Scott Trevathan
Staff Writer
There are parts of sporting events that are just as natural as the games themselves. One of my favorite parts of attending any event that involves groups of men running around while throwing balls at each other is heckling the players.
It is unfortunate that Texas Rangers relief pitcher Frank Francisco could not handle the taunting and decided to throw a chair at one particularly loud Oakland A’s fan. Francisco is making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to play catch – the least he can do is try to refrain from throwing large metal objects at innocent fans.
When I heard about this tragic story, I tried to put myself in Francisco’s shoes. I am positive that many of the Pepperdine men’s basketball players have thought about chucking a metal rod through my face (and I probably deserve it most of the time), but it is obvious that Francisco should have reacted in a more civil manner. (Major League Baseball obviously agreed, because they suspended him for the remainder of the season.)
An even better solution would have been for Francisco to follow the fan to his car after the game, make him eat 17 pounds of Wings-n-Things from the Pepperdine cafeteria, and then make him watch reruns of this year’s Founder’s Day Convocation on tape for hours. Even though I can think of many other ways that Francisco could have reacted to the taunting, we have to remember the innocent fans who were harmed.
Jennifer Bueno is the woman who was actually hit with the metal chair – reports say she has a broken nose and black eyes. I don’t know about you, but I would like to think that I could cause a little more damage with a metal chair than that – maybe that is why Frank Francisco is only a pathetic relief pitcher. I give props to Bueno’s husband for having the guts to actually yell at players from the opposing team (even though it resulted in a chair to his wife’s head).
It saddens me when I attend sporting events here at Pepperdine and people are not brave enough to speak their minds. I am totally supportive of cheering for players when they do great things (and I have seen many great things from many Pepperdine athletes and cheered for them), but fans also need to loudly let them know it when they screw up. These players are Division 1 athletes — public figures — and they should be open to a little criticism. It baffles me that Division 1 basketball players can’t take a little joking around and a little negative criticism sometimes. If you play a major sport for a Division 1 school such as University of Southern California or UCLA, you will constantly be taunted — get over it.
The lesson that needs to be learned from this whole chair-throwing fiasco is that some people need to take a few deep breaths and relax. If Francisco had actually thought about what he was about to do I am sure that the entire situation could have been avoided. Major League Baseball should look at this specific incident and realize that the game today faces many situations that people never thought were possible a few decades ago. From steroids to launching metal objects at fans, Major League Baseball players have defiantly entered the realm of circus freaks. I know that when the playoffs come around I am going to be attending a few Dodgers games with a metal chair in hand — just waiting for a chance to bring the wrath back to the players.
09-23-2004