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It costs a lot for a family to see a Mariners game at Safeco Field, so keeping the atmosphere family-friendly is a good idea. They would never be able to fill the whole stadium in Seattle with rude people, and rude people keep families away. They are making the right choice.

I just couldn't get over Yankee fans hoisting that picture of Ichiro. I can applaud what the Mariners' park policy might be, and you notice they only draw the line at rudeness - they're not exactly playing the censorship game. You'd think the preponderance of Yankee fans would take the hint from the guys who jabbed back creatively when Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling kidded about the "mystique and aura" around the Yankees and, the next night's World Series game, a couple of Yankee fans hung a banner over the rail saying, Mystique and Aura. Appearing Nightly. Now, that's the way to do it. Much in the tradition of the original Met fans (who all but started the banner thing in earnest in 1962) who brought seven lampshades and rolled them down sequentially to spell out:

O'MALLEY
GO HOME

It costs a lot to take a family to almost any stadium, anywhere. Rudeness doesn't have a whole lot to do with filling the stands. Fielding winning teams fills the stands. Witness the Orioles. For years, Camden Yards was filled to capacity all the time -weeknights, weekends, it didn't matter. Now, after several years of horrible teams (and purging players like Mike Mussina), it's starting to show. I cancelled my season tickets this year cuz I'm sick of driving 2+ hours to watch losing ball. It's got nothing to do with rudeness and everything to do with perceived value for the money.