[David]

This is a clean clear violation of Constitutional Rights under the First Amendment--it's state action because the field is owned by a state subdivision.

Poor taste? Yes. Rude; silly; dumb? All of the above. We should care because small violations of the constitution lead to big violations. In the Soviet of Washington, they could care less about the US Constitution. The Civil Rights Act clearly applies; this is liability producing conduct.

[TightSqueeze]

Constitutional BUMP

[BluesDuke]

This is a clean clear violation of Constitutional Rights under the First Amendment--it's state action because the field is owned by a state subdivision.

This may depend on the terms of the lease the Mariners have for the ballpark, granted that the park was designed for baseball alone. If the lease gives the Mariners the singular responsibility for running the park during their games, the Mariners may well have a flexibility as to what mode of expression they can or cannot control.

But this also illustrates one of the prime reasons as to why public financing of professional sports stadia is manifestly a bad idea. The San Francisco Giants, for example, built PacBell Park themselves; it is the first privately-built and owned baseball park since Dodger Stadium, in fact. The Giants - and, for that matter, the Dodgers - can, if they choose, determine which modes of expression are or are not acceptable during Giants' or Dodgers' home games (not that they would, especially when the teams play each other and knowing the history between the teams); the state of California can say nothing of it, any further than they can say that I can or cannot set rules for the manner (as opposed to the idea expressed) of speech I do or do not tolerate in my home.

I have always cared about Constitutional violations small and big, but the Mariners' case seems in need of far more clarification. I can't help thinking, though, that the team might want to cut the fans just a little more slack when the Yankees come to town, considering the banner illustration to which the story alludes involving Ichiro Suzuki...like maybe burning a Yankee in effigy...