A Burning Question in Texas: Do the Wave, or Not?

Hardcore Texas Rangers fans fight back against the 30-year tradition
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 10, 2011 9:55 AM CDT
A Burning Question in Texas: Do the Wave at Texas Rangers Baseball Games, or Not?
Fans participate in 'the wave' ... in Colorado, not Texas.   (Getty Images)

The wave has been a popular part of live sporting events for 30 years, but a group of Texas Rangers fans is trying to bring an end to the distraction. People opposed to the wave argue it has nothing to do with the action on the field and takes fans' attention away from the game. The man leading the charge is Greg Holland, a longtime Rangers fan who got annoyed when his team gave up a late lead in a 2009 game while the wave swirled around the stadium. And so he put together a website dedicated to stopping it.

Anti-wavers have made calls to the Rangers' front office complaining, often enough that the team now kind of supports them, even if only in a tongue-in-cheek way: It runs a warning message on its scoreboard explaining that wavers can suffer from muscle strains, and recommending that the activity be restricted to "pro football games and Miley Cyrus concerts." Which, of course, just makes some people want to do the wave even more. "There is a segment of people who see our sign and do the wave," a Rangers exec said. "It's actually going stronger than ever." (More Texas Rangers stories.)

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