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Baseball Primer Newsblog— The Best News Links from the Baseball Newsstand
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Hell…it beats being lectured by Eckersley!
Seems that Boston slugger Manny Ramirez was leaving the ballpark, with headphones on trying to look inconspicuous and quickly get away from the crowds still leaving the stadium. He started to cross South Royal Brougham Way, against the signals of a traffic cop who was directing pedestrians. The police officer demanded that Ramirez open his wallet and show identification. He warned him that he could face a $500 fine and possible arrest for disobeying a police officer.
It became clear to those watching that the policeman had no idea who Ramirez was. He didn’t ask for an autograph or anything, but did ask Ramirez if he’d attended the game. After the brief lecture, and no argument from Ramirez, the police officer let him go with no further trouble.
Ah, maybe baseball needs a higher profile in this town? Or, maybe Ramirez has to sit around and talk to the media like everyone else on his team, so he doesn’t get caught up in post-game foot traffic? I don’t know, I just thought it was a funny story.
Repoz
Posted: July 22, 2008 at 10:44 AM | 104 comment(s)
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"Cut your hair and get a job."
Apparently you're not familiar with WJ's body of work. That was anything but random.
Probably because he's black.
You don't need the "Boston" qualifier to make it accurate.
yeah, I got yelled at buy a cop in Honolulu for jaywalking. A real pain in the ass, since I live in New York, where jaywalking is not only tolerated, it's an inalienable right.
Great, I was waiting for confirmation that Bostonians were their own separate race.
Clearly not. Clearly the writer also thought it was great for a self-important "talk to the media or else" moment.
I saw more people ticketed for jaywalking in my 10 weeks in Honolulu than I have in the rest of my life.
I don't think traffic cops should be any more likely to recognize Manny Ramirez than other people who happen to work near SafeCo--the vast majority of which I'd guess would not recognize him.
MANNY BEING MANNY!
Otherwise he'd be serving 10 days in tent city eating green bologna.
That is, if he managed to avoid deportation back to Mexico
He then said..."You better not step feet into Connecticut again!"
But then again...I'd been cold-cocked by hi-flyin' helicopter lovin' Bill Graham once...so this was no biggy.
Try being a pedestrian in Montreal - the pedestrian fatality rate is something like 5 times the Canadian average, and that doesn't even include the number of people who fall into a pothole, never to be seen again.
Danny is right. You can't assume traffic cops are up on the latest baseball superstars. But even the most casual fans at Safeco identified him, it seems.
S Royal Brougham is a pedestrian-friendly zoo pregame/postgame, especially one with a railroad periodically cutting off car traffic. Manny shouldn't have barged out there; there would've been time!
Eraser-X's point about "talk to the media or else" is a reference to Erik Bedard, whom Baker has made his whipping boy for being taciturn during locker-room interviews, and thus allegedly a clubhouse cancer. Whatever, Geoff.
Wait, is that Geoff "White Jays" Baker? It depresses me that this guy still has a job.
"Oh my God it's Ichiro!" (Asian guy walks away)
"Oh my God it's Ichiro!" (second Asian guy walks away)
"Oh my God it's Ichiro!"
"I'm not a boy."
"Yes, you are!"
Right- whereas in every other state motorists are free to run over pedestrians indiscriminately.
Radhames Liz woke up this morning with The Boot.
I work in proximity to a lot of "celebrities". And with rare exceptions, I go about my business pretending that I have absolutely no idea who they are. Line at the cafe? Wait your damned turn. Fire drill? Get with the other people.
The difference would surprise you, then.
It's always nice to have Smashmouth weigh in.
In fairness to Weekly Journalist, could any street sound more Bostonian than "South Royal Brougham Way"?
I hate waiting for those pedestrian "walk" signals.
Was he named after a particularly well appointed 1974 model year Lincoln?
So during lunchtime, we all go out and get to the first busy intersection. There's a break in traffic and I cross against the light...and the entire crowd does as well. I look back over my shoulder and see my fellow exchange students standing by themselves on the corner waiting for the signal.
What is a Licoln?
I look back over my shoulder and see my fellow exchange students standing by themselves on the corner waiting for the signal.
That's because they were white and know how much Japanese cops hate gaijin.
Why a typo of course!
This explains a lot.
Short hand for "Lite Colon". You know, colon made with Splenda.
There, I've tied up the jaywalking and the "Is that racism?" parts of the thread.
dude, people in new orleans drive like that. you learn to get out of the way if it even looks like a car is coming.
However, they should enforce "obstructing traffic" laws.
In other words, if you aren't obstructing traffic, walk free.
