For many years the belligerent drunks of the world dominated live sporting events.  While they were a minority of the crowd they certainly made the experience of going to the game completely unbearable.  Over the past decade or so, since the stadium boom, teams have slowly pushed the vociferous losers who start fights and berate normal people. 

I used to go to quite a few games in my teens and early twenties but quickly grew tired of scumbags wanting to fight and running off a constant stream of expletives while annoying most of the people around them. Recently the games I’ve attended there has been a drastic reduction in the crazy behavior and it is much more family and sane human being friendly.  My assumption is that the investment teams and cities (mostly cities) have made into new facilities has forced them to charge more and cater to a better client base.  By better I do not mean wealthier, I simply mean families and businesses.  

Corporate clients are not going to give away tickets to a customer only to risk them being berated and assaulted.  There is no room for that in the current sports world.  As and example, I was at a Phillies game a couple weeks ago (Jamie Moyer’s 2 hitter) and was sitting behind the visitor dugout.  about two rows in front of me was a “gentleman” who from the second he sat down was yelling borderline material at the Braves.  In his mind he was funny and entertaining, I assure you he was not.  Eventual he figured out that a woman a few more rows up was the sister of the braves pitcher, so of course he begins to harass and bother her.  This lasted about an inning before she contacted security.  He was rightfully moved not kicked out and the incident was done.  If this was ten years ago he would have been held up as a hero and cheered but mostly people just looked away from him as he left and there was a security presence the rest of the game to make sure none of his boys pulled the same thing.  

The crackdown on idiocy is a great thing in my eyes.  I now look forward to going to games and will be looking at plans for two teams next year.  The pro sports leagues have gained a new customer in me by creating a much safer and cleaner atmosphere to enjoy the game I hope the trend continues well into the future.