My Trip To Baltimore

Everyone always says that Camden Yards is the most beautiful ball park in America. They rave about its design, its beauty, and its food is supposedly great - for a baseball park.
Bearing this in mind, I was hoping they were all right about it, and that I would love it as they had. And, while the park is quite beautifully designed, the seats we had were amazing, and the food was pretty darned good, I have to say, I came away from my three days there with a negative appraisal.
The problem wasn't the park, which was quite nice; the seats, which were really excellent; nor was it the food, which was very good, and not really too expensive. The problem was the people. For the most part, numerically, most were normal, but for a three day stint, I seemed to run into quite a few who did their best to make sure I did not feel welcome.
First, was the loud-mouth two rows behind, who shouted as loudly as possible at every player and play. He boomed such keepsakes as: "BOOOOOOOOOO!!!" "You SUCK!!!!" "YOU'RE A BUM!!" "GO BACK TO KOREA OR CHINA OR WHEREVER IT IS YOU'RE FROM!!!" He even hollered at his own players, yelling at Bedard, who was doing a stellar job, "YOU SUCK BLUE!!" every time Bedard would throw a bad pitch.
The sad part about it was that he was the only one, besides his copy-cat early 20's son, who was being such an obnoxious, disruptive pain in the ass to everyone else around, most of whom were Red Sox fans. Of course, no one said anything, and we all just sat there, cringing and rolling our eyes.
I could see that each time he'd open his huge yapper, L would get madder and madder. I knew that, eventually, she was going to say something to him. I prepared for this by sizing up the possible fight I was going to be in if it came to blows. The source of our misery was about 5'9", thin, and bearded. He looked like a miniature Grizzly Adams. His son wasn't any bigger, and he was doing his best to be just like his dad.
Finally, around the top of the 3rd, he made that comment about Daisuke "DICE K" going back to Korea. This was bald-faced racism, and it sent L over the edge. She yelled at him: "Can't you just watch the game like a f@#%king adult?!" He and his son turned their mouth-horns on her, and I lost it.
"SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!""SHUT UP!"
was all I could scream, over and over again. The small sprinkling of O's fans in the immediate vicinity started screaming "shut up!" at me, but I was unrelenting. When Grizzly Adams finally turned his invective on me, I told him to "TRY THAT SH!T AT FENWAY!!" Of course, other words were exchanged, none of them fit for print, and soon, the ushers came over to shush me.
I yelled to them, over Grizzly Adams' continuing rudeness, to get him to shut up, that he was shouting at my wife, and I wasn't going to stand for it. The usher told me that he heard my bad language from all they way across the section, about 100 feet, so I promised to settle down if they would stop his shouting. When they finally addressed him, he said, "I'm a Baltimore fan, A$$#ole!" and that was the end of him and his kid. They were booted.
Thank God!
After this, the rest of the game was passed in civility, cheering at appropriate times, and cringing at others. And even though we lost, no one was rude for the rest of the game. I think they were afraid we'd erupt again.
That was only the first time we encountered rudeness on our trip though. In Little Italy, were were greeted everywhere with a feeling of disdain, like were were something to be put up with, not at all welcomed. Friendliness was not the norm, except for very few people. Baltimore felt like a brusque, busy, harried, and rather uncivil town.
Perhaps I've lived in the South so long, I've mellowed? Maybe this was the moment when I realized I can't move back to Boston, for fear it will seem just as rude?
I've seen the Sox play in Atlanta, and I was nothing but charmed by everything and everyone. It was an entirely better experience.
The last game, there was an O's / Yankees fan 2 rows behind. (What's with the 2 rows thing?!)
All throughout the game, he kept yelling: "4 GAMES BAACK!" About the 6th inning, I said, loud enough for him to hear, "Biggest choke in history," and that shut him up for a minute. Then he started going personal, saying, "Look at this, a 35 year-old man brings a glove to the game!" I looked around, and I saw a great many people with gloves, both young and older, and both men and women. I figured he wasn't talking about/to me.
At the end of the game, when the Sox lost again (Thanks Gagne!), He started in again, rubbing it in. So I started shouting, "Biggest Choke In History!!" "How many Series have you won this century?" "Who's still in FIRST place?!" The best he could come up with was that I was "40 years old, with a baseball glove." I shut him up with the repeat of their biggest choke in history, and off he went.
The thing is, I will never understand why people have to be so damned cruel all the time. Even when they win, they have to rub it in others' faces. Not even the O's fans rubbed their victory in our faces. It was that one Yankees fan. This fact is why I really loathe Yankees fans. They are a rude, crude bunch, who have no sense of fairness or decency. They aren't gracious in defeat, and even less so in victory. By contrast, when the Sox won in 2004, I went up to a sad looking Yankees fan and extended my hand in condolence for his loss, saying, "I know exactly how you feel." He was surprised at my magnanimity.
No, Baltimore left me with a bad feeling, and those two fans soured what might have been a pretty decent experience, despite dropping two games (thanks again, Gagne).
Next year, if I see the Sox play an away game, it won't be in Baltimore again. I hope the Sox play in Atlanta again; that is a far more pleasant experience.