Actually the worst thing about walking in Dallas or Fort Worth is that motorists are so amazed to see a large biped crossing the street that they stop in mid-block to let you pass, blocking traffic in very unpredictable ways, as if you were a family pet or something. This is awkward because jaywalking is often much safer than crossing at a light, where the turning traffic never ceases, and there are no Austin-style signs to assert pedestrian rights.
As to someone directing traffic after a game at the Ballpark in Arlington, no, I've never seen anyone doing that. Fortunately postgame traffic can be pretty light ...
Info on THE Royal Brougham: Link. He died covering a Seahawks-Broncos game in the Kingdome.
As WJ has mentioned once or twice, he is a resident of that fair city. So he doesn't get any slack on that account.
Apropos of nothing, I now keep thinking I need to find my perfect Indian partner in Texas...
????????????
i don't get the joke
Anyway, I've made a bit of a hobby of paying attention to jaywalking habits in the various places I've lived and visited. What I've noticed:
In California, nobody walks. Drivers are stunned to see you on foot, and their reactions are unpredictable. You think I'm joking about this, but I'm not; it was as true in Palo Alto as it was in the Inland Empire.
In Washington State, the drivers are poor but cautious. This is more of an issue if you're driving than walking, but you have to be aware of it. There's something in the air up there.
In New York and DC alike, pedestrians are absolutely insane and will cross anywhere, anytime. I've been trying to decide why it works, but I've drawn no firm conclusions yet. I think, on Manhattan at least, 80% of the drivers are cabbies, who make their livings behind the wheel and thus are good at avoiding delusional foot traffic.
One of the signal differences between Germany and the Netherlands is when their citizens feel at liberty to cross the street. In Germany, no one, never ever ever, crosses against the light. The only people you see doing this are foreign tourists. It doesn't matter if it's two AM on a Tuesday and there isn't a car for miles. They also don't throw cigarette butts on the ground. In the Netherlands, by contrast, some people will cross the street against the light and there's litter everywhere. (Well, comparatively; it's not any worse than the States, but compared to Germany it's a landfill.)
In Dublin, the streets are narrow and driving is hazardous. It's a great place to be a pedestrian and nobody gives a crap what you do.
In London you have to be careful or you'll get clobbered looking the wrong way. It took me almost two weeks to get to a point where this was even remotely intuitive.
Here in Oregon, everyone is sane and normal.
He thought the sky was falling. You know, Chicken Licoln.
i don't get the joke
He did say it was apropos of nothing. It's Zen...
I was just about to remark that it's the same here in London, but then I looked at your profile. I like the system over here. People are smart enough not to get themselves mowed down, and the traffic moves reasonably well for a city of this size.
Anyway, in the case of Safeco, they definitely need a few traffic cops there after games. The stadium is located at the junction of several major on/off ramps for the two interstate highways that meet just south of downtown Seattle, I-5 and I-90. And before you get to that intersection there's the freight rail about 30-40 feet from the stadium behind right field. It would be absolute mayhem if the masses were left to their own devices.
California is composed of 155,959.34 square miles. Saying nobody walks is, in a word, dumb. Where I live in Davis, California there are pedestrians everywhere, all day long. In Palo Alto, which you mentioned, is very pedestrian-oriented -- not just near Stanford, but in the neighborhoods around Middlefield Road and of course in Foothill Park and the surrounding area. You must have had blinders on. I've lived in Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, La Jolla, Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, West L.A.*, Berkeley and Pacific Beach. All of those are filled with pedestrians either in whole or parts.... My suspicion is that you don't walk and pay no attention to what others are doing.
* People do walk in L.A. However, because everthing is so spread out there, walking with a purpose beyond exercise isn't common. However, in downtown L.A. you'll find very crowded sidewalks with office-workers walking to and fro, particularly around lunch time.
As WJ has mentioned once or twice, he is a resident of that fair city. So he doesn't get any slack on that account.
And it's a damn shame he is.
Count yourself lucky. My boss got ticketed in Honolulu for jaywalking during one of their crackdowns. That same day, two of my clients got the same thing.
Where in Honolulu were you?
Germans are particularly adept at following orders.
Again, when were you here? They had a very well publicized crack down, following an uproar over the high (per capita) number of pedestrians who get run over and killed here every year.
The problem, of course, is that they are getting run over and killed in places like Farrington Highway and Kamehameha Highway, where people try to cross four lane roads in the sticks; but they had out the tickets in downtown and Waikiki, where the cars alread go slow because of all the traffic and all the people.
Of course. But that's not the same thing as "cars have the right-of-way over pedestrians." It doesn't matter what state you're in, drivers have a greater duty to exercise caution when pedestrians are present, for obvious reasons. I realize that is little comfort to the guy who just got flattened. Drivers are surrounded by 3,000 lbs of metal, which trumps any traffic law designed to protect pedestrians.
