Phillies: No vomiting, please
The Phillies have taken to handing out code of conduct cards to fans in the wake of Wednesday's now notorious vomit assault.
Phillies: No vomiting, please
Mike Potter
The Phillies celebrated the Phanatic's birthday today, giving away free Phanatic T-shirts to kids 14 and under who attended the team's series finale against the Marlins. But those weren't the only party favors the Phillies handed out.
Fans passing through the turnstiles at the ballpark this afternoon also received a printed copy of the team's guest conduct policy. The Phillies have taken to handing out the code of conduct cards in the wake of Wednesday's now notorious vomit assault.
If you haven't heard the story (and I find it hard to believe that you haven't), an off-duty Easton police captain and his 11-year-old daughter were allegedly vomited on -- intentionally -- by a rowdy fan during Wednesday's Phillies-Nationals game.
The alleged puker, 21-year-old Matthew Clemmens of Cherry Hill, reportedly cursed and spit on the officer and his two daughters before shoving his fingers down his throat and disgorging beer and ballpark food on the family.
With news outlets across the country jumping all over the opportunity to call Philadelphia sports fans the worst in the country (again), the Phillies organization has been doing some serious damage control.
The team has already offered to host the family at another game, including a chance to watch batting practice from the field.
The guest conduct notice states, "Guests must refrain from conduct that is inconsistent with the fun, family atmosphere that should prevail at Citizens Bank Park."
Among the prohibited behavior identified in the handout are:
*Interfering with other guests' ability to enjoy the game
*Using foul or abusive language or gestures
*Appearing to be intoxicated or in a diminished capacity
All of which Clemmens was apparently unaware of during his, ahem, outburst. He should be much more familiar with the policy now, including this cautionary nugget:
*Violators are subject to ejection and possible arrest.
And now, thanks to him, thousands of Phillies fans have been handed their own little reminder.
99% of us do NOT need such a warning! And it wouldn't matter to the other 1% HOW you introduced them to your conduct code...or how often, or by whom. It would be ignored, or flouted, as a matter of course to these moronic insults to common decency. (Oh yeah...decency isn't that common any more, I forgot.) Throwing them out is too good for them, and I would reccommend to the magistrate that presides over the case in point here, that this idiot Clemmons get a week in jail for every single conviction he gets. (And there are a LOT of charges!) And just maybe this clown will move out of MY state. How this off duty officer had the cool presence of mind to NOT just turn around and CLOCK that two legged fecal matter is beyond me. But bless this man and his family for having to go through this disgusting experience.— TBear- The Phillies' security need to get a handle on rowdy "fans." Too many idiots going there and using the game as an excuse to get drunk and act like out of controls idiots. Better yet -- fans, watch the game in the comfort of your own home in HD on a 56" plasma. Pretty soon I'll be watching in 3-D too and it'll be like the game is happening in my living room. No over priced tix, no rip-off concessions, and no one vomiting on me or the other patrons.— jibberjabber
- The Phillies could set a good example by policing their own dugout. Whenever the cameras focus on the dugout all you see is drink containers scattered all over the floor and players spitting in the dugout. Must be quite a mess to clean up after the game. It should be left that way and the players can sit in that mess for the next game. Do that a couple of times and they would learn real quick. Maybe that is expecting too much from these pampered players.— fanup
- fanup, you're a DORK!!!!!!!— JohnV NEP
- Seriously, fanup!? Youre complaining about the players' dugout in the wake of this 21 yr old waste of life throwing up on a young girl!? The players aren't drinking beer in the dugout or anything. And plus thats why they pay people to clean the stadium; which creates jobs as a matter of fact— dae2217
- Sort of like what happened with airline hijackings, until other people are sick of this garbage enough to put a stop to it themselves, it will continue.— Alpheratz
- Fanup needs to smarten up.— robertthomas
- My question is: if he is that proficient at making himself barf, how come he is so fat?— doc35
- fanup, there is ZERO connection between fan behavior and the players dugout. The players are at work, that is there work environment and acceptable behavior in their workplace. No it's not an office...THEY ARE BALLPLAYERS, their jobs are different from yours and mine. However, if they start losing, I will agree with you - shape up or ship out!— weir99
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Fanup's real name is Felix Unger.— Justicek- Fans of a team often get labeled as the worst when terrible incidents like this take place. People used to think White Sox fans and Pistons fans were the worst because of gameday incidents. I do hope this barfing fan has to go through a lot of community service, apologies to the family and the team and ample counseling. He needs to be placed on probation at MINIMUM because this guy has repeat offender written all over him.— jdogle1
- I took my 3 kids (ages 3, 4, and 6) to the game today with my wife. As we walked in from the parking lot we were greated to 4 young punks cursing, stumbling, and screaming while one of them was urinating right on the sidewalk where we were walking in. The Phillies and the police need to due a better job of keeping the parking lot and stadium free of these young idiot drunks. When we left the game, my wife and 3-year old were hit by another young drunk kid who stumbled backward when his drunk friend pushed him - and his beer nearly landed on them. Unfortunately, it has been getting worse there and it seems like more and more 20-23 year old drunk punks who could care less that there are kids at the games.— Dish
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- If this blog is written by regular Philly.com sportswriters, as it's advertised to be, then the writer(s)should know that the team started giving out these code of conduct cards during the on-deck series, and have been doing so this entire homestand. This is not a knee-jerk reaction to the incident on Wednesday night. I attended the last exhibition game on 4/3 as well as opening day on 4/12 and received a card each time. Oddly enough, I did not receive one at today's game. It'd be nice if the writers here got their facts straight.— BLH
