WARMINGTON: Blue Jays fans all class – mostly

Yahoo

27-03-2025

This won't go down as a Boo Jays game that Toronto and Canada would have a hard time for years living down.
In fact, the Toronto Blue Jays home opener will be recorded in history as an example of just how classy The Big Smoke and the true north strong and free really are.
Even on a day when many in the sold-out crowd of 40,734 at the Rogers Centre felt like booing, a large majority of the fans didn't take the bait.
Sure, there were some who tried to get it going. And in the first few bars of the Star Spangled Banner you could hear a low roar of some boos, but that was soon drowned out by the amazing performance of the 40-member ensemble of the Mirvish production of Disney's The Lion King and the crowd itself, many of whom were singing along, including a woman and her son behind me from Oakville.
'We are not like that here,' said Maria Jones, who was with her son Shawn. 'People know the players are not the leaders.'
But right behind them in the 100 Level, there was one guy who definitely did his best to get some boos going – him shouting out a pretty loud one, which I did manage to catch on video and post to X. It was funny because as soon as he did it, his girlfriend interrupted him and told him to stop. He didn't continue and was looking at his shoes all the way until opening pitch.
A few feet over, Parker Williams, wearing a Baltimore Orioles sweater, and Makayla Quigley, in her Blue Jays garb, said they noticed nothing but respect from Jays fans – even though one of the Prince Edward Island duo was in the black and orange colours.
They also heard the man who booed but it was noticeable that very few did. In fact, from that section, you really couldn't hear the boos that were reported from the upper deck – just a very faint grown that didn't last much past the first 20 seconds.
But up in the press area on the 300 Level, there was debate on the booing situation. A reporter from Baltimore said he described it in his column as a 'smattering of boos' but nothing major. Some Toronto baseball reporters said they could hear some faint boos but nothing significant. Others said they heard more from the 500 Level.
After listening to several recordings of it, I feel that suggestions this crowd booed is an exaggeration. And if there was any doubt of this, you could listen to the boos and consternation when the Orioles hit back-to-back homeruns in the eighth inning to make it 12-2. Those boos were real and had nothing to do with President Trump.
Before the game, Jays manager John Schneider said 'that's not our focus' and while 'we're expecting whatever is going to happen' and it's 'unfortunate' but 'we're focusing on the game.'
It ended up not being much an issue.
I have been down to a lot of games there and feel this cannot be designated as a crowd booing incident as some posted to social media. There was just a few people doing so. And not enough for there to be no doubt about it.
I was inside the Dome for both years the Jays celebrated their World Series wins when then-premier Bob Rae was booed, and I can tell you there was a difference.
In that case, they really gave it to him – although he was a great sport about it and never complained. In fact, on the second year, he came prepared and just brought out a sign that said something like, 'No speech today, congrats Jays.'
It's terrific the fans didn't do what that crowd in 1992 and 1993 did for Rae because that would surely have made the news state-side. A loud chorus of boos would be heard in Washington and far beyond. Just look at the reaction to Premier Doug Ford's latest tough talk on the April 2 auto tariffs.
Libs of Tik Tok on X posted a clip from Ford and wrote: 'Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he wants to 'inflict as much pain as possible' on the American people.'
That post was viewed more than 337,000 times.
WARMINGTON: While Trudeau says Canadians will continue to boo U.S. anthem, Ford says don't
WARMINGTON: Booing 'Star-Spangled Banner' may feel good but it fuels Trump's fire
WARMINGTON: Canadians booing American anthem tarnishes Flag Day
But Ford also said in another clip, which didn't get the same amount of X action, that he feels sorry for the American people who he believes will also be hurt in this tariff war.
Back at the game, there was a sense of relief that the crowd didn't try to escalate things.
'I was worried about it,' said Murat Demirel, a huge Orioles fan from Ottawa who was wearing a Baltimore sweater. 'I was so proud of the fans taking the high road.'
He and pal Umberto Ianni Alice were on the main mezzanine level and sang both anthems. They were making their own statement.
'We want things to go back to the way they were with our American friends,' said Alice.
One of the reasons why the boos may not have taken off in a big way was because of the performance of the kids from the Mirvish production. They sang their hearts out and when they were shown on the Jumbotron, whatever low amount boos there were quicky stopped.
People knew it was not only wrong but also unfair to these young people who were putting in such a great effort.
Anyway, there were some boos but nothing for the people like myself who didn't want there to be anything to boo about.
[e-mail]
@joe_warmington