30/06/05 Shouting Out Things

In the good old days, one of the defining characteristics of a British crowd at a sports event was a certain decorum and a stoical unwillingness to shout out things.
I don't include football and rugby in this analysis, as there is a culture of shouting out things in these sports. I'm talking more of the gentler pastimes of golf, tennis and cricket.
At Wimbledon, you'd maybe get few oohs and ahhs during rallies, but that would be it. The crowd's only involvement would be to give good, solid rounds of applause at the appropriate moments.
Now, after just about every point, there's a highly irritating chorus of "Come on, Tim/Greg/Roger/Andy etc!!!!".
It drives me nuts. I wouldn't mind if someone was saying something interesting or funny. Is this some pathetic attempt to get their voice on TV? Do they record the matches, and play them back when they get home, and try to find their stupid, rubbish interjections?
If I was sitting next to one of these culprits at Wimbledon (unlikely), I'd do a big,pretend yawn thing, simultaneously stretching out my arms, and would accidentally on purpose, elbow them in the face.
"Oh sorry, how clumsy of me! Yes, I know that's the eighth time I've done it. I'm just very unco-ordinated. Yes, really!"
In golf, we have imported from the USA, the even more annoying shout of "Get In The Hole!"
This is shouted every time a player makes a putt, and bears no relation to how close the ball is likely to end up near the hole.
I am at a loss to explain the motivation of the idiots who shout this out.
If I was at the Open Championship, (I have to concede this is more likely than me being at Wimbledon), and I caught sight of an offender, I would have no hesitation in removing the pin from a hand grenade and discreetly placing it in their napsack, before retiring a safe distance away.
They really have to be vehemently discouraged, and hopefully this could serve as a warning to other wannabee "Get In The Hole-ers"...
I was looking forward to whipping Debbie's ass on Thursday night.
I mean this metaphorically in a tennis sense.
Unfortunately, it was again my ass that was on the receiving end of a sound thrashing, as I crashed to a 2 sets to one defeat, and was sent homeward to think again.