The beating of\u00c2\u00a0 Bryan Stowe, a Giants fan, at the LA Dodgers home opener by Dodgers fans\u00c2\u00a0last week is sad and tragic, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that the story is unfamiliar.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do we as sports fans feel the need to ignorantly maim and injure opposing fans?\u00c2\u00a0 Why is it that we cant get through a single season with out a fan being beat up, shot, stabbed or killed outside (or inside) of a ballpark?\u00c2\u00a0 After having read several online articles, tweets, blurbs and notification on this situation it prompted me to sit back and think about this a little deeper and do some light research.<\/p>\n
\n~2009 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Arthur Alvarez was stabbed post game in the parking lot a Chavez Ravine after a Dodgers game
\n~2005 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Uniform patrols are started at Dodger Stadium due to the rise in post game violence \u00e2\u20ac\u201c however an altercation between private security and illegal merchandise vendors landed several people in the hospital with stab wounds post Dodgers v. Cardinals at Dodger Stadium.
\n~2003 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Mark Antenorcruz was shot post game in a parking lot by Pete Marron at Dodgers Stadium.\u00c2\u00a0 Marron was tried and convicted.
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\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not picking on Dodgers fans here (as you will see with my upcoming examples from other baseball teams) because this problem is not centralized to the LA Dodgers, let alone the sport of baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 There are numerous incidents of post game violence in other sports as well (most notably football and soccer).\u00c2\u00a0 I also realize that there are other types of violence in sports \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the nature of the sport itself, player-on-player or player-v.-authority – these are understandable and sometimes reasonable violence. Football is not football without tackles and sacks.\u00c2\u00a0 After all the players are in the heat of battle and adrenaline is flowing. There is also fan \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mob mentality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d type violence which is a whole other category in itself \u00e2\u20ac\u201c post game riots and violence by a mass of spectators is also all too uncommon in spectator sports from college to pros.\u00c2\u00a0 Focusing strictly from an on the field contact position, baseball is historically one of the least violent spectator sports which makes this most recent rash of fan violence even more perplexing.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m focusing mostly on the fan-on-fan violence that seems to be ever more prevalent in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sporting society.
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\nOne of the most interesting things I found in my research about fan-on-fan violence is that it is very non-discriminatory.\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter if the fans involved are happy or sad, disappointed or overjoyed, old or young, black, white, purple or green polka dotted \u00e2\u20ac\u201c fans of all types act out and it cannot be stereotyped down to one particular type of fan..<\/p>\n
~2008 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c A man is stabbed at the Anaheim Angels Stadium after the Angels won the World Series.<\/p>\n
The whole point of fandom as we perceive it to be is to provide cheers, support and that little extra amount of oomph our favorite team needs to surge ahead of the competition day in and day out through 162 games per year.\u00c2\u00a0 As fans, we feel a very strong connection with our team.\u00c2\u00a0 At times this connection rides the line of becoming part of our identity.\u00c2\u00a0 However,\u00c2\u00a0 we fans really serve no tangible purpose to the players (other than buying merchandise which in turn helps to pay their salaries).\u00c2\u00a0 People are attached to their favorite teams \u00e2\u20ac\u201c some dedication is life long and instilled in us from the start, others are recent converts but still the commitment is just as strong.\u00c2\u00a0 At some point, that passion and dedication can become an incredibly tough badge of honor. Some fans believe that they are entitled and superior just because they made a wise (or dreadful) decision of which team they would support to the bitter end.\u00c2\u00a0 This sense of entitlement parlays into them having a need to prove something.\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps if they prove to another rival fan that they are superior to them (by stabbing or shooting them) it portrays their team as being superior because, after all, in their mind they are linked \u00e2\u20ac\u201c by them being superior their team is therefore superior.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Proud to wave your team\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s flag, sing their praises, protect and defend them whenever the need arises.\u00c2\u00a0 Sadly, in some instances, defending ones team can literally mean to the death.
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\nThere are also some outside factors that can lead to this manic and violent fandom.\u00c2\u00a0 Stress at work and at home is one that comes to mind.\u00c2\u00a0 Personally, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t buy this theory. Everyone has stress in their lives but very few pick up a knife and stab another person to death over insignificant things such as one person preferring a turkey sandwiches over ham.\u00c2\u00a0 The biggest outside factor in all these situations, though implied but unproven, seems to be alcohol.\u00c2\u00a0 As you guessed, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not buying that one either.\u00c2\u00a0 No one forced these malicious spectators to drink their 401K\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s empty and brains stupid at a ballpark.\u00c2\u00a0 Alcohol can be a catalyst for unreasonable behavior but there are some safeguards put into place at many stadiums to help prevent these types of situations from getting out of hand (whether they are enforced or not is a whole other story).\u00c2\u00a0 Alcohol is not a reason for the violence; it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an excuse to help rationalize stupidity.
