In the current rotation at Citizens Bank Park are the bongo cam, where people pretend to play along with “Bongo Rock” on cartoon drums superimposed in front of them on the stadium screen, and Simba cam, where parents in the stands hold their baby out over their head in emulation of a scene from The Lion King. The kiss cam is just one of the many between-innings diversions that involve putting fans on display and orchestrating their interest in each other. (Whenever this happens, I always remember a line from some stand-up routine I once saw: “What’s she going to do, say no?”) It’s a streamlined, routinized version of the surprise wedding proposal, another occasional stadium sideshow. Sometimes fans cheer if the couple is unusually old or unusually passionate, or if one of the partners is reluctant or surly, but usually they just watch. Once they realize they are on screen, they kiss, and then the shot switches to another couple. This is when, between innings, hetero couples in the stands are put on the big scoreboard screen as some song like “Kiss Me” by Sixpence None the Richer or John Paul Young’s “Love Is in the Air” plays. the Marlins, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia), the middle-aged couple sitting next to me made it onto the kiss cam. Last Sunday, while I was at a baseball game (the Phillies vs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |