Thursday, October 10, 2013

Do Fans go Too Far?

I'd like to think that I'm a die hard Atlanta Braves fan. I follow every movement the Braves do. I read page after page on the internet about whispers and rumors about potential moves that the team might do. But am I the type of fan that will follow a player home? Absolutely not; would I burn a jersey in the middle of the street because my quarterback has played like a bum? Maybe/maybe not. Would I cry in the middle of the street because Derrick Rose decided to take his talents to South beach? No, it's the business part of sports.

There are different levels to fandom. There's the social fan who watches the event doesn't necessarily understand what it is going on, but sees everyone cheering and decides to cheer along. There's the serious fan who watches the event understands the rules and knows what's going on, but decides to wait until the big sport outlets announce moves made by the team. There's the die hard fan who's emotionally invested in the team and spends hours reading and understanding where the team is deciding to go and where the sport is headed in the future, and then there's the Nut job fans who paint their faces and believe that just because they bought a ticket to a game they are owed some promise of a victory and when they aren't given said victory they boo their own players which never has made sense to me.

These are the same fans who taunt other fans mercifully and also decide it's appropriate to taunt the families of the players at the game like recently when the wife of a pitcher who was assaulted by fans after a game because her husband pitched for the opposing team. Fans are definitely needed in sports and it is ok to be passionate about your team, but since we live in a society there are rules to abide by when you are at a sporting event and hassling innocent people is never a part of that.

No comments:

Post a Comment