Truth be told, I have kind of forgotten that “Yankees Suck” is a somewhat inappropriate phrase. Seeing “Yankees Suck” written on a t-shirt or hearing 30,000-plus people chant it at a ballgame, parade, or even football game barely even captures my attention. What probably would cause me to do a double take is if I didn’t see half a dozen vendors outside Fenway Park selling “Yankees Suck” apparel and memorabilia. The Tampa Bay Rays, on the other hand, take the phrase a bit more seriously.
According to the Tampa Tribune, via Hardball Talk, a stadium official made a Rays season ticket holder remove his “Yankees Suck” t-shirt last week because they felt it constituted profanity. I guess the phrase is profane depending on your standards, but really? The fan, who happened to be a lawyer, objected and asked to talk to a team official but had no success. What’s scary is that this is not the first stadium where a fan was forced to remove a Yankees Suck shirt.
First of all, the shirt isn’t a big deal. They tried banning them at Fenway once and realized it would be impossible so they have since let it go. Secondly, this is Tampa Bay we’re talking about. They don’t exactly have an easy time selling tickets down in St. Pete, so if a fan walked in with a shirt that said “F*** you” on it I’d probably turn my cheek if I worked there. Do you want to have a G-rated environment or do you want butts in the seats? Most often in professional sports, you can’t have both.