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\nAbove all else, I believe that this perceived uptick of violent acts has more to do with our changing social norms than any other outside force.\u00c2\u00a0 In the way back past, baseball games were seen as an event.\u00c2\u00a0 They were the social outing of the week.\u00c2\u00a0 Ladies put on their Sunday best and men wore bow ties and spats and took their wives and families out for a day at the park.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, we fans in the stands are saddled with the sights of some hoochie momma in her way too short shorts and barely there tube top sitting on the lap of big drunken dude who hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t showered in weeks scraping his flip flops on the back of your chair (this is a true story \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was my chair the flip flops were resting on).\u00c2\u00a0 This evolution of the social norm has also affected how the sight of violent behaviors affects us as well.\u00c2\u00a0 These behaviors are something we see in our daily lives and we have become numb, if not immune to the emotion they are supposed to evoke in us, let alone the action that we should take against it.\u00c2\u00a0 Actions that were seen 50 years ago as intolerable and unacceptable are now a part of our day to day lives.\u00c2\u00a0 The thought of taking out a knife and setting a fan-on-fan argument in the park was not a thought in years past.\u00c2\u00a0 But today, it seems almost commonplace due to the modern chain of thought seen through society.\u00c2\u00a0 A few of these most recent, inconceivable heinous acts are<\/p>\n
~April 2009 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a drunken 21 yr old Matthew Clemmens intentionally vomited on Michael Vangelo and his 11 year old daughter during a Phillies game because security removed Clemmens drunken friend from the park at Vangelo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s request.\u00c2\u00a0 (I find this act atrocious even by today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s standards!)
\n~October 2009 Red Sox fan Monte Freire (43) was stabbed by Yankees fan John Mayor (45) at a restaurant after feuding about their team rivalry \u00e2\u20ac\u201c proving that violent tendencies are not restricted to just younger fans.
\n~2008 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 3 Chicago Cubs fans beat a Chicago White Sox fan at a child\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birthday party in suburban Chicago.\u00c2\u00a0 Robert Steele had his eye socket crushed by a steel toe boot and is now blind in one eye.\u00c2\u00a0 The fight started due to taunting from the Cubs fans that all White Sox fans have missing teeth.\u00c2\u00a0 The 3 attackers received 3 year sentences.
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\nOne interesting thing of note \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there are instances of violence at ballparks coming out in the news every year.\u00c2\u00a0 Every season it seems like there are a few more reports of violent acts with a few more piling on each year.\u00c2\u00a0 However, there is no system, database or company tracking the seeming rise in sports violence at this time.\u00c2\u00a0 There is no compilation of data to prove that violence is on the rise.\u00c2\u00a0 Researching and compiling data to write this piece was increasingly difficult as there was no main research point to start with and branch out from.\u00c2\u00a0 Articles on park violence were flecked\u00c2\u00a0through the pages of Google and many were rewrites of articles already found.\u00c2\u00a0 Through out my research, very little mention was given as to why this data is not tracked and used to help quell these instances.\u00c2\u00a0 Issues like: team specific data \u00e2\u20ac\u201c more violent fans with certain match-ups, night games vs. day games, alcohol sales, month in which the game is played, the weather etc.\u00c2\u00a0 The only viable reason that I can think of as to why these stats are not tracked is that violence during or after a ball game is a no win situation for all.\u00c2\u00a0 One violent incident at a park is one too many from a publicity prospective.\u00c2\u00a0 Another reason could be that many acts go unreported to police and\/or security.\u00c2\u00a0 Only when the violence escalates to the point of hospitalization or death do these issues get reported on a national stage.\u00c2\u00a0 How many other fist fights, pushing matches, beatings or harassment issues go on from game to game\u00c2\u00a0through the year and are not reported for fear of retaliation, lies, or friend\/family personal cover-ups.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Tracking such instances would be difficult at best but could help stadium security, local police and team owners determine high altercation days; therefore, beefing up security or applying restrictions of some kind.<\/p>\n
~2003 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c After a Padres game at Qualcomm Stadium 22 year old Jeremy Lindsay from Mission Valley CA as beaten into a coma in the parking lot.\u00c2\u00a0 Mr. Lindsay died 7 weeks later from his injuries.\u00c2\u00a0 No reason for the attack was ever given and assailants never arrested.
