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In college, the heckling can get purdy durn nasty, and the players either need to lose the rabbit ears or cope. If they are offending people around them, as 04Dad said, the fans can deal with it themselves. But don't go to a college game expecting it to be Miss Catherine's School For Young Ladies.
I have been accused of having "rabbit ears" ... and I guess I do. But my problem is when the other team is chanting and making noise and heckling from their dugout ... that really ticks me off. To me, for a coach to allow it indicates a lack of respect for the game and for the other team.
As for fans heckling ... in our conference, we have one school that is notorious for having drunken fans lining the back of the center and left field fence, making comments to our players. Occasionally one sneaks into the stands and sits directly behind home plate to be annoying. Initially, it really ticked me off but then, after listening to them for a while, I realized they were "doing their homework" ... getting our media guide and reading up on our players. Trust me when I say that these UCR guys better be sure that they want the world to know what they like to eat, who their favorite author is, etc. when they give the info to the SID.
As for the obnoxious fans who are making only themselves laugh, the sweetest revenge is to play well. Our 3rd baseman is the target of a lot of heckling ... he is often the closest to the opposing team's fans and takes a lot of verbal abuse. This week-end was no different ... so he merely went 7 for 13 with 6 RBI's and a homerun ... and they finally shut up.
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Go Highlanders
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