Ooh - that would've p*ssed me off as well. But then you think of your surroundings, the kids - and "What kind of example should I give to these impressionable smallish people?"
And you took the high road. Good for you - especially since the teenager's mom didn't get to see what her son did. Guess we know he hasn't learned any manners, huh?
March 11, 2008 8:24 PM
Anonymous said...
The kid stealing the shirt wouldn't have bugged me. It is just a t-shirt.
But I was at an Iowa - Penn State football game several years back and was making fun of Lavar Arrington (PSU player) the whole game. My dad and I had him cracking up. After the game he gave us one of the team's footballs and as we were leaving the stadium, security confiscated it. That made me mad.
Not to judge, but to give a detached perspective on the event... I think in the thrill of the moment, lots of people get carried away about getting whatever is being tossed into the crowd. The kid probably didn't realize anyone had touched the shirt and just went after it. If I were the kid and saw the scout leader nearly get it, I would've surrendered it, but that's because it's not a big deal to me to share. I can just see how the kid might not have realized how his behavior looked so wrong to someone else. I used to sit along the foul line a few rows up at the Braves old stadium, and lots of crazy things happened any time a foul ball came by. Until the object is completely in someone's grasp, most people apparently consider it fair game.
Again, not a judgment of you being offended, just another way to look at it.
I think Robert makes a good point. A thing that occurred to me is to wonder about this encouraging of every man for himself sort of competition at competitive events, like a hockey game. I wonder when all the giveaways got going, and how far to the edges of our characters we might act in an already hyped up competitive situation.
What would I have done? Probably been annoyed, but done the same as you guys...shrugged and moved on.
I'd have been annoyed, but I would have done the same thing. It's not worth making a scene in front of the kids.
Trust me, the kids KNOW what happened. And if you talked about it in front of them, they know how you feel about it. ou won't have to worry about either of them exhibiting the same type of behavior.
March 12, 2008 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...
I recently went to a Devil's game at the Tsognas arena and when entering with my camera was told by security that I could not take any pictures of the game.
Adam's cub scout pack arranged a trip to see a Lowell Devils (minor league team of the NJ Devils) hockey game at Tsongas Arena in Lowell, Massachusetts. It was a fantastic event including a tour of the ambulance used by the hockey players, pizza in our own club room, front row seats in the end zone, a chance for one of the scouts to ride the Zamboni (more on another post), and a free skate on the ice after the game. The atmosphere was festive, everyone was in a great mood, and the Devils won in a shoot-off. I forgot to bring my camera, but the iPhone was a worthy substitute, and you can see the entire set of pictures here.
There was one incident that marred the event. All through the game, there were promotional giveaways, a Jeep and tons of shirts for the crowd. You can see the mascot, a "devil dog" throwing shirts here: [Image]
I saw a shirt come flying over the glass and come down right over the cub scout pack leader. Now this guy is top notch person, pulling strings to organize the details of this event and even putting Dova on his lap for a group picture (she is apparently dying to be a cub scout just like her brother). He reached up to grab the shirt, and fumbled it. In the time it took for the shirt to jump from his hands and reach the ground, a teenager from across the aisle dove under the handrail and snatched up the shirt before the pack leader bent down to get it. WTF!! The teenager ran back to his seat with the shirt, showed his mom (who did not witness this move) and the mom patted him on the back and said, "Good for you!" We turned to look at the pack leader and he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, Oh well. He handled it completely with class. We were outraged! Doug muttered, "That was really low." I was fuming. The worst part was that he actually got confirmation for his actions by his mom. I wanted to go over there, grab this misfit by the collar and tell him that he ought to return the shirt. Then again, I didn't want to make a scene in front of all these impressionable cub scouts. In the end I kept quiet and just filed it away for a blog post. What would you do?
Don't forget to visit Hump Day hostess Julie at Using My Words.
7 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formOoh - that would've p*ssed me off as well. But then you think of your surroundings, the kids - and "What kind of example should I give to these impressionable smallish people?"
And you took the high road. Good for you - especially since the teenager's mom didn't get to see what her son did. Guess we know he hasn't learned any manners, huh?
March 11, 2008 8:24 PM
The kid stealing the shirt wouldn't have bugged me. It is just a t-shirt.
But I was at an Iowa - Penn State football game several years back and was making fun of Lavar Arrington (PSU player) the whole game. My dad and I had him cracking up. After the game he gave us one of the team's footballs and as we were leaving the stadium, security confiscated it. That made me mad.
March 11, 2008 9:43 PM
Not to judge, but to give a detached perspective on the event... I think in the thrill of the moment, lots of people get carried away about getting whatever is being tossed into the crowd. The kid probably didn't realize anyone had touched the shirt and just went after it. If I were the kid and saw the scout leader nearly get it, I would've surrendered it, but that's because it's not a big deal to me to share. I can just see how the kid might not have realized how his behavior looked so wrong to someone else. I used to sit along the foul line a few rows up at the Braves old stadium, and lots of crazy things happened any time a foul ball came by. Until the object is completely in someone's grasp, most people apparently consider it fair game.
Again, not a judgment of you being offended, just another way to look at it.
March 12, 2008 8:39 AM
I think Robert makes a good point. A thing that occurred to me is to wonder about this encouraging of every man for himself sort of competition at competitive events, like a hockey game. I wonder when all the giveaways got going, and how far to the edges of our characters we might act in an already hyped up competitive situation.
What would I have done? Probably been annoyed, but done the same as you guys...shrugged and moved on.
(Sounds like a great event and time otherwise.)
March 12, 2008 9:29 AM
I'd have been annoyed, but I would have done the same thing. It's not worth making a scene in front of the kids.
Trust me, the kids KNOW what happened. And if you talked about it in front of them, they know how you feel about it. ou won't have to worry about either of them exhibiting the same type of behavior.
March 12, 2008 10:15 AM
I recently went to a Devil's game at the Tsognas arena and when entering with my camera was told by security that I could not take any pictures of the game.
March 12, 2008 11:19 AM
It would have ticked me off....but I'd like to think I would have taken the high road as you did and held my anger.
Two wrongs don't make a right, and I'm sure the kids there look up to you as an example.....so you did the right thing. (IMHO)
March 12, 2008 9:01 PM