Ticket guy: You can't bring those bottles in here.

Me: Okay. Do you have any courtesy cups for me to empty them in?

Ticket guy: Yes, inside.

Me: Ok, I'll go inside and bring them out. Is that alright?

Ticket guy: No, you can't bring the courtesy cups out of the stadium.

Sorry if this sounds harsh and maybe I'm in the minority but large sporting events aren't really the place for babies anyways.  I'm sure you have all the right intentions for bringing your son to games, but in an age where people throw syringes on the field and beers at players, I can see why they would have a problem with bringing  in containers and bottles.

I don't see how it's the ACC's responsibility to make sure you've read the facility's rules before you arrive.  I would assume most people in this day and age know what is and isn't allowed inside stadiums and arenas and why the reason things are banned from being brought in.

So not only do you take beautiful pictures, you make beautiful babies.  You have a charmed life. 

Anyway, your ACC experience sounds excessively crappy.  They wouldn't let you bring breast milk in?  Where can you buy breast milk in the ACC?  How the hell is baby food related to 9/11?  And I kinda agree that the ACC probably isn't the best place to bring a baby, but it is one of the few places where baby noise isn't really gonna disturb the crowd (unlike the movies, or the theatre) and it should be up to you and Mrs.Hank.  I remember reading an article about how the Blue Jays were trying to expand their fanbase by reaching out to women and making the Rogers Centre more women ( which explains Ladies Night) and kid friendly.  A lot of women they talked to liked to bring their kids to games because baseball wasn't as violent as hockey and the slow pace of the game mellowed them out a bit.  A Sunday afternoon ballgame with babies  sounds very fun to me.  And like Theo,  Zaun often makes me smile too. 

That’s too bad about your ACC experience, Aaron. It’s especially bewildering since basketball is supposed to be a game easily marketed to families and youth. I’m curious, did you contact the people at the ACC to complain, or did you go directly to the MLSE? It’s possible a letter of complaint to MLSE would bring with it a (better) response.

I too have a bad experience at a sporting event to vent about, but in this case it does involve the Rogers Centre. Granted, it has little to do with the Rogers Centre or its staff and more to do with the fans certain promotions attract, specifically the two-dollar Tuesday promotion.

These discount promotion days seem to attract the worst of the frat-boy / yob demographic. On Tuesday the 500 section was filled with 18-21 types who were either drunk, vulgar, violent, or all of the above (typically a result of the former).

When they weren’t standing up with their backs turned to the field in order to socialize and thus obstruct other fans’ view or constantly moving around every five minutes, they were shouting “show us your tits” at every good looking girl who appeared on the jumbo-tron, swearing with little regard to the fact that there were kids around, and only dedicating their attention to the game to boo or heckle any Jay who dared register an out (“You suck Wells!”). This was only mildly annoying though. The worst came when one of them stole a barrier sign from one of the closed off sections and then, in a moment of pure genius, chucked it over the edge of the 500 section. As if paper airplanes and magnets weren’t dangerous enough, the idiot sent a large cardboard sign with plastic chains attached hurling down to the 100 section (and of course, there was no security present). The kicker was when the oaf then enjoyed a lap of honor around the section receiving high fives from his yob buddies.

I wasn’t surprised when at the end of the night I heard one of them comment in a sarcastic tone that “this wasn’t worth two bucks!” That pretty much sums up the kind of crowd that these promotions attract – drunken yobs who have little interest in the game but are just looking for a cheap way to kill time and thus end up treating the dome as if it was their own personal kegger.

The next time the Jays have this two-dollar Tuesday promotion I’m just going to sit in the 100-level to avoid the hassle. It’s the exact type of crowd that home openers typically attract. The ironic thing is is that this year’s opener attracted what seemed to be a genuine baseball crowd, devoid of the types of idiots who filled up the 500 section last year. I thought that that with a competitive team and a real buzz in the city, these types would be pushed out by the demand for tickets created by actual ball fans, and that seemed to be the case at the home opener. Unfortunately Tuesday’s game proved that it isn't.

Did anyone else have any bad experiences at this game? Was it just my section that was filled with these types?

The ironic thing is is that this year’s opener attracted what seemed to be a genuine baseball crowd, devoid of the types of idiots who filled up the 500 section last year.

Not if you were sitting in sections 511 or 512.  Granted, it wasn't as bad as last year with all the magnets and paper airplanes being thrown on the field but there were still a lot of idiots in the 500 section at this year's home opener.  The missus and I were sitting in 512 and we saw pop bottles and cups being thrown down on the 100 or 200 level - we couldn't see where they ended up.   Apparently, someone snuck in a mickey a few rows above us and it was only until after the game the yahoos were caught.   After the crap that has gone on the last 2 years, I think the missus and I will be treating Game 2 of the season as our personal home opener next season.  It sucks because I've been to every opener since 2000 after escaping the shackles of Northern Ontario.

