I GOT IT, I GOT IT!!

Imagine you're going to the game and you've scored some prime seats, field level, right behind your favorite team's dugout. A few rows back but still great seats. It's the 5th inning and you've just come back from the concessions. You sit down with a fresh beer in one hand and a bowl of nachos in the other and you think to yourself, "something's missing." That's when it hits you. No, not that you forgot something and no, it wasn't a screaming line drive bouncing off your melon. What hits you is a man....a man who has fallen on top of you.....from the upper deck!!! Right out of his front row perch and into your lap.

This is what happened Tuesday night at a game between the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz was batting and hit a pop foul into the stands along the 1st base line. A man in the front row of the 2nd deck of seats was reaching over the railing trying to catch the foul ball. The man ended up flipping over the railing and fell 30 feet, landing on fans in the field level seats below. The fans that got hit only ended up with minor injuries, but the man that fell had to be taken out on a stretcher and to a nearby hospital. He ended up with a fractured skull and a broken ankle. The game was halted for about 16 minutes.

Now, let's try to figure out what happened here? A man nearly fell to his death over a $9.95 baseball. At least that was the going price at Academy the last time I checked. Can probably get them cheaper somewhere on the wide world 'net, but we'll go with 10 bucks. So, a man nearly dies for $10. I mean, it's a baseball! Something that everyone of us has played with or owned, dozens of times over. Granted, maybe not with the Major League Baseball label on it, but it's still a baseball. They're all pretty much the same. White, round and hard with red seams. It's not like it's something that's very limited and hard to come by. It's not a 16th century sunken Spanish treasure or the Ark of the Covenant or something from Michael Jackson's estate going for outrageous money in auctions. It's a freaking BASEBALL!!

I guess a safe bet would be to assume that alcohol was involved some how, but if you don't know by now, and you soon will if you keep reading this blog, alcohol doesn't have to be in the mix for people to do the stupid things they do. No word on if this man had been drinking or not. On one hand, I'd like to think alcohol was involved so that at least there'd be an excuse. On the other hand, if he was drinking, this could lead to normal people, who don't have their heads up their butts, not being able to enjoy a beer at a ballgame because of some douchebag moron who tried to kill himself and others for a baseball.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if alcohol was NOT involved because it doesn't take much to make people lose their minds. And something free will do it every time. Just show up at a game on bobblehead day if you don't believe it. If you get to a baseball game early enough for batting practice, the outfield seats will be full of people waiting to catch a homerun ball. And I get that. I mean, it is kinda cool to catch a big fly from a Major League player. But I don't get all the people hanging over the rails begging the players in the field shagging balls, to throw them a ball. Again, it's a freaking baseball!! These aren't gold nuggets.

Before the game starts an announcement is made telling fans not to interfere with a ball in play. If you do, you run the risk of being escorted out of the building. This, of course, doesn't stop people from interferring. Any ball hit down the lines, whether fair or foul, you'll see people leaning over the rail trying to grab the ball. So you spend $140 for 4 tickets for you and the family for those prime seats along the rail, $10 for parking, $8 each for a couple of beers, $7 for nachos, $5 for chili fries, $5 for cotton candy, $10 for a couple of sodas, all before you even get to your seats. That's damn near $200 out of pocket before the 1st pitch is thrown, and you get ejected in the 1st inning 'cause you just had to have that $10 baseball.

Now, I've been to quite a few baseball games in my short time on this planet. Not once have I ever left with a baseball. I've come close a couple of times. Once was, in fact, the last game I went to a few weeks ago. Field seats down the 3rd base line about 8 rows back. A screaming liner goes right over my head that I didn't see until the last second because everybody is always standing up and walking around instead of watching a baseball game. The other time was back in the old Astrodome. This time it was a soft liner into the stands and the guy sitting right in front of me hops up, rushes to the aisle and down about 4 rows to grab this ball. He got it but he bowled over 2 people, they hit the ground and beer goes flying everywhere. A few words were exchanged and the guy just came right back to his seat. Screw it, he got his free baseball.

I just don't get the mentality. To lose your mind over something as petty as a baseball. For this man Tuesday night, he could have lost more than his mind. I mean it's bad enough when stupid people do stupid things to only hurt themselves, but to be minding your own business and having a guy fall on top of you from 30 feet above? I guess raining cats and dogs just wasn't good enough.

Come on people!!! IT'S A BASEBALL!!!!