Statement From Cubs Fan Steve Bartman

Associated Press via Fox News Channel ^ | Wednesday, October 15, 2003 | Steve Bartman

[newgeezer]

"There are few words to describe how awful I feel and what I have experienced within these last 24 hours.

I've been a Cub fan all my life and fully understand the relationship between my actions and the outcome of the game. I had my eyes glued on the approaching ball the entire time and was so caught up in the moment that I did not even see Moises Alou, much less that he may have had a play.

[newgeezer]

Just in case anyone missed this last night.

For his sake only, it's a shame the Cubs didn't win Game 7 (as well as the Series, lest he be blamed for something else caused by their having to play Game 7, such as the sub-optimal pitching rotation, or missing a needed day off).

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Statement from Sox fan Hegewisch Dupa:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[CounterCounterCulture]

A little perspective: The operators of the Stanton Island ferry who allowed many to be killed and brutally injured yesterday.

A little more perspective: Those who operate abortuaries. They are the ones who should be public enemy #1, not some young basefall fan caught up in the moment.

[newgeezer]

Given your expression of sympathy for the guy, I trust you're a White Sox fan.

For the sake of your fellow Sox fans the world over, do whatever it takes to stay in the stands and off the field, okay?

;O)

[Moleman]

I wanted the Cubs to win as well. I am waiting for someone to create a photo with the "tourist guy" near the foul ball!!

[Hegewisch Dupa]

I don't if MGBOF is the accepted term for "Major Grimace Before Opening File" - but put me down for one. You got us on that one...

Thank goodness there aren't links as readily available to the 1919 Series, too.

[Chummy]

This wasn't some Thursday evening game in the middle of May against some visiting perennial loser.

What about the economic impact this single, selfish act has on the City of Chicago? Gone is the flush that would have arrived with its first World Series in 44 years.

I was really delighted to hear THAT FAN finally took some responsibility yesterday and issued this statement of apology. To me, that's what I was personally hoping he would do. It does not absolve his act, but it gives recognition to the fact he apparently finally understands he wronged a great many people.

To underscore, he is NOT a knowledgable fan, not in the least. And anyone who believes the Cubs should have simply and easily put this incident behind them, has no understanding or appreciation for the nuances of this simple but most complicated of sporting games: the situation changed wholesale for BOTH ballclubs.

If you watched the video replays of his act -- not the photos -- it wasn't a bunch of people going for the ball -- THAT FAN's hand and arm were extended beyond the rail into the field of play and THAT FAN was the only spectator so positioned. It's irony that fate also kept the ball from him.

Diehard Cubs fans are going to calm down and move one, waiting until next year, tallying yet another tear-stained page in their book of dashed hopes, and always, always remembering this thoughtless jerk who did something that not everyone would do, regardless what some would think. (And if that's an act "everyone" would do, well, that's the basis of about what I've been writing on this subject -- we've got some serious, serious problems in this society of ours if "everyone" thinks their immediate want prevails over the good of everyone else.)

Go Red Sox.

[Peace will be here soon]

"I ask that Cub fans everywhere redirect the negative energy'

---

OH , BROTHER ! He sounds like a liberal ! Redirect the negative energy ? This guy just needs to catch the next flight to Miami and start his new life. I`m sure that town will treat him very well. He did a very stupid thing. Any REAL baseball fans KNOWS not to interfere with a playable ball, definitely not one that benefits your own team ! A REAL Cubs fan would have been holding everyone back so Alou could play the ball. He says he didn`t see Alou, well if that is the case, he has no sense of the game. He must now take the heat for his actions. You cannot apologize and expect everything to be better. It is sad , but true. Go to Miami Mr. Bartman. Your new home is waiting.........Oh, by the way, I am a Cardinals fan, I hate the Cubs.

[CSM]

"What about the economic impact this single, selfish act has on the........"

The impact to Murphy's alone is devastating! I love that place!

[Hegewisch Dupa]

I wonder if negative energy equals negative mass times the speed of light squared?

[Peace will be here soon]

This guy ( Bartman ) has no concept of the magnitude of hate directed at him. If he had any brains , he would be in Miami already. The guys life in Chicago is over. He needs to realize that before some nut takes matters into his/her own hands and does something very stupid, and I`m sure there is more than one willing to do harm to this man. He needs to face reality. His best move is to go to Miami, they will treat him well.

[newgeezer]

Well, thanks for sharing your angst.

Now, for what it's worth, I'll mention my first experience at a World Series game was when I was 25 years old, also watching the team I'd loved all my life. From the opening pitch to the last out, the atmosphere in the ballpark was so utterly 'electric' that I still can't find adequate words to describe the feeling. Think of the first time you had sex, the kind of which even Bill Clinton couldn't argue the definition. Now, considering the length of a game and, especially if you love baseball many times more than any other so-called sport, multiply that by 100. Okay, maybe 10.

Anyway, I was and am considered a "knowledgeable fan," and I can say without reservation that it would have been extremely easy to do exactly what he did under those circumstances while having little if any capacity to give thought to what others might consider my "immediate want" versus "the good of everyone else." In short, reasoned and measured strategery might be out of the question.

I would argue that anyone who thinks it was so very reasonable to expect Bartman to take his eyes off the ball and look for fielders is probably the kind of person who would answer his cell phone in the middle of making whoopee for the very first time in the hope that it was his stockbroker with news of a hot tip. Or, he's the kind of person who's never been in Bartman's position in the post-season, and has very little concept of what it could possibly be like.

Therefore, my heart goes out to young Bartman. If he had "done" the same thing to a team with a winning tradition rather than one of perpetually losing, it likely would have been regarded as just another foul ball by the team on the field, as well as their fans. Instead,... well, here we are.

