(SIT DOWN ALREADY – SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO COMPLAIN ON OUR SMART PHONES WATCH THE GAME)
Slightly more pointed than Chipper Jones’ scolding of the Braves fans disguised as empty seats are comments from two members of the Nationals bullpen, who side with those who tell the Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg that The Wave is tantamount to “a signifier of casual fandom,..a legacy of years without baseball, a sign that we don’t deserve our first-place team.”
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“Kill it,” reliever Ryan Mattheus says. “It’s the worst thing in sports. Sit down and watch the game….The thing about it is, you should be into what’s going on on the field, not what’s going on in the stands. It takes away from the game. I definitely understand why people hate it….I definitely vote kill the wave.”
This is the reddest of anti-wave red meat, because Mattheus is giving voice to what the wave critics say most often: that only people who don’t care about the actual game would take part in the wave. And when Sarah approached Drew Storen, the climate didn’t get any wavier.
“Did those guys tell you to ask me that?” he asked of his bullpen mates. “I am not a fan of the wave. I get it if it’s like a blowout situation or a slow game — fine, mix it in. But we’ve had a couple of times where it’s been the bottom of the eighth and it’s a close game. Cheer for the game, you know?
“If we’re in the fifth or sixth inning and up by a touchdown, maybe mix in the wave if you want,” he continued. “But if it’s the eighth inning and a one-run game, you shouldn’t be starting the wave.”