Posted on Mon Jun 11, 2007 at 11:54:03 AM EST in MLB
More on: Blue Jays, Dodgers, Canada, border war (all tags)

We almost had a political disaster on our hands Saturday night when the Toronto Blue Jays played the LA Dodgers. A Canadian fan was harassed by a Dodger Stadium security guard for waving a Canadian flag. The offending fan was Lee Fraser who is the president of Canadians Abroad, a bunch of expats who attend games together when teams from Canada visit.

The Dodgers have a policy prohibiting signs and banners and that includes any flags, even the U.S. flag. Security officials warned Fraser that he could hold it up during the Canadian national anthem but not to wave it during the game. When he did start waving it during the sixth inning, a security guard tried to confiscate it and that lead to a 100-person brawl heated discussion between security, LAPD, and 100 or so Canadians. Luckily, cooler heads prevailed and nobody was seriously injured, although there was a report of an "inadvertent shove."

Even though Fraser had the last word ("The whole crew went crazy. They sent down three or four security guards, the LAPD. Because, you know, Canadians are such a big threat."), we have to side with the security guards in this case. They were just following rules. If the Canadians can wave a flag, next thing you know, those crazy rabid fans from SF will be waving a Giants flag and then we'll end up with 51 states.

Links:
[The Star]: Canadian fan hassled for doing wave with flag

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