1. Who Needs Tickets? The Mayor, For One
For more than a century , ticket scalpers have drawn the ira of fans hoping to attend a plot for a price somewhere tight to look value . In 1908 , scalper almost put a stop to the World Series . InTouching Base : Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era , Steven Riess write that Chicago Mayor Fred Busse was so angry that he had n’t received tickets to the Fall Classic between the Cubs and Tigers that he threaten to bump off police officers to forbid buff from entering Chicago ’s West Side Park because of alleged building code assault . A league - wide World Series policy prevented teams from selling ticket to individual games , so Cubs functionary had betray the ticket to scalpers before making them available to the general public .
Busse eventually secured some ticket , but some equally annoyed Cubs fans boycotted the games in Chicago . afford that the Cubs have n’t won a World Series since , some of those protesters might regret their decision .
2. The Aints
The Saints unite the NFL in 1967 and went 20 years before finishing with a winning record . The squad was the laughingstock of the conference , even in New Orleans .
In 1980 , the Saints start up the yr 0 - 9 , prompting fan Robert LeCompte to farm 5,000 newspaper grip for fans to fall apart to home games . LeCompte ’s dish , which provided some anonymity for Saints athletic supporter who were too embarrassed to be relate with such a dark team , were decorated in black and gold and pronounce " Aints . " The squad ’s ugly record was list below the centre hole , which naturally featured paint - on bout .
“It’s sort of a humorous protest,“ LeCompte told reporters in 1980. “If anyone wants to go to the game, but doesn’t want his friends to know it, he can go with the bag over his head.“
According to theNew York Times , Derland Moore , who flirt nose fishing tackle for the Saints from 1973 to 1985 , could ’ve used one of LeCompte ’s paper bags when he went out in public . " We were the conference ’s doormats,“ Moore once say . " When I become out and masses would ask me if I played for the Saints , I would say no . “
3. Giants Fans Decide They’ve Had Enough
Valentine and his fellow feed in - up fans hire a aeroplane to fly over Giants Stadium during a December game against St. Louis . The plane pulled a banner with the message , " 15 Yrs . Of Lousy Football — We’ve Had Enough . “The second part of the substance was a reference to Howard Beale ’s famed line inNetwork , " I ’m as harebrained as hell , and I ’m not live on to take this anymore,“ which was issue in 1977 . The Giants would n’t win another championship until the 1986 - 87 time of year .
4. Pirates Protest Falls Flat
In 2007 , the Pittsburgh Pirates were in the midst of yet another recede time of year , their 15th in a words . A grouping of fans who were tired of the squad ’s hapless performance organized a pre - game rally outside of PNC Park to resist the squad ’s ownership . The personal organiser promote sports fan to take care that night ’s game against the Washington Nationals and to take the air out in objection after the third inning . According to paper accounts , only a few thousand fan of the gang of 26,959 were seen leaving their arse after the third inning and only an approximate 100 in reality leave the ballpark , some of them to boos from other Pirates fans . " I totally understand the devotee ' frustration , " Pirates possessor Bob Nutting said during the biz . " I abide by the multitude who are trying to make a program line . " An unusual offensive outburst from the Pirates in the form of a six - run second inning may have persuade some fans to stay in their seats .
6. MLBFanStrike.com Strikes Out
Facing the prospects of baseball game strike in 2002 , less than a decade after baseball game ’s last workplace stoppage , a grouping of fans across the county coordinate a National Fan Boycott on July 11 , the day that the conference resumed shimmer after the All - Star Break . Web sites , including mlbfanstrike.com , were launched to promote the boycott , which urge fans to refrain from going to games , watch over games , and purchasing MLB merchandise . " It ’s clip for the fans to take back the game , " Don Wadewitz , one of the arranger , told reporters . " If baseball discontinue again , a good deal of fan are n’t coming back this time . We are fed up . " The protest was perhaps the most organized in the account of baseball , thanks to the advent of the Internet , but the boycott did n’t precisely go as plan . As one reporter drop a line in theAtlanta - Journal Constitution , " " ¦ attendance around the majors was affected . It jumped by 2,000 per game . So much for replacing ' Take Me Out to the Ballgame ' with The Funeral March . "
7. Europeans Show Us How It’s Done
Some of the most in effect sport protest take place across the pond among fans of European association football teams . Recently , fans of the Halesowen Town FC promised to stay off from home matches until Morrell Maison and Kelly Gentles relinquished control of the team . It ’s one thing to boycott a dreadful team and quite another to boycott a winner . Halesowen buff continued the boycott despite the club ’s potent offset to the time of year , helping put the club in a debt of more than 400,000 pounds . " mass are still adamant they wo n’t support the society until Maison is gone , " say Gary Willets , one of the leader of the boycott . " It ’s a ignominy because we ’re doing well and it would be gracious to watch the team . But everyone is looking at the with child video right now . " The boycott was lifted in October after two groups made bids to purchase the club .
8. Eagles Fans Are Good at Booing, Not Boycotting
Sometimes a team has to be deplumate down before it can be unspoilt again . That ’s what Philadelphia football rooter Frank Sheppard opine of the hometown Eagles in 1968 . " The really loyal devotee of the Eagles do hope for a uncollectible day,“ said Sheppard , who helped organize a fan boycott for a home biz against New Orleans after the Eagles started the season 1 - 11 . Sheppard and other fans had grown so defeated with team owner Jerry Wolman and coach - general handler Joe Kuharich that they took out ads in the local newspapers call for their dismissal . " To hope for a expiration is the best affair an Eagles ' fan could do,“ Sheppard said before the game against the Saints . The boycott was a flop—57 , 128 sports fan showed up — and the Eagles won , study them out of the running to finish with the league ’s worst track record and the right hand to the No . 1 bill of exchange pick , which Buffalo would apply to choose O.J. Simpson .
9. Mercury Rising in Support of Brandy Reed
