WASHINGTON, DC – AUGUST 10: Washington Nationals mascot Abraham Lincoln tries to find a seat with fans in the stands during the game against the Cleveland Indians at Nationals Park on August 10, 2016 in Washington, DC. The Nationals defeated the Indians 7-4. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

In the past, ushers at Nationals Park would hold up small stop signs that told fans entering their section to wait until a stoppage to head to their seats. Now, those ushers might as well wave their arm like a third base coach and encourage them to come and go as they please.

The Washington Nationals confirmed to the Washington Post on Wednesday that their ushers no longer will make fans wait until a stoppage in play to enter their section at Nationals Park. This decision has already set off a fiery debate among fans.

According to a Nationals spokeswoman, the team’s decision was all about the fan experience.

“Throughout the course of the season, we regularly look for ways to enhance the fan experience and we always encourage our fans to share their feedback,” a team spokeswoman said in a statement.

Well, for some angry season ticket holders, their experience was worsened by the decision, as explained to DC Sports Bog’s Dan Steinberg.

While this seems minor, I had three fans ask me about it in the 24 hours after the new policy went into effect. One season-ticket holder told me he hoped the change wasn’t permanent, and that he is “a fan of at least trying to herd the cats.” Another season-ticket holder told me that Wednesday night, “there were a ton of people wandering down trying to find their seats during at-bats.”

https://twitter.com/Nati2de/status/768990852798611456

Since this decision hit the internet, fans have gotten heated about this on both sides of the debate. This Reddit thread features several of those arguments, many of which are filled with a number of expletives. Here are just a couple of the angry posts.

“I think I fall on the ‘policy is not necessary” side,’ another fan wrote. “As people have indicated, even if you hold people at the top of stairs until the AB is over, by the time they get to their row they’re probably standing right in front of people as the next AB starts. And I haven’t seen any other ballpark with a policy like this. I do think we all need to continue to do our part in educating fans who may not know the proper etiquette.”

“There were people going up to their seats during AB yesterday and I was like UGH [BLEEP] SIT THE [BLEEP] DOWN WE’RE TRYING TO WATCH THE [BLEEPING] GAME HERE,” another fan disagreed.

“I missed a Murphy RBI single recently because some [bleep] just had to get back to his seat during the middle of the inning, middle of the at-bat,” someone else disagreed. “I wish more people would publicly shame people who do that. If you have a kid or an emergency of course you can get up, but try to get the hell out of the way.”

Look, here’s the deal. It’s a pain in the ass when people decide to get up and go get an overpriced beer while the pitcher is in the middle of his wind-up. It’s even worse when someone decides to block your view in the middle of the action. It’s like, “Hello, this is what we paid to see!”

However, as nice as it would be for people to actually have some common courtesy and wait until a break in the action, that is unrealistic in this day and age. We are all about instant gratification, and that includes the ability to get up whenever you want despite others’ experience. As for baseball, it needs as many fans as it can get. Rules preventing fans from entering a section mid-pitch are more likely to alienate casual ballpark visitors rather than drive away passionate season ticket holders.

It’s a tough reality, but it’s the world we live in.

[The Washington Post]

About Ryan Williamson

Ryan is a recent graduate of the University of Missouri and has recently returned to his Minnesota roots. He previously has worked for the Columbia Missourian, KFAN radio in Minneapolis and BringMeTheNews.com. Feel free to email me at rwilliamson29 AT Gmail dot com.