Anyone who has watched the broadcast of a golf tournament -- or even channel-surfed through one -- likely has witnessed a sequence during which a competitor strikes a ball and one or more members of the gallery bellows "Get in the Hole!"
So far, there are no data to indicate that golf balls actually respond to such exhortations.
Nor is there any record of a golfer saying something to the effect that, "Yeah, my shot was headed a good 15 feet wide of the pin, but then that guy in the orange polo shirt commanded it to get into the hole. And it did."
Which means that the people who do all of that high-decibel, utterly pointless howling accomplish nothing more than drawing attention to themselves.
And that probably is the whole point in the first place.
Unless, of course, the objective is to annoy the people nearby. And everyone else within earshot, for that matter.
A fairly recent development in head-shaking fan actions seemingly can be traced to Ric Flair, one of the most celebrated and successful figures in pro wrestling history.
Flair, who had a commanding presence on camera, routinely would punctuate his high-energy interviews with an emphatic "Woooo."
More than a few people at various athletic competitions, including those contested at PNC Park and PPG Paints Arena, have taken to imitating that.
Never mind that few, if any, of those people likely ever have been the NWA World Heavyweight title-holder, or have been widely known by a nickname as cool as "Nature Boy."
And this tour of asinine antics hasn't even ventured yet to the other side of the Commonwealth, where the right to crude -- and often vulgar -- expressions of thought appear to be covered by the price of a ticket. (Yeah, we're looking at you, Wells Fargo Center. Perhaps it's something in the wooder there.)
YOUR TURN: What is the most annoying thing you have seen or heard from fans/crowd members/onlookers at a sporting event?