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\nPerhaps the most interesting instances of fan on fan violence are when fans of the same team, people who share the same love and passion and dedication to the same team, feud with each other.\u00c2\u00a0 With this type of fan on fan violence, excuses such as rivalry and hatred are thrown out the window and become invalid in determining the reasoning for such behavior.\u00c2\u00a0 Good lord only knows what exactly they do fight over, be it a long standing personal feud or heated in park situation.\u00c2\u00a0 It is one thing to hate your rival, but it is quite another to hate your fellow fan to the point of beating them to death<\/p>\n
~2009 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Two groups of Phillies fans fought in the parking lot after a game at Citizens Bank Park and a 22 year old man was beaten to death \u00e2\u20ac\u201c over a spilled beer.
\n~2009 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Opening day at Comerica Park in Detroit Michigan viral videos surface of groups of Tigers fans fighting outside the park in the roped off street.\u00c2\u00a0 No reason given for the fights and no reported incidents or injury.
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\nPersonally, I find this sort of violence most despicable as there really aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t many reasons as to why it happens (alcohol and past history aside).\u00c2\u00a0 To be fans of a team is to bond together under one brotherhood and root your team on for one common goal.\u00c2\u00a0 To feud amongst each other only causes dissension in the ranks and like a pyramid with an unstable base \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it will crumble. With fellow fans like these \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who needs enemies and rivals!\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nRegardless of the type of violence that takes place during or after a baseball game, there really is no good reason for it to continue.\u00c2\u00a0 Baseball is a peaceful sport that has been played on green grasses in the warmth of summer for decades.\u00c2\u00a0 Nowhere in that dream equation is there room for gunshots and stab wounds. Ballparks are sacred grounds, a cathedral of sorts.\u00c2\u00a0 Guns and knives are as welcome at a ball park as they are in a place of worship.\u00c2\u00a0 No one fights at church; no one should fight at or outside of a ball park.\u00c2\u00a0 The players that we fans look up to, admire and watch daily are held to a higher standard as far as etiquette and in park behavior.\u00c2\u00a0 If they are involved in a\u00c2\u00a0 fight on the field, they are issued ejections, fines, fees and penalties.\u00c2\u00a0 If they throw punches, they are suspended.\u00c2\u00a0 In the rare instances where they fight and cause bodily harm, the are held to the same legalities that we fans are in a court of law.\u00c2\u00a0 Fans should hold themselves to that same standard.\u00c2\u00a0
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\nThere is no right or wrong answer on how to stop these violent altercations from happening.\u00c2\u00a0 Much has been bantered about in the past \u00e2\u20ac\u201c from limiting liquor sales, to employing more private security, to paying city and state police to patrol stadiums.\u00c2\u00a0 The though of even having segregated seating for home fans and away fans has been suggested to keep the opportunities for violence to a minimum.\u00c2\u00a0 A system of tracking the types of violence could be most helpful in identifying these possible altercations and stopping them before they begin.\u00c2\u00a0
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\nNo one wins when someone is injured, maimed or dies in a confrontation after a game \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not the combatants, not the team, not the city or the fellow fans.\u00c2\u00a0 These sorts of brawls, be it fan-on-fan or fan-on-rival fan violence, have never and will never help their team win a game or the pennant.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, these incidents only make their team, city and fellow fans look terrible at best.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n~ Stay Classy Baseball Fans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The beating of\u00c2\u00a0 Bryan Stowe, a Giants fan, at the LA Dodgers home opener by Dodgers fans\u00c2\u00a0last week is sad and tragic, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say that the story is unfamiliar.\u00c2\u00a0 Why do we as sports fans feel the need to ignorantly maim and injure opposing fans?\u00c2\u00a0 Why is it that we cant get through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[653,14279,1744,5425,14272,644,14277,6098,14274,10723,14278,14276,14275,14267,14270,14271,2509,14268,14273,14269],"class_list":["post-13384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-baseball-teams","tag-blurbs","tag-chavez-ravine","tag-dodger-stadium","tag-game-violence","tag-giants-fan","tag-heat-of-battle","tag-home-opener","tag-illegal-merchandise","tag-la-dodgers","tag-maim","tag-mark-antenorcruz","tag-merchandise-vendors","tag-mob-mentality","tag-pete-marron","tag-spectator-sports","tag-sports-fans","tag-stab-wounds","tag-types-of-violence","tag-violence-in-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}