A group of fans attending a game between the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox at Fenway Park try to start a wave. Some baseball fans would like to see the wave crash for good. (Michael Ivins / Getty Images / September 5, 2010)
It usually begins the same way, with one or two fans who stand up and holler at everyone around them. They want to start the wave.
If Greg Holland is sitting nearby, he refuses to budge.
"Man," he says out loud, "sure would be nice if we were paying attention to the game."
The longtime Texas Rangers fan has a problem with jumping up and down for no reason.
"The wave," he insists, "has nothing to do with baseball."
At any other major league stadium, his voice might be lost in the din, but a curious rift has developed among the crowds at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas.
Fans of a certain mind-set — especially those who visit Holland's website, stopthewave.net — have complained often enough that the team now shows a partly humorous, partly serious message on the scoreboard. It warns that throwing your arms into the air can cause muscle strains and should be confined to "pro football games and Miley Cyrus concerts."
On the other side of this ideological divide, a not-so-silent majority has risen to the challenge. Literally.
"There is a segment of people who see our sign and do the wave," a Rangers executive said. "It's actually going stronger than ever."
Among all the grand traditions of American sport, this one might seem trivial if not downright annoying. But do not underestimate the power of the wave.
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It isn't like the all those USC alumni flashing the victory sign when the band plays "Tribute to Troy." It isn't like the cowbells at Mississippi State or "the chop," in either its Atlanta Braves or Florida State incarnations.
Those traditions are connected to the action on the field. Those fans can make the argument they are rooting for their team.
The wave exists independent of home runs or touchdowns. It can be roaring along at the exact moment that misfortune befalls the home team — sometimes the crowd abruptly stops cheering, sometimes it doesn't even notice.
That puts the wave in a subcategory with beach balls in the stands at Dodger Stadium or droning vuvuzelas, the South African horns that made the 2010 World Cup sound as if it were played inside an enormous bee hive.
"How can it not be a distraction?" Holland asked.
His crusade dates back to a 2009 game when his team surrendered a late-inning lead while the crowd was focused on sitting and standing in unison.
"The Rangers ended up losing," he said.
Though not exactly the crusading type, the 29-year-old insurance company employee loves sports. Several years ago, with the Dallas Mavericks struggling on the basketball court, he created a website urging the team to fire then-coach Avery Johnson.
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Latimes.com
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