Hello, Bill!

It's not so much that baseball is considered by many to be a family-oriented pastime but more so because of the lack of physical contact among the players. Baseball is a "genteel" sport; there is very little punching, kicking and shoving, save the occasional on-field, bench-clearing fights over an umpire's bad call or a fastball thrown just a little too close to the batter's head. You make a good point, though; fans tend to be more raucous at sport events that involve a great deal of physical contact, like football or ice hockey. Let's face it; men like roughhousing. And, yes, male fans are more inclined to hang out with their arm candy girlfriends at a baseball game than at other sports, although girls are becoming more of a vocal presence at soccer and basketball games. The restraint on cussing is out of respect for the female fans and that's good but, let me tell you, there are women like my ex-wife who could cuss like a drunken sailor at players and behave in ways that would be embarrassing to their macho boyfriends, which is to say that, while it's well and good that men are expected to comport themselves like gentlemen when among women it should by no means be assumed that all distaff fans are shrinking violets when it comes to sports.