On Tuesday night, Bob Davidson ejected a fan behind home plate because the fan was shouting vulgar things at Benji Molina. Molina, later, said he had not heard the taunts. All he heard was Davidson’s threat about throwing them out.

Davidson had already thrown out the Cardinals pitching coach, so clearly he was ‘in the mood’. And there is little written to say exactly what the fan was saying, though fans in the area did say he was not cursing.

Those writing about the incident, primarily in the St. Louis dispatch, all seem to suggest that this was more about Davidson getting attention, than it was about the comfort of the other fans. They write that MLB should punish Davidson for throwing out a fan who paid his money.

And while I don’t believe that fans and their speech should come under the pervue of the umpires when their actions don’t interfere with the action on the field, I also don’t think fans have the right to say anything they want.

A couple of weeks ago I was at CitiField, when a drunk young man felt the need to heckle the Rockies centerfielder. He didn’t curse either, but some of the things he said were still inappropriate for a kid to hear.

I believe we all get to say what we want- to the point where it becomes disruptive to the other fans, who also paid their money to watch the game. But I don’t think curse words are where the line is. I think words only have the power we give them. And any one word shouldn’t be worse than other word. It’s how we put them together that has weight.

If this fan was that disruptive to other fans, they should have the right to complain and have him removed. They shouldn’t need the umpire to help them. It should take just a complaint or two before action is taken. And if teams are uncomfortable with asking someone to leave without the use of an F-bomb, than they should be willing to ask the fan to refrain from shouting at the on- field personnel- a warning if you will. It’s up to that fan what happens next.

Sometimes a heckling fan might be entertaining to some, but not to others. He hears laughter and continues to go for those laughs. With a warning, he then knows that not everyone is amused.

I enjoy a clever, creative heckler. I also think that the fans often have the power to police their own section- unless alcohol is involved. And with a few beers, we might all forget where that line is. Having it be standard to get some warnings, might help remind us all where that line actually was.