Red Sox fans swings toward Sheffield during play

espn webpage ^ | April 14, 2005 | AP

[buckeyesrule]

BOSTON -- New York Yankees right fielder Gary Sheffield got into a brief scuffle with a fan at Fenway Park during Thursday night's game against the Boston Red Sox.

Sheffield was fielding Jason Varitek's two-run triple along the right-field fence in the eighth inning when a fan swung a short uppercut in his direction, appearing to graze the side of the slugger's face with his right arm.

After Sheffield picked up the ball, he shoved the fan before throwing the ball back into the infield. Then he whirled around with a cocked fist, but restrained himself and began shouting in the man's face.

Sheffield did not throw a punch at the fan, and a security official quickly jumped in to separate the two.

[Poser]

I watched the play during the game and in full speed, it looked like the fan was making a swipe at the bouncing ball and accidentally hit Sheffield.

Sheffield pushed him in the face with his glove and the incident was over.

The offender was arrested.

It seems to me that the incident was correctly handled. Drawing conclusions about drunken fans or players with chips on their shoulders seems out of order. Sheffield's reaction was understandable and measured. The fan is in the slammer, where he belongs.

[F16Fighter]

"We have cavones here. Next time I see one I'm going to think to myself, 'Look at that cavone.'"

Lol, gotta few cavones up your way?

But it's more fun to nudge a friend and say, "Hey, check out the cavone!"

"That must be like the term, 'I'm just bustin' your chops.' (Said in the Tony Soprano New Joysey accent.)"

I dink you're a pretty good student, MG. Yep, "bustin' chops" is indeed a variant of "bustin' onions."

But now if someone is alluding to "busting my nuts," or even "breakin' my balls," they're a bit more serious about the charge. Capece??

Btw, as a Brewer Fan, you can't be that "vicious" if you haven't yet busted my coglions (koo-lee-owns) even as the Yanks have lost 4 in a row :-)

[NYCVirago]

The offender was arrested. It seems to me that the incident was correctly handled. Drawing conclusions about drunken fans or players with chips on their shoulders seems out of order. Sheffield's reaction was understandable and measured. The fan is in the slammer, where he belongs.

Actually, he's not in the slammer, because he wasn't arrested at all. Nor has he lost his season tickets, or even been criticized by Red Sox management for his behavior. The only "punishment" he got was being ejected from the game. But considering the game was in the bottom of the 8th inning when he was thrown out, that's not exactly a big punishment.