SOCIAL MEDIA, MISDEMEANORS, & 15 MINUTES OF INTERNET FAME

The act of running on the field, once an act of inebriation, is now a premeditated act which has the goal of attaining one's fifteen minutes of fame via social media.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEWsc6Bu5gQ&feature=related]
While running  on to the field during professional sporting events has been happening since long before social media or the internet, this form of revelry was usually reserved for the fan who had over indulged.  Now it has become a premeditated act, hatched as part of an elaborate plan to gain fame on social networks and blogs.

An Orioles fan, donning only a speedo and Batman cape ran on the field during the Oriole’s opening day.  In all he had about a two-minute run across the finely manicured lawn of Camden Yards until a forearm from a Police Officer brought him down. The Police Officers then led him off the field in the depths of the stadium while the crowd honored the man with a standing ovation. By the end of the weekend seven different YouTube videos of his antics that have been viewed nearly 200,000 times combined.  In addition national blogs and media have spread the Camden Yards Batman’s story across the country. The man was even interviewed on local radio station where he explained how this was not a drunken act, but a calculated plan. He boasted about the influx of Facebook page friend requests and even claimed that the act has helped him with women.

This act was clearly premeditated, unless one is to believe that a grown man would attend an Orioles game wearing Batman cape and Speedo just to cheer on his team. There were many other preparations the man made to ensure that the act itself and the aftermath went as well as possible. Before running on the field the man walks across the right field wall pulling wads of cash (which he claims to have signed) and throwing it into the crowd for good measure. He had friends in the stands with cameras ready to record the action, and given the ubiquitous nature of cell phone cameras many other fans captured the fun as well.  He claimed to have grown out his beard so that he would look tougher in jail after his  inevitable arrest.

Given that he has not been charged and only spent thirteen hours in jail, it would appear that the juice was worth the squeeze. He even got his cape back when departing central booking.  He did receive a lifetime ban from Camden Yards, but given the last decade of ineptitude displayed by the Orioles, perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. Is this a small price to pay for fifteen minutes of Internet immortality or is this guy a total idiot?