Hey Beer Fans,
So I was fishing around on the internet the other day and I came across this headline in the Sun Times: "Study: Drinking linked to ballpark mischief." Now the first thing that came to my mind was that this sounds a lot like some of the other brilliant studies out there like "ice cream linked to weight gain" or "sex linked to having children." I tend to be an open-minded guy though, so I read on. Apparently, some researchers at the University of Minnesota felt like confirming what most of us already know--people who drink at ball games tend to be loud and get in fights.
Now as a vendor, rowdy fan behavior reflects poorly on me, because I'm the guy that's doling out the beer, so for my own sake, I'd like to say it's not true. My own experience, on the other hand, tells me different. There have been plenty of times when a customer of mine from the second inning has been gone by the sixth, courtesy of the good folks at Crowd Control. A few fans have even turned on me on occasion. There was this one genius who I cut off one time and he had the bright idea of throwing a beer cup at my head (he missed, but Crowd Control didn't miss him). So I admit that it's true--some people, when they get drunk, act like assholes.
I don't have a problem with admitting this fact about alcohol that people probably have known since they started making the stuff, but I worry about the conclusions people draw from it. I know there are more than a few people that would like to see sports stadiums go dry, but, especially with baseball, I gotta respectfully disagree on this one. The connection between beer and professional baseball is almost about as old as the sport itself, and for those that want to ban alcohol from stadiums to make it more "classy," I got news for ya, they already tried it once and it didn't work. As this informative article points out, http://phillysportshistory.com/2011/06/10/a-brief-history-of-booze-and-baseball-in-philadelphia/, the National League back in 1876 didn't allow drinking baseball stadiums so as not to attract the "wrong crowd." The decision was so unpopular with fans in some cities (particularly in cities with large German and Irish populations) that 6 teams started their own league in 1880, the American Association, which allowed drinking (4 of the teams were actually owned by brewmasters). The league that became known as "the beer and whiskey league" didn't make it to see the 20th Century, but it was one of the inspirations for the American League, and the eventual downfall of the puritanical National League drinking rules.
In Chicago we've had our own issues with teetotalers. Back in 1855, Mayor Levi Boone decided to enforce a 12-year-old "blue law," which till then had been ignored, requiring saloons to close on Sunday, the only day off for most working class people. The move, obviously aimed at the German and Irish population whose old world tradition on their day off was hoisting a few, was the cause of Chicago's very first riot, the Lager Beer Riot (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/703.html).
Now I'm not saying there would necessarily be a riot at Wrigley if they banned beer (although I would give it like a 50/50 shot), but there just isn't any need. Beer and baseball is one of those combinations, like peanut butter and jelly or spinach and deep dish pizza, that is so good, it must have been made in heaven. Whenever I think of Cubs baseball, I think of growing up listening to Harry Caray--how he used drink a Budweiser for every inning he announced and be completely blitzed by the end of the game. If you were lucky enough to catch an extra inning game, you never knew what he would he would say, and that was all the fun of it. Even when he was sloshed though, he had some pretty smart things to say:
"I'll tell you what's helped me my entire life. I look at baseball as a game. It's something where people can go out, enjoy and have fun. Nothing more."
That is what baseball is, down to the letter. It's a place where people can go on their day off, kick back, and have a little fun. If it's your "old world tradition" to throw back a couple of cold ones while you're sitting in the sun, then I say go for it, and don't let the occasional dunce ruin your good time. For every rowdy idiot I've seen in the park, I've seen at least a thousand other fans drinking their beer with no problem at all. Harry Caray also had some other sage advice:
"Booze, broads, and bullshit. If you got all that, what else do you need?"
Amen, brother, amen.
PS - Beer sales at ballparks might also help the economic recovery, check out this little nugget of truth from good old Jack Handey:
"Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, it is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver." ~Jack Handey
25 Jun, 2011
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Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/beyond-the-pour/2011/06/baseball-linked-to-drinking.html
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