As for Toonie Tuesday games, or "Idiot Night" as we call it, we made the mistake of going to one last year against KC.  We usually go to Wednesday games but we couldn't that week because the Wednesday game was an afternoon one.  As usual, more drunken idiots were swearing.  One fan thought he was hilarious by chanting "John Buck, You Suck!" every time he came up to the plate.  Thankfully, it was the Halladay-Greinke game that finished up in less than 2 hours (with a W for the Fighting Jays) but we have vowed to never again attend a Toonie Tuesday game.

I think Uncle Ted needs to invest in more security and have more of a police presence, especially for games with big crowds like the home opener, because security right now is a joke.  For NFL games, security people don't screw around.   When we went to a Detroit Lions game (yeah, I'm a Lions fan - it sucks to be me, what can I say!) and they say if you want to make it for opening kickoff, you should arrive at least a couple of hours early so that security can search everyone with pat down searches and checking bags.  I just wonder if pat down searches or maybe metal detectors at the door will come into play at Ted's Shed in the future. 

Went to the Oakland game this past Tuesday with a bunch of friends from work and it was an absolute mess...before I start to rant about the game I should let you know that I make it out to a fair number of games each year and I don't discourage noisy fans who heckle as long as they are remotely intelligent.  Don't spout out the "John Buck you suck" or "Chris Ray is gay" - I heard that one for 3 straight innings while sitting in the 100s above the dugout at an O's game this year.

I encourage fans around me to get vocal - cheer and stand up for your team - yell at Sheffield when he drops a routine fly in right, yell at Nixon when he turns left running through first and gets tagged out heading back to the bag - it adds to the game, creates buzz and excitement and gets fans into the game and behind our team.  We haven't seen much of that in Toronto since 92-93.  We were even dubbed as quiet fans back then when the Dome would sell out.

In fact I try to be one of the louder fans at a game but I pick my spots, keep the chatter clean (don't want to offend any 8 year olds in my section) and cheer as a fan - not as a drunken yokel...

With that in mind this past Tuesday vs Oakland I was up in 514 and witnessed the worst spectacle I've ever seen at any Toronto sporting event.  At least 15 people were tossed from my section - most for throwing paper airplanes - some for smoking in the stands and one for PUNCHING a security guard.  The thing that irked me the most was that the punch was a REACTION to the security guard pushing the kid from behind down the stairs. 

I was more disappointed with the staff than the kid who got tossed - I know that the dealing with a drunken 20 year old can be tough (I was one not too long ago) but there is no excuse to push a drunk kid from behind on stairs as steep as the ones in the 500s no matter how rude or vile he's become - especially since it incited about 10 more airplanes going over the railing and a 5 minute chant of "lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit"...3 officers came into our section in the 7th and had to stay for the remainder fo the game...

Most of the families and "real fans" who thought they could catch a game for $2 left in the 7th and missed what was almost an outstanding comeback (Glaus flew out to end the game with Wells as the tying run on 2nd) and I'm disappointed in the way the fans handled themselves but more so with the way the staff handled the situation

By addressing the situation properly - tossing a vulgar fan should calm the section down (even on a cheap night) - but the staff let the situation get out of control and made things worse by pushing a kid down the stairs...

I'll continue to attend games and remain the vocal fan I am...BUT I am never going back to a $2 game in the 500s - I think there's a ton of potential to bring in new fans with the $2 tickets but I think the staff needs to expect that there will be drunk idiots and be prepared to handle the situation in a professional manner

I was at the ACC for Antonio Davis' return game which saw an unusually high walk-up crowd. One would think the security at the game would adjust to a larger crowd, but at the East gate we were at, they only unlocked one doorway, and (get this) checked bags outside in the dark!

Since that day, I have a newly found appreciation for the Rogers Centre security, whom through so many games have befriended. Compared to the ACC, the RC does actually do a really good job.

The yob-crowd has just gotten annoying and repetitative and accordingly, I now sit in the 100 level where fans who paid decent money go to watch a baseball game. If the standings are the same as today, three months from now those yobs won't be able to get a seat anyways.

The 500 level isn't all that wild if you know where to sit. Remember, for the Opener, the fans sitting in the 100 and 200 levels and the 500 sections around home plate are the fans who woke up at 9 a.m. to go to bluejays.com and buy their seats. Yobs don't do that. They'll wait till the day before at best, and take section 508 row 32.

My only other stadium experiences was at USCF last year and the Hershey Centre, if that counts. Both places were completely void of security except at the gate (which is really surprising considering all the incidents of White Sox hooligans).

The only downside to the RC is unfortunately at Guest Services. The man in charge goes by the name Paul So (who we have dubbed Paul So Terrible) and he's virtually incompetent and hardly a baseball fan. He's in charge of player signings before a game, Photo Day (which is always terribly run) and other fan-player interactive stuff.

After Aaron's piece last year on being annoyed that the RC had become Yankee Stadium North I made the same arguments to him the game after and got a response of   "Well, we have the 'We Are Toronto' bit at the end of the game. What else do you want?"

Unbelieveable. Though other than him, they put on a pretty good job.