Woman scolds an 8-year-old fan for being loud at Astros game. Then a player spoke up
Chloe Beaver loves to cheer loudly for the Houston Astros.
It’s one of the only outlets for the emotional outbursts that come along with a rare condition Chloe has, called Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, her mom told KTRK.
“We don’t get to yell and holler at home,” Monica Beaver told the station. “It’s one of the things she likes. It’s a way to express her emotions.”
So when a woman in the row in front of Chloe, 8, and her family at the Astros game Sunday turned around in her seat and told her, “Enough,” the look on Chloe’s face said it all, video shows.
Chloe told KTRK the woman’s stern rebuke in the stands made her feel “guilty,” that people think “I’m annoying.”
Chloe can be seen nodding “yes” to the woman who chided her, in the video posted to Facebook by her mother, Monica, as a confused look slowly takes over Chloe’s face. She shrugs when her dad asks her, “What did she say to you?” and sheepishly mouths “I don’t want to,” when someone off camera tells her it’s okay to keep cheering her team on.
Her mom’s video had been viewed on Facebook more than 600,000 times as of Wednesday morning, and had been shared more than 8,700 times.
“I mean you don’t know what anybody’s going through,” Joe Beaver, Chloe’s dad, told KRIV. “I mean, we were telling them throughout some of the innings if they were getting loud and between innings and before the game, ‘hey let’s wait till they start going out on the field.
“But you’re at a stadium. You’re supposed to be loud. You’re supposed to cheer your team on. I’ve never watched a game on TV where it’s not loud and you don’t hear everything in the audience. You get loud and if you don’t want to be in a loud area, don’t go to the game.”
By Wednesday morning, more than 1,300 people had retweeted the video a KRIV reporter posted about the heartbreaking moment on Tuesday, and more than 800 users chimed in with replies, mostly in support of Chloe.
She even got a shoutout on Twitter from Astros pitcher Lance McCullers.
“Chloe, don’t you EVER stop cheering!” McCullers replied on top of the reporter’s tweet. “I would love for you to cheer us on, as LOUD as you can, during ALDS game 1 in [Minute Maid Park]! I would be honored to leave you a ticket!”
McCullers’ gesture, inviting her to the Astros’ first playoff game of the year, which is scheduled for Oct. 5, had been retweeted nearly 9,000 times as of Wednesday morning.
And, while Chloe’s favorite player is second baseman Jose Altuve, she told KTRK, McCullers, along with Astros fans everywhere, have helped put a smile back on her face.
The Astros told KRIV through a spokesman that the team was aware of the moment but did not wish to comment as an organization.