UA officials have had it with the unruly baseball fans who taint evenings at Baum Stadium with their coolers and their stinky alcohol. And the school is taking action.
According to today's article on uatrav.com, the website for the university's student newspaper, university officials are going to crack down on alcohol traditionally brought into Razorback baseball games at Baum Stadium by fans congregating in the grassy area behind left field, affectionately known as the Hog Pen.
The area has always been sort of a picnic/park area, where fans have brought in lawn chairs and enjoy the provided grills and picnic tables. It's been long understood, but never official, that it's a BYOB area.
Clearly, this tradition is an abomination to the good name of baseball, a symbol of American purity if there ever was one.
How can we allow the scheduling of Friday afternoon games so people can ditch work early to make it the stadium in time to spend the afternoon cheering on the Hogs as they make their run to get back to Omaha, if we allow them to imbibe on spirits at the same time?
We absolutely, positively, under no circumstances can allow our fans to denegrate to the level of heathen that accompanies the Ole Miss fans. Plainly, their home run celebration is a serious offense deserving no less than the wrath of Lord Slive himself.
Ole Miss Baseball HOME RUN SHOWER (via Scott Burton)
What miserable wretches. They're not even having fun. Look at all the fans in torturous pain in that video. So many innocent fans getting hurt. Their fine silks are getting permanently ruined by the vomitous outpouring of the wicked beverages.
Heaven forbid.
So how exactly does Arkansas plan on enforcing this? According to the Traveler article, UA will now conduct searches on all bags and coolers entering the stadium, using the same procedure used at football and basketball games, where no one has been able to sneak in alcohol ever in all of time.
A couple of years ago when the Hog Pen came under some fire for heckling opposing players a bit extensively, Chris Bahn wrote this:
[Changing Baum Stadium policies] would be an absolute shame.
Hanging out in Baum Stadium’s Hog Pen is one of the uniquely Fayetteville ways to spend a spring night in Northwest Arkansas. It doesn’t get a lot better for fans than spending time in the Hog Pen, an area that can, at times, feel like Hog Heaven.
Grills and picnic tables are available. Coolers fully stocked with beer might not be encouraged, but they sure aren’t frowned upon. It can make for a relaxed and fun atmosphere, the sort that helped make possible a stadium record crowd of 11,103 two weeks ago.
A limited number of fixed seats and limited rules, make it the perfect atmosphere for a nine-inning party....
...Beer at the ballpark doesn’t have to be a bad thing either. It also seems to be a tradition for folks at baseball games.
At least now we can watch the thrilling, action packed, 21st century spectacle of a live baseball game in peace. Thank you, UofA.