You may not know the name Andrew Rector, but perhaps you should.
For a certain segment of American fandom — the drowsy, overweight, ill-humored demographic likely to embarrass itself at any given inning or quarter — Rector has become something of an inspirational leader. A sort of plus-sized Norma Rae.
Rector was minding his own business in April, dead asleep during the fourth inning of a Red Sox-Yankees game, when both the in-stadium and ESPN cameras discovered him. Given that ESPN shows the Red Sox and Yankees about four times a week, a little catatonia is to be expected throughout its viewing audience. Nevertheless, the fellows in the booth had some gentle sport with someone on site being so indifferent to the proceedings.
Deciding that he had been caused an unnatural amount of emotional pain and suffering, Rector turned around and sued everyone involved — the team, the network, the commentators — for $10 million.
A man whose sense dignity is only exceeded by his girth, Rector is fighting the good fight for those in the seats longing to be free from Kiss Cam or Oblivious Cam or Cams of any description, including Newton.
He does have a point, you know. It may not be a $10 million point. It may be that Rector actually has brought more humiliation down upon his head by filing the suit than if he had just let it go. (Dude, I’m sorry, but because of all the buzz about the suit, I just looked at the video of you slumped over like a tranquilized walrus again, and it isn’t any less funny.)
But it is worth noting, nonetheless: When a person pays to get into a game, it’s with the understanding he’s there to be entertained, not to be part of the entertainment.
I get the feeling the suit is losing steam. Rector was on with Matt Lauer and the Today Show Friday, and he wasn’t getting a lot of sympathy. It didn’t help that by some reports, his attorney seemingly chose some of the wording of the suit by throwing Scrabble tiles into the air and simply transcribing how they happened to land.
Who knows, he might just settle in the end for a couple Yankees tickets and a Nathan’s coupon.
But maybe, just maybe, Rector has made the world a kinder, gentler place for the next guy who just wants to pass out at the game.
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