I agree regarding London. I nearly got hit a couple of times in the first week or so due to instictively looking one way and forgetting the cars drive on the opposite side of the road. Then I spent a couple of weeks just crossing when other people crossed and that served me well enough until my habit is now to look the correct way. I agree that there's not a big problem for it being a large city.
I spent a week in Dublin lately, and a lot of time there years ago. Major streets there have very efficient pedestrian lights. They can be a little confusing to Americans at first: they tend to stop traffic in both directions at once, leaving pedestrians as the only moving things. But in Dublin, if the "walk" symbol is green you can walk without fear of turning traffic mowing you down. It's a good pedestrian city, I agree. Several major streets in Dublin are pedestrianised, no cars at all (something few American cities do well, though the Riverwalk in San Antonio is one parallel carless city that works nicely).
Oddly enough, Rome, despite the notorious insanity of the traffic, is a nice city to walk in. Large stretches of the center of the city are quiet enough, because they are so difficult for cars to maneuver through; and they are all interesting and pretty (though pretty dirty). There are no rules there, either.
Edit: London, I agree, is awful. I think that English drivers are trained to be aggressive. It's a different quality than Manhattan, where everyone's just looking to slip past obstacles; English drivers seem to play chicken with them.
While lugging around Cleveland during SABR...I was yelled at by a goofy wannabee whatever for crossing at the wrong time.
THERE AIN'T NO ####### WRONG TIME IF A ####### CAR AIN'T ####### COMING!
Go load your Suzie, fatso.
Not really, No. If there are any police around they are usually too busy keeping the home fans from beating the crap out of the away fans. Mostly everybody just disperses and wonders off, depending on where the ground is, to the tube, buses, train station, the pub or where their cars are parked -- usually in some local estate.
And writing that sentence and all the rest to disprove the original poster because you apparently think he literally meant nobody walks is, in a word, dumber.
It works, for the most part, if you're used to it. It's the same between cars. If you don't keep aggressive you end up just spending ages sat at junctions, round-a-bouts, etc. just waiting for somebody to give way. You have to make the move first, then the other guy will give way.
Then Manhattan has changed a hell of a lot since I lived and worked there. Typical pedestrian-run-over traffic deaths in the parts of town where there were large numbers of pedestrians were very few, because traffic moved so damn slow. It was only on the highways that traffic moved at any reasonable clip.
Last summer. Lived in Waikiki and worked downtown on the edge of Chinatown, and I saw jaywalkers getting ticketed like crazy in both spots--mostly tourists.
See, in the US that's not as much of a threat, so the cops can be assigned to duties a bit higher on Maslow's hierarchy of human needs.
On the edge toward town, or toward lovely Aala park?
I work on the corner of Bishop & Nimitz, across from Aloha Tower.
I've lived in NYC, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the San Jacintos and Rockies. I've been in New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Moscow, Warsaw, Paris, Ulaan Batur and various places in between.
In my considerable experience, that statement really couldn't be more false, Beano.
Hell, I could simply cite New York City alone. As a bicycler, and pedestrian, I have always hated cars until I got to NYC. Now I hate pedestrians. And I don't even have a car. Sadly, a number of people rightfully walking at the right time are hit. But New York City pedestrians on average deserve whatever they get. They are truly awful.
Paris can be a challenge for the pedestrian in the right places. Of course, I'm an American who grew up in a Northeastern city, so I may have a differing view of my role, status, and acumen as a pedestrian.
I hear Ulaanbaatar (correct spelling) is beautiful this time of year.
As far as Ulaan Baaaaaaatar, it's much like Shostakovitch. There is no correct way to spell it in English. The BBC spells it Ulan Bator.
And, it was.
I didn't really notice anything unusually odd about the drivers in Moscow or Paris. Just city drivers. Anywhere's better than NY, though, so far.
So during lunchtime, we all go out and get to the first busy intersection. There's a break in traffic and I cross against the light...and the entire crowd does as well. I look back over my shoulder and see my fellow exchange students standing by themselves on the corner waiting for the signal.
When in Asia, cross when the crowd does. They'll not hesistate to run over one person, but 5, they might stop.
This is more a London thing than an English thing generally. People are less aggressive on the roads outside London, where everyone is wound too tight.
I've been to Vietnam a couple of times. The trick there is to walk across the road without stopping, and the bikes and mopeds will miss you. Sounds crazy, but it works.
This surprises me -- I would figure the no-right-turn-on-red law would kind of curb the hit pedestrians a little.
You've been to downtown Palo Alto, I see. Try living there and get back to me.
I realize that California is huge. Apparently it's full of dickheads, too. It's called "friendly ribbing". Jesus.
Wow. Cranky child. Take a nap, son.
??!!
they're not counting moose too, right?
Sample size!
On Bethel, between King and Nimitz.
"Greg Maddux Greg" would be funnier.
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