by Kerry Marsala
November 4, 2004
I love sports. I love to play them, watch them on television, but most of all I love to go to the stadiums or arenas and be a part of the intense excitement of what is known as "real time."
There is something to be said about the roar of the crowd, the witnessing of an outstanding shot, the smell of hot roasted peanuts, an icy cold soda, the crazed and frenzied fans and being right there in thick of great sports moments…but how great have those moments become?
Sure, there will be plethora of commentary on the game and the immature battle that took place between a few players and the fans (Pacers/Pistons), but what does this say about us culturally? No, america hasn’t reached the ridiculous proportions of idiocy at our sports venues like our friends in Europe and South america, but hey… that’s no excuse for a lack of self control that seems to permeating our country, nor our acceptance of poor behaviors.
You’ve angry fans that riot in the parking lots--even when they’ve won their championship games. Our lack of self-control over our own emotions stretches far beyond the basketball courts and football fields of professional sports.
We’ve seen destructive antics at our college and high school levels as well. We’ve witnessed our own schools students demonstrating violent behaviors at games. We are stepping way over the line of what is reasonable. are we developing a generation of young people to believe that the only way to express one self is through destructive behavior? What are we all so mad about anyway?
Will we have to increase our security for our professional and college games? Certainly the NBa has already increased the number of security guards, but why? Why have the players and the fans become so out of control that the NBa will have to pay for more security guards and possibly police officers?
What are we teaching our young children we bring to the games we love? Is this it?- I don’t like the fact you took my ball so therefore I am going to smack you on the head... Or is it? I don’t like the shot that player made, so I am going to call him a stupid sh**t head and throw my cup of water at him. Grow up people, or stay at home! I love taking my kids to the game for the excitement, the smells, the thrills of being there…not for your beastly behaviors and tantrums.
I do wonder about some of these players and fans…what do they do when they don’t get their way at their jobs? are they the ones who shoot their fellow employs and employers? are they the ones who beat their wives and kids at home? Heck, what do they do when the bagger at the grocery store bags their groceries wrong and their eggs break? Do they go in and deck the bagger in the face?
Where is our self-control?
Indeed our culture is slipping quickly. We’ve become nothing more than a bunch of ferocious badgers. We horde, scratch, beat, hit, snarl and bite one another. Devouring and cannibalism of one another certainly must not be far behind…
Since it seems we cannot control our bodies or our mouths from doing major harm, we now will have to spend more money on our entertainment so they can hire enough security guards to keep the blithering, idiot from hurting him/herself or anyone else.
are you ready, due to the idiocies of the uncontrolled buffoons, to have to pay higher ticket prices for protection? I’m not. I’ll keep my kids, money, support, and life at home. It’s not how I want to enjoy my sports and share them with my kids, but I am not willing anymore to pay to be protected from the imbeciles who cannot control themselves.
Players and fans--grow up! artest, Jackson and O’Neal if you really were a part of this brawl--shame on you. You need your mommas' to give you a talking to on controlling your behaviors and stop whining that you think Stern wasn’t fair…problem is too many people have been too fair to your type of behavior for too long!
The penalties that your successors of stupid behavior--(Vernon Maxwell of the Houston Rockets punched a fan and received only a 10 games suspension and a $20,000 dollar fine. Latrell Sprewell of the Golden State Warriors only received a suspension of 68 games for choking his coach P.J. Carlesimo during practice. Kermit Washington of the Lakers only received a 26 game suspension for breaking the jaw of Rudy Tomjanovich during a game and Dennis Rodman was only suspended for 11 games for kicking a courtside cameraman in the groin as well as six games for head butting a referee.) Have never been stiff enough. Just because you’re a big name entertainer doesn’t leave you any room in the hall of "special people" to behave like an idiot who cannot control their actions. It is time to smack these spoiled brats right where it hurts… you do the crime…you do the time- player or fan- dot, period, end of sentence.
The fans (and I use that term loosely. Real fans don’t behave in the manner which these disgusting humans did,) need to be prosecuted and held accountable just as much as the players do. They all share equally in their deplorable behaviors.
all I’ve got to say is this- thank you to those fans that control themselves and enjoy the game for what it is… a game. Thank you to the players who play with style, integrity and class for the love of the game.
Lastly to those fans and players who are guilty of misconduct and egregiously deplorable antics, you are a parent's worst nightmare--keep your butts at home and tear apart your own house.
I want to take my kids to the games and have fun.
(Kerry L. Marsala writes for www.americonservative.com, www.azconservative.org Opinion Editorials; assistant Editor of the GOPUSa/arizona; Independent Newspapers and is a regular contributor to Sarah's Seed Woman's Journal; Focus Magazine and The Truth Magazine. During the 80s Ms. Marsala worked as a freelance photojournalist for The Rock Revue and Newsreel Magazine. Writing about cultural, social and political ideologies by using a bit of satire every now and again helps keep her grey cells stirring. Her philosophy remains that no matter the event, you can always find a bit of humor or the human element of hope somewhere amongst the cracks.)
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