Violence and Sports: Crossing the Line

Recently, I saw something in the news that I really don’t like. The fact that this “thing” is still occurring somewhat regularly in sports, though, is what really bothers me.

This thing is, within athletics at least, destructive, embarrassing, unnecessary, ungraceful, and most of all, unimaginably stupid, especially in particular circumstances.

This thing is violence.

Just the other day, I read a follow-up article about San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow who was severely beaten outside of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles following a baseball game in late March. The Giants-supporting father of two has been in a medically induced coma for 43 days and remains in intensive care.

What’s worse is that moments before his brutal assault, he sent a text message to a family member indicating that he felt unsafe wearing a Giants jersey in a hostile Dodger Stadium.

Here’s another one: a few years back, a woman was knocked unconscious after being hit with a chair thrown by rowdy youth spectators at the Australian Open. Why? Because the ethnic group associated with one of the tennis players conflicted with his opponent, causing a minor riot to ensue.

As all of my work in sports writing has shown, I love sports more than almost anything. However, when ugly stories like these are made public, it makes me sick.

Even athletes themselves are prone to this type of ape-like behavior. Just Google “fighting” followed by Andrew Bynum, Ron Artest, Randall Simon or any given hockey player and you’re bound to find something pretty unsightly regarding the athlete and violence during the game.

I understand that there will always be unwanted exceptions in a generally friendly, fun-loving sports community. And I would hope that none of this applies to anyone locally. But ultimately, sports need to be put on hold when personal safety comes into play. You can “hate” a rival team and its followers all you want, but don’t lay a finger on them just for being a fan.

It makes no sense. These types of scenarios, whether they involve spectators or superstars, is no different than high school kids from one neighborhood looking to verbally or physically harm a rival school; its immature child’s play. People are people, and situations like these are bogus.

It should go without saying that dangerous violence and sports should not mix, and any athlete, fan or person in between who genuinely disagrees isn’t thinking straight.