Gordon Wittenmyer takes a look at the allegations of racist behavior by the a minority of the geniuses in the bleachers at Wrigley Field - and it ain't pretty:

In the last five seasons alone, Cubs outfielder Jacque Jones and pitcher LaTroy Hawkins said they were the targets of racist taunts and fan mail. Jones also said in 2006 that he became the victim of racial slurs and threats on his cell phone when the number got out.

Former Cubs manager Dusty Baker said that same season that he received enough threatening, racist mail in Chicago that his wife and young son no longer would attend games.

Visiting ballplayers are even easier targets for the more vicious slurs.

''I've heard a few things [from the bleachers],'' Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Mike Cameron said. ''But I don't really get into it with them unless a situation calls for it. I try to stay out of those situations.''

And then there's this:

Besides Jones' experiences, another black former Cubs outfielder who declined to be identified said in a private conversation during a recent spring training that the Wrigley crowd might have been the worst he'd experienced for racist taunts.

''I've heard that from a lot of the players who played there,'' Cameron said.

Los Angeles Angels center fielder Torii Hunter said that was one of the reasons he had the Cubs on his no-trade list for years while in Minnesota.

Nice job, guys. Keep drinking out there.

While this undboutedly is a case of a very few tainting the reputation of many, that's too bad. Life is unfair. Perception becomes reality - and, for at least one All-Star, he wouldn't come to Chicago because of it.

Perhaps Wittenmyer's story will lead the Cubs to be more public in policing this and other drunken behavior in their little slice of heaven. And this would seem to be a good place for "tattletexting," which Rick Reilly wrote about a few weeks ago:

Is there a drunk slob in the row behind you? Flapping his Raiders flag into your cranium over and over? Smelling like he bathes in Jack Daniel's and cursing more than Amy Winehouse?

Then you're in luck!

Thanks to tattletexting, you can have this moron removed by security in minutes. Even better, he won't be waiting for you in the parking lot afterward to turn you into a collection of lumps.

Some people call it the rat line. Some call it text-narcing. I call it progress. It's being offered at many of this week's NCAA Tournament games, at 29 of 32 NFL stadiums (Cincinnati's is 513-381-JERK) and at dozens of MLB, NBA and NHL venues. Any fan can anonymously snitch out the overserved idiot who won't stop offering to fight Roy Williams at 120 decibels and pouring his Coke down your neck. You don't have to sit and take it anymore!

As a sports fan in Philadelphia and the father of two young boys, I admit to being all for this concept.

(ht to ACB.)