Go Marlins. Go Yankees. Anybody but Pedro F. Martinez and Manny F. Ramirez. Anybody.

[camle]

IT'S ONLY A GAME GUYS!!! YEESH!!!
besides, HE didn't give up 8 runs, the team did. if the teanm cannot pull it together after a little incident like this, they don't deserve to win. blame the team, not some guy who only did what everybody else would have done.
to blame some poor guy who cannot defend himself for the failure of the Cubs to win is worthy of the Clintons vs. Billy Dale.

[Peace will be here soon]

"I was and am considered a "knowledgeable fan,"

---

That statement alone makes no sense. Either you are a you are not. It is also a judgement call. I find it a but funny that someone who says he/she was or is a "knowledgeable fan", and cannot understand that what this guy did was completely against what a true knowledgeable Cubs fan would do, could possibly find a way to justify Mr. Bartman`s actions. What he did was interfere with a playable ball. A REAL , TRUE fan would have known better. A REAL , KNOWLEDGEABLE fan would have held everyone back so Alou could make the catch. If you want to call yourself a "knowledgeable fan", you need to understand all apsects of the game. This guy is a guy who likes baseball, watches and roots for the Cubs, but does not understand the game. He does not see the same game a truly " knowledgeable fan " sees. Bartman watches baseball, that is all. And since he lacked an understanding of the game, he now must face the wrath for his lack of knowledge. He still doesn`t get it. His released statement says it all. He is waisting his time, just ask Bill Buckner.

[Peace will be here soon]

"I was and am considered a "knowledgeable fan,"

---

That statement alone makes no sense. Either you are or you are not. It is also a judgement call. I find it a but funny that someone who says he/she was or is a "knowledgeable fan", and cannot understand that what this guy did was completely against what a true knowledgeable Cubs fan would do, could possibly find a way to justify Mr. Bartman`s actions. What he did was interfere with a playable ball. A REAL , TRUE fan would have known better. A REAL , KNOWLEDGEABLE fan would have held everyone back so Alou could make the catch. If you want to call yourself a "knowledgeable fan", you need to understand all apsects of the game. This guy is a guy who likes baseball, watches and roots for the Cubs, but does not understand the game. He does not see the same game a truly " knowledgeable fan " sees. Bartman watches baseball, that is all. And since he lacked an understanding of the game, he now must face the wrath for his lack of knowledge. He still doesn`t get it. His released statement says it all. He is waisting his time, just ask Bill Buckner.

[demlosers]

I can truthfully say, I would have never done what Bartman did. Many many moons ago, I played this same scenario in my head as a fan. Don't interfere if there is a chance for your team to make a play on the ball.

It's the same type of thinking if you were playing the field. As a fielder, you’re running possible situation through your head constantly. "What do I do if the ball is hit to me with men on 1st and 3rd with 1 out?" Baseball players are always thinking about possible scenarios.

I do the same thing as a spectator, and especially if I'm a fan of one of the teams in the field. So when Bartman says, "I was and am considered a "knowledgeable fan," I have a hard time believing him.

[NCC-1701]

I'm not a baseball fan as much as I am a football fan. I'm one who believes in giving your team the best chance of winning. Having said that, there is a matter of home field etiquit. There is a baseball stadium where the fans throw opposing homerun ball back onto the field. They probably have the forthought to get out of the way of their guys trying to get the other team's guys out. Not the way Bartman "helped" the Marlins. A row or two back wouldn't matter, but never interfere with your team trying to do it's job. Maybe what happened in the 8th wouldn't have happened the way it did, but Alou should have had the oppurtunity to snuff out at least one threat to the Cubs. No one will ever know. Bartman has baseball immortality and will become a Trivial Pursiut answer someday.

[ambrose]

Using this poor fool as a scapegoat is pathetic. He didn't give up the 3-1 series lead. He didn't give up 8 runs in the 8th inning. He didn't cause the Cubs to choke in Game 7.

[newgeezer]

> I was and am considered a "knowledgeable fan,"

That statement alone makes no sense.

Here's a clue: I said I was 25. Here's another one: That was a long time ago.

Hopefully, you can make sense of it now. (If not, I understand.)

As for the rest of your post, I'll just mention that Moises Alou forgave him, and I'll always admire him for showing the class to do it. Maybe that's because he already has a World Series ring. But, I'm guessing it's because he's 37. (He even had the wisdom to say he was "almost 100%" sure he'd have caught the ball, acknowledging nothing's a sure thing in baseball.)

[Peace will be here soon]

"Here's a clue: I said I was 25. Here's another one: That was a long time ago. Hopefully, you can make sense of it now. (If not, I understand.)"

---

So what your saying is you were a "knowledgeable fan" at the age of twenty-five and still are today as well. But, you could easily see yourself doing the exact same thing Bartman did. Bartman was not and is not a real "knowledgeable fan". It will be and is sad to see everything he is and will be going through, and what he will be going through for years to come, and maybe the rest of his life. I never said I agree with it, but we sometimes live in a cruel and un-forgiving world, that is the reality of it all. As a "baseball fan", I understand the magnitude of this event, and how the baseball world will look upon it. It may seem petty to focus on this one incident, but history will always go back to this point and time and say this is when it all changed ( at least for the Cubs ). Like others have said about this guy, he is now forever scribed in the pages of baseball history, it is done. But , what put him in this spot was his complete lack of knowledge of the game of baseball, the history of the game, and even how some fans and many players in the past have changed the coarse of baseball history ( be it deserving or not). Bartman calls himself a true Cubs fan, well, he may be a fan, but he knows very little about the game of baseball ( at least until now).