You don’t see this very often, but in this case it was very deserved: home plate umpire Tim Welke directed ushers to eject a fan from Turner Field during last night’s Nationals-Braves game. The fan had been yelling a constant stream of obscenities at Bryce Harper. Courtesy of Big League Stew and Reddit here is some video in which you can catch some of the fan’s ranting (NSFW language).

Completely idiotic. And I’m not content to simply chalk this up to one drunk idiot, even if the drunk idiot is ultimately responsible for his own behavior.

For whatever reason, Braves television announcers, particularly Joe Simpson — and in some cases the Braves themselves, via dumb messages/pictures on the jumbotron mocking him and by trying to turn meaningless things into controversies on social media — have singled out Bryce Harper. They’ve insulted him and slammed him and have decided that, for whatever reason, he is Public Enemy Number One. By doing so they have encouraged this kind of thing. Clever taunting and some good natured back-and-forth is fine. The Braves, their announcers and fans have decided, however, that dumb, pointless and mean-spirited mockery is the order of the day.

That’s how you end up with drunk jerks thinking this is funny and clever. And that’s how said drunk jerks ruin the experience for the fans who simply want to watch a ballgame without having to put up with that garbage. Way to go, guys.