Ray and all, Your experience was not universal. We had 14 tickets at the start of the 1500, 10 rows up. I had my 76 year old mother in a wheelchair, her husband with a heart transplant, my 20 mo. old granddaughter at nap time,my wife with Lupus, and the rest of the crew. Everyone at the meet was understanding. Two meet volunteers watched the wheelchair, they let me stand at the rail to take pictures during the races,and when we couldn't help ourselves and stood up nobody said a word. I think that the heat may have affected the mood of everyone, including the security. I can understand that your experience did not make the Trials as enjoyable as it could have been, and you have the right to complain. Take care, JL
Raymond Cook wrote: > Please let me clarify. My original post has nothing to do with common > courtesy at track meets like standing at inappropriate times. The issue > is that people who wanted to stand and cheer during an exciting race or > whenever they wanted to show appreciation to an athlete were told by > security to sit or be ejected. This is not a policy at ANY sporting > event I've attended other than the US Olympic Trials and it is > completely ridiculous. > > -Ray > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Marko Velikonja > Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2004 1:15 PM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: t-and-f: Mistreatment of Fans at Olympic Trials > > I'll make the same point I did when this debate raged after the 2000 > Trials (note that I didn't attend either one): > > "Down in Front" is not a term unique to track and field spectators. I > don't attend many baseball, basketball or football games, so I can't > say for sure, but I'm sure spectators there would be annoyed by people > who stand the entire game. I do recall a Women's World Cup match in > 1999 where an obnoxious young man was standing in the front row, and it > didn't go over very well with the spectators behind him. > > This seems like a matter of simple courtesy; if you're sitting toward > the front, you should realize you're blocking the view of those behind > you and refrain from standing unless you see the people behind you > doing so. If you know you want to stand and cheer the whole time, get > a seat in the back row. Granted, at most track meets this really isn't > such a problem. Perhaps its unfortunate this debate turns up only > every four years. > > Marko Velikonja > > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! > http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail
