Towel Waving at Baseball Games

[ackvil]

Am I the only person who thinks the towel waving at baseball games has become an annoyance?

Years ago I traveled on business and tried to attend baseball games. The first time I saw the towel waving was at a Twins game when fans were given these towel to wave and wave they did often no apparent reason. Gradually it spread to other ball parks but I said to myself (a New Yorker at the time) that this fad would never reach NYC, I thought this trend would never be seen in Yankee Stadium or at that time Shea Field. Well that vision was put to the test when I saw Met fans doing the very same thing. Oh, well, so much for sophisticated New Yorkers!

Now it seems impossible to see a game without this incessant waving of towels. I find it annoying and wonder if it's just me.

 

[Cosmos Mariner]

I still have my Homerun Hankie from my very first baseball game. 1991 Minnesota Twins. Went with my grandpa and waved the heck out of that thing. Pretty sure it was my waving that won us the game that day, which then led to winning the World Series at the end of the season.

 

[mikewood]

I find most aspects of pro sports annoying. Towels, constant chatter on cell phones. Standing up all game long so folks behind you can't see while sitting. Screaming, howling and shrieking. Constantly parading back and forth so you have to stand up and sit down. Then there are Bball ticket prices. I am paying $200 a seat for this? Plus $7 beer. It's just not fun anymore. Try going to a high school or college game. I saw an awesome rice owls game last summer. Much better than any Astros game I have seen in a long time. Better seats and beer also!

 

[MicBaldy]

I agree it's annoying. Almost as bad as those boom sticks.

 

[August West]

If I had my druthers it would be more cathederal-esqe with Harry Caray as the pastor.

 

[dklaiman]

It could be worse. At least there are no vuvuzelas

 

[shupey]

I really like them when the Blue Jays scrore

 

[Pebcak]

I've talked to people who were at that world cup dkalaiman and they say in person the vuvuzelas weren't nearly as bad as there were on tv. But man was that an annoying sound on the tv.

 

[BSAGuy]

I agree. What ever happened to just watching the game and cheering with voice and hands?

 

[ackvil]

I agree. What ever happened to just watching the game and cheering with voice and hands?

When I lived in St. Petersburg FL my wife and I would attend some Rays games. Towels were not the thing there; cowbells were. One man would bring in a giant cowbell and a drum stick and use that constantly. Security had to tell him to cool it. They had a video at the start of the game explaining cowbell etiquette. Then at another game a Red Sox fan that was sitting in front of me took out an air horn. After 7 or 8 blasts he was told to put it away. He was trying to unnerve the Rays pitcher who didn't need much help. He refused and was escorted out of the stadium. Fortunately, that was rare and the few fans who went to the games were more civil.

 

[Rory1262]

For some reason, I don't mind stuff like this in football (which gave us The Wave as well as the Terrible Towels from the Steelers).
I don't go for it in baseball.

 

[dws]

I'd take a towel over a boom stick, but I'd take both over a "tomahawk chop" any day.

 

[jpakstis]

Personally I think it's great. If fans want to wave the white towel that's up to them!

 

[doofus]

I'm a steelers fan. So no comment. But you said baseball games so I can agree with that for the mlb. That's not a big thing here in stl though.

 

[Doc4]

In 1982, during the Stanley Cup playoffs, Roger Nielson, coach of the Vancouver Canucks, raised a white towel on the end of a hockey stick as a "we surrender" protest to what he saw as bad officiating.

He was soon joined by several players on the bench.

The fans picked up on this, and soon were waiving towels throughout the stands during the rest of the playoffs as a way of cheering on their team with "Towel Power".

This is a tradition that continues to this day ...

... and there is even a statue commemorating Neilson's protest.

 

[dws]

Baseball. Baseball games.

I love crowd participation. It's what makes the games great to go to. To me, it's about hearing the crack of the bat to break the lull and get people on their feet to go a bit crazy. Sit, watch, cheer like a madman. Rinse and repeat. (Hopefully). I can live with the towels, it's hard to do what I just mentioned though.

 

[Eeyore]

Am I the only person who thinks the towel waving at baseball games has become an annoyance?

They're flagging down a space ship.

 

[Ru4scuba?]

During the 2012 NLDS in Game 4, I was waving mine like a crazy idiot...then Werth hit his walk off homer to keep the Nats alive and push it into Game 5...maybe there was a connection, just sayin'

 

[oc_in_fw]

I have to agree. As a lifelong Steelers fan, towel waving (of the yellow variety) is to be expected. At a baseball game it's just (IMO) unseemly.

 

[oc_in_fw]

They're flagging down a space ship.

Don't try that at a cricket match

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_in_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Krikkit