Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Several years while on a cruise I had a conversation with couple from Great Britain. They were decrying he violence and hooliganism prevalent at European soccer games and how it was impossible to take a family, especially with young children, to one of these games. They said the combination of “low class” fans, alcohol, and lack of proper security made the games off limits for the average family. They also said that this combination along with the out of control passion displayed by supporters of one team over the other was the cause of onging verbal assaults leading to fights.
The went on to say that they had watch games of American football on television and though he game was much more exciting and the fans seemed more friendly and well behaved.
When the NFL had their minor league teams in Europe according to an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the leading papers in Germany, comparing the crowds attending the NFL style football as opposed to soccer games the writer claimed the crowds were more “upscale” and well behaved. Even the Frankfurt chief of police said he needed about half the security at he NFL games than the soccer games.
That was several years ago, but things have taken a turn for the worse in the United States. Football and baseball games are becoming unfriendly events for families. The crowds are becoming more hostile and he fans more aggressive to fans of the opposing teams. The language you will hear spouted around you as you sit in you $75 or $100 dollar seat will make sailor blush and there is a constant display of bad behavior and fights in the stands. In fact these fights draw more attention than the plays on the field.
Over the weekend there were fights and shootings at Candlestick Park, in San Francisco during a game between the San Francisco 49ers and their arch rivals the Oakland Raiders. While the Oakland Raiders have always had a reputation of bad unruly fan behavior it reached a new height on Saturday night when two fans were gunned down in the parking lot for wearing the jersey of the wrong team. ESPN reported:
“A man wearing a shirt slamming the San Francisco 49ers was seriously wounded as gunfire erupted in the parking lot after the team's NFL preseason game, while another man sustained lesser injuries in an earlier shooting, police said.
The violence occurred after the 49ers' 17-3 victory Saturday night over the Oakland Raiders at Candlestick Park, police Sgt. Michael Andraychak said.
A 24-year-old man was treated at San Francisco General Hospital for life-threatening injuries, and a 20-year-old man was hospitalized with less serious wounds, Andraychack told The Associated Press.:
Their names were not released.
The violence comes months after a San Francisco Giants fan was severely beaten by two men in Los Angeles Dodgers gear outside Dodger Stadium after the teams' season opener March 31. Two suspects have been charged in the case.
Police Sgt. Frank Harrell said that in Saturday's attack the 24-year-old man, who was wearing a T-shirt referring to the 49ers with an obscenity, was shot two to four times in the stomach, according to reports in the Oakland Tribune and the San Francisco Chronicle. He drove his truck to a gate and stumbled to security, Harrell said.
The other man was shot before that in the parking lot and had superficial face injuries, Harrell said.
"We are treating it as separate shootings, but we believe they are related," Harrell told reporters outside the stadium.
Harrell said police took a man in a Raiders jersey off a party bus before it left the stadium and were calling him a suspect.
The suspect and the two victims had all attended the game, Harrell told the newspapers.
The 49ers issued a statement acknowledging the shootings and the investigation, but offering no further details.
In violence during the game, the Oakland Tribune reported that a 26-year-old San Rafael man was assaulted and knocked unconscious in a men's restroom. Police said he was hospitalized and a suspect was arrested. There was no immediate indication that it was connected to the postgame shootings.”
In another report on Fox News this morning a horrific brawl broke out in the stands at the same game. Click here to watch the video, it will tell you much more than I can. There were other numerous fights throughout the stadium.
What is amazing, when watching the video, is to see the fans urging the brawlers on and other fans taking video so they can post it to YouTube. The looks on the faces of the fans urging the fighters on is downright scary and the security guard seemed totally overpowered by the brawlers.
Consider if you had taken your wife and child to the game and laid out from $100 to $250 dollars for the three tickets and then had to have your well being threatened by being exposed to this behavior.
I recall when I could afford to go to the games and had games I could go to (I lost my team to St. Louis years ago) it was fun. You booed the opposing team amd the officials when they made a call you did not agree with. You even booed your own team when you thought they were playing badly. People would talk with each other and critique he play on the field. Now you have to watch who you root on for fear getting punched in the face by some irate fan.
What drives this bad behavior? In my view it’s an extension of the overall bad behavior in our general society. We have flash mobs running through the streets breaking windows and beating on people. We have riots after a team wins a championship game, riots that end in looting and vandalism that is more like the invading Huns than a civilized society.
We also have bad behavior by mobs protesting political events like the recent bad behavior by the union mobs in Wisconsin protesting Governor Scott Walker’s legislation to curtail collective bargaining and pension contributions by union thugs, college students and teachers. The recent strike by unionized Verizon working on the east coast also showed union thugs exhibiting the same bad behavior. It seems that this bad behavior always come from the left.
You can see example after example in the left-wing blogs and publications like the Daily Kos where invectives like “racist”, “moron”, and “fascists” are thrown around like so many snowballs in a snowball fight. It is not only the invectives but the foul and obscene language they use in the comment sections. They seem incapable of expressing themselves in a cogent manner without using ad hominines and four letter words that sailors would not use in mixed company, yet they feel totally at ease with. Just look at his latest example in the Daily Kos’ week in review: Obama vs. Moronic, Racist, Violent Anita Bryant Fans as reported by News Busters:
“Even Kossacks who've been hugely disappointed in President Obama are starting to realize that for them, he's clearly preferable to anyone the Republicans might nominate. For that reason, they've dialed back their criticism of Obama for falling short of the progressive ideal on issues from health care to the deficit in favor of blasts at their enemies on the right.
As usual, each headline is preceded by the blogger's name or pseudonym.”
Is it any wonder people feel empowered to behave badly when they cannot type a simple sentence to deliver their opinion without resorting to bad language and insults. This is what the left has learned over the years. Facts don’t matter, screaming and invectives will do.
They are so blinded by hatred for everyone who disagrees with them, so cocksure of their moral superiority and their towering intelligence that they can only attack with unhinged verbal vengeance like those fans at the football game. If they weren't somewhat frightening, they'd almost be funny.
Look at what happened in the United Kingdom last week. Crowds ran rampage through the streets of London, Birmingham, and Manchester looting, burning and smashing everything in sight.
We accept this behavior today and give it excuses like, they are poor, they are underprivileged, and they are just expressing their frustrations with society. When the ones doing the rioting and looting are arrested, which is all to rare, they go to court all decked out in suits and ties and their attorneys play on the sympathies of the judges and juries begging them not to ruin this young person’s or family man’s life by convicting him of a felony and sentencing him to jail. Most of these offenders get off with a slap on the wrist suffering much less consequences than their victims.
It’s time for society and our judicial system to begin cracking down on these hooligans and their anti-social behavior. No excuses, no exceptions.
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