loves anecdotes!): when my sister and I were really little we were in our aunt's wedding as flower girls. At the reception, my sister was devastated that she did not catch the bouquet. I mean she was sobbing like the sky had just fallen. It was an awful tantrum and it was over the top. The woman who caught the bouquet was very generous to give the bouquet to my sister. But not giving her the bouquet would not have been a commentary on her character nor would it have made her "the meanest wedding guest ever" or a douche. Kids don't always get their way, they cry and have tantrums about it, the world moves on.
I just spit Diet Coke on my keyboard!! ::shakes fist ::
Word. I was #teamcouple BEFORE they started taking the pictures and ***
Oh good grief let the kid have the ball. They knew he was sitting right next to them. It would have been the classy thing to do. I agree with PP who said they would have been booed at a Twins game.
I think people have a strong reaction to this because we are hardwired to feel for kids. I mean they are helpess and they need adults to care about them/for them. It's like when I watch that effin Sarah McLachlan commercial and it makes me teary eyed everytime. The dogs are just so helpless. My son cries everytime he sees the commercial too. Kids, dogs, the elderly...they all kind of fall into that category.
And yes he is not really "helpless" as his parents are there but I think it's just a relatively normal human emotion to feel bad for crying babies. And I am sure this will elicit the whole "I guess I'm not normal blah blah blah" responses.
this.
I am the 99%.
This is like my entire life right now as a parent of a 2 year old. A 3 second or less interaction and we gotta pick it apart because it made the kid upset. ::sigh::
I think the couple is douchey ANYWAY regardless of the 2 year old cause it looks like they are a 20 year old and 50 year old dating and totally self involved.
They didn't notice, though my guess is that they were trying to NOT notice, and I'm also guessing the parents were saying typical things like "oh well! look over here! what was that!" etc. to distract him.
Fwiw, I think its wrong for a parent of a young kid to get them into trying for a ball like that because the chances of catching one are so slim and THAT sort of cry-fest is such a common result.
The kid was definitely doing a "I wanted that too" brat-cry, not a "someone did me wrong" cry, and yes they do get sharing, though they have to be reminded A LOT and will still balk, like that.
ETA: The kid was no where near getting the ball - looks like it rolled into the row and the dude was under the seat getting it - so he did get it fair and square. Only when he showed it off was the kid upset. I think what could have been done best case scenario is the couple pose with it and then give it to the kid.
This is probably why I'm all, "whatever, let the adults keep it." My three year old can throw down a tantrum in a millisecond over the tiniest thing that goes wrong in his life. Heck, I've had tantrums in my house because I gave my son a chocolate chip cookie. That's right, I said, "here's a chocolate chip cookie, honey!" And the boy went BSC all over my living room. So tantrums and cry-fests sort of don't phase me anymore and actually make me less prone to want to give a kid something :P That either makes me a terrible human or means I need a few glasses of wine lol.
Adults should realize that the foul ball the fielder threw up in the stands
1) was meant for a kid, and
2) had no greater intrinsic value than a ball they can buy at ***'s Sporting Goods. Kids don't know that. It's kind of like the value of a lost tooth is only worth something to a kid, because they believe it's worth something because they still believe in the tooth fairy.
3) and the proof of that is that an adult wouldn't consider the baseball worth crying over if the kid had grabbed it before them.
When they throw candy from the floats in a parade, I admit I still try to catch it. But I know it's meant for the kids and if a kid next to me goes for the same candy and then starts crying, I'm handing it over.
ETA - I didn't watch the video, just speaking in general. I refuse to register for CafeMom (whatever that is) to watch the video, and I'm getting pissed how more and more links lead to that damn CafeMom sign up page!
But if it was a baseball that was worth something, like a record breaking home run, tough noogies, kid. As long as the adult didn't cheat, or push or claw it away from the kid.
That's odd. It takes me right to the article/video. I'm not a cafemom member, and it doesn't ask me to sign up to read it/see it.
And how do they learn that they are not, in fact, the center of the entire universe when everybody in the free world apparently believes this kid was entitled to a ball caught by someone else just because he threw a fit?
I would have given the ball to the kid. On the other hand, I don't give a shiit about baseball.
I do know many people, who have been baseball fans their whole lives and have been waiting since they were kids to catch a ball.
If the ball meant nothing to the couple and they kept it that would be douchey. But maybe that ball meant a lot to them in which case they have every right to keep it.
I can tell you for certain that child would have forgotten about the ball within 5 minutes of the game ending. The couple will possibly cherish the ball forever.
Exactly. I doubt the parents give in to every single tantrum. Why should a stranger?
agreed.
I got hit in the head by a drumstick at a concert once hard enough to draw blood. It bounced off my head and someone else caught it and kept it. I still think I deserved that stick.
Deja vu - I swear we had this exact same conversation last season. This is old, yes?
I would guess the parents would teach him, when developmentally appropriate to do so. I'm not child development expert, I'm just guessing at age 2, he doesn't understand it.
I thought last time it was an older kid, tweens maybe. And that he was ugly pouting after not getting his way.