Boyung.com

With the baseball season in full swing, it's time to start thinking about going to sporting events again (at least for me).  Being both a huge baseball fan in general, and Brewers fan specifically, I've been asked by several people why I wasn't going to the home opener this past Friday.  My response is always the same - I hate opening day.  I hate just about everything about it.  Opening day is rarely about baseball.  It's about partying, drinking way too much, and annoying everyone around you if you actually make it to the game.  I have absolutely no problem with tailgating, and enjoy it myself, but from the minute I get to the stadium on opening day, its frustrating.  Starting with getting to the game over two hours early, and needing to park a mile away because the parking lot is already full with tailgaters, many of which don't actually have tickets to the game.  There's already a shortage of parking for the stadium, and then you get these thousands of people without tickets, which just makes it worse.  Just go to a park, or someone's house to listen to the game on the radio.  Honestly, what's the difference?

Then there's actually being in the stadium for the game.  You get the people that were already completely smashed by 10 am, the people who go to a game with no intention of actually watching, and then the people who show up in the 5th, 6th, or 7th inning of the game, causing a distraction.  That last group isn't really a problem group, I just think that they are incredibly stupid - if you are going to spend that money on tickets, why don't you actually come in to watch the game?  As a friend of mine once stated, he'd gladly take your tickets, if you don't really want to watch the game.  The other two groups are the real problems in my mind.  The first group is a problem for the obvious reasons, and is at pretty much any game anyways, but there are exponentially more of them on opening day.  The final group, those who go into the game with no intention of watching it, are the most infuriating.  First, there's the fact that they can waste all that money for a baseball game.  Even though not nearly as expensive as basketball or football, a baseball game is still not a cheap affair.  Coupled with that is how these people have no respect for those around them, the people that may want to watch the game.  They'll stand up, shouting into their cell phone about something completely unrelated to the game, causing a huge distraction for everyone.  You can do your best to ignore them, but it is quite difficult. 

When I go to a baseball game, I want to watch a baseball game.  If you don't want to do that, then go out somewhere else.  I don't thing I've ever seen this sort of problem at any other sporting event, other than baseball games, especially opening day.  I'm not going to skip going to baseball games entirely, but I can at least minimize my frustration and disgust.  So, that's why I don't go to opening day.