Even More Thoughts on the Umpire Attack

Eric Dybas, the drunk moron who ran out on the field at Tuesday's Sox game, today was held on $250,000 bond, and, if convicted, he could face five years in prison.

I go to 80-90 baseball games a year. I see this kind of drunkenness every single day. I've seen way too many fights, people ejected, and this is getting worse every year. There really is no limit to the amount of beer served; overserved people are never refused service, and plenty of people buy beer for their underage friends. It's a problem of major proportions.

ABC-7 reported this morning that the guy's mother specifically said that he has a drinking problem. Further, the guy himself said -- TO THE POLICE -- that he had been at that afternoon's Cub game, drinking all day, and according to witnesses, had at least five or six MORE beers at the Sox game.



The only reason people aren't jumping out of the bleachers is because the wall is 12 feet high. Another point, made in the Sun-Times today, is that some of the other night's idiots might have been trying to imitate the Nike streaker ad. That's irresponsible of Nike to make an ad like that. What do they think people are going to do -- just buy the shoes?

No one has a "right" to enjoy beer. It's a privilege, and yes, if it's abused, it can be taken away from all. My take on it is that there is a significant minority of people who are using alcohol at ballgames, and if that's the case, then it's got to be severely curtailed, as it is, for example, at the bleachers in Yankee Stadium (as the MSNBC writer pointed out) -- and guess what? People in the Yankee Stadium bleachers root passionately for their team, and there are no incidents there.

All your ticket to a ballgame entitles you to, is to do just that, not drink beer, responsibly or not.

And if this means that MLB teams wind up losing some money because they sell less beer, to make the stands and fields safe from drunk idiots, then so be it.