[URBAN NOTE] "Do Toronto Blue Jays have the most unruly, drunken fans in baseball?"

[rfmcdonald]

Facebook's Iman linked to David Cooper's Toronto Star article. Is this actually the case?

Sports blogs and sports sites that follow baseball closely have been posting photos and videos showing unruly, drunk and obnoxious Blue Jays fans.

One Yahoo sports blog displays several examples under the headline: “Toronto Blue Jays lead the league in drunken fans.”

Former Blue Jay catcher and current baseball analyst Gregg Zaun has also chimed in, suggesting some Jays’ fans are engaging in boorish, obnoxious behaviour that he finds appalling.

[. . .]

Boorish behaviour at Blue Jays games has risen to alarming levels, according to Zaun.

The fans, especially in the 500 level, “are developing a reputation,” Zaun told the Star on Monday.

“It’s very, very prevalent at the Rogers Centre, especially in the later innings when the Jays are losing that people lose their minds,” Zaun said.

He said some fans are under the wrong impression that just because they paid their admission that they can behave anyway they want.

“They’re getting drunker, and drunker and drunker and it’s because fans are getting younger and younger,” Zaun said.

He added he is most concerned about fans throwing objects onto the field, but he doesn’t even think “profanity should be tolerated at all.”

The former Blue Jays catcher said offensive behaviour on social media sites is carrying over to ball games, fuelled by alcohol, even though the club shuts off the taps at the end of the seventh inning.