How Do You Boo?

As the President was booed quite loudly before throwing out the first pitch Sunday night, one of the non-baseball message boards I frequent has been on fire for the past three days about it. There's the side who says Free Speech allows everyone to protest however and wherever they want. Then there's the side who says it's disrespectful to boo the President no matter what you think of him. It's like watching one of those American league games that never end - people just can't seem to shut up about it.

I tend to think that booing anyone - whether it's a player, an umpire or the President of the United States - is impolite and classless, but I stop short of calling it treason.

After watching baseball dragged into the Halls of Congress, where those elected to govern are supposed to stop acting like politicians and start governing, I have so far this election season been called a jerk (because I'm a baseball fan and guilty by association) and "brainwashed". And April has just started. But here is a message for all the non-baseball fans that have succeeded in making Sunday night's game a political issue while they argue endlessly that politics and baseball don't belong together:

The first pitch is but one small inconsequential part of the opening ceremonies that people just want to see done with so the game can start - much like the National Anthem. Yes, that's right, patriots, no one looks forward to the first pitch or National Anthem as much as the game itself. So sue us. The bigger story is that it was a perfectly magical game in a beautiful new park with an almost mythical ending. It was the type of game baseball lovers dream of being there to see. For people who could care less about baseball to spoil the memory of a game like that for a fan is a hard thing to do, but congratulations, you've succeeded in doing that for this one.