This past weekend has put the fans in the spotlight for once. Normally everyone is criticizing the players and their behaviors, but today the tables have turned. I understand the frustration of being a devoted fan. When your team looks like its not giving its all it is like a shot to the heart. We all idolize these players when they do so well, but then when they let us down we take it personally.
This does not excuse the behavior displayed this weekend in Atlanta and Kansas City. During the wild card playoff between the Braves and the Cardinals, the umpires made an extremely controversial infield fly rule call that angered every Atlanta fan in the stadium. While everyone has verbally expressed their frustration with officials (replacement refs cough cough), Atlanta decided to throw trash on the field. This just is not a good look for the city of Atlanta. I am not saying any other city would not do this because I am sure the same thing might occur in other stadiums when the stakes are this high, but we are not animals. You only make yourselves look bad.
Yesterday might have been the worst display from the fans. During the Kansas City Chiefs v. Baltimore Ravens game, quarterback Matt Cassel exited the game in the fourth quarter with a head injury. Cassel took a nasty hit that left on him motionless on the ground for a few minutes. While he lay motionless, fans started cheering. This is not something uncommon, but it definitely does not make it right by any means. We should never cheer when someone gets injured.
So why does it seem that fans have gotten out of control? They really haven’t. It has always been like this, it was just never seen as a problem before. I just think that fans get so caught up in the moment that they do not realize that this is someone’s life and it is no joke. With the prices of tickets at an absurd cost, fans expect to see their superstars go out there and leave their hearts on the field and when the players don’t perform, well the fans react. Especially when the referees are blowing calls that everyone can see is the wrong call, but that is the beauty of sports. You never quite know what you’re gonna get.
The Matt Cassel incident is probably one of the worst things I have ever witnessed as a sports fan. No matter how bad a player, or franchise maybe performing. It is so incredibly disgusting to celebrate someone’s livelihood being jeopardized. I have lost all respect for the Kansas City Chief’s fan-base.
One of our writers at TheFarmClub.net just wrote a piece on this subject too, http://thefarmclub.net/2012/10/08/kansas-city-fans-its-just-a-game/
Fans pay a lot for tickets. However, there’s no price that justifies some of the terrible behavior we’ve seen recently. Paying a ridculous amount for a ticket does not give anyone the power to lose control and act ruthlessly.
Quantify the statement of “fans,” my friend. And whatever you do as an aspiring journalist, please resist the temptation of falling into the trap of a herd mentality that a lot of national media outlets fell into when they chose to vilify an entire Chiefs fan base for the actions of the few.
That’s the dangerous part of our profession: http://bit.ly/UNOiD8
At the end of that link/article, there’s raw video and audio of the moment. You decide.