Athletes are a weird bunch. They get paid very well but in order to receive these big salaries they must push their bodies to the limit. In order to reach their maximum potential they are often pushed to the limits by their coaches,scouts and the fans.This can cause an increased level of stress in an athlete and from this stress comes anger.In recent years the number of incidents involving fans and athletes seems to have increased and if I’m wrong than the media sure is exposing it more often on television and other media outlets.
The gap between the salary of a sports figure and that of a regular joe has widened significantly during recent years and perhaps the disconnection between the athlete and the players has grown because of it. With the higher ticket prices, fans feel as though they can do or say whatever they want to athletes because they earned the right to do so by buying such a high priced ticket. The athletes, under an extreme amount of pressure, feel that due to their higher standing in society they are entitled to whatever they want. Because of their wealth and exposure, they seem to believe that their morals and standards don’t apply in the real world. This causes contrasting elements between the fans and the athlete and has helped to cause these recent incidents in sports:
-On Sept. 19, 2002.Two men, a father and a son, jump from the stands at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, and attack Kansas City Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa.
-On Mar. 9,2001.he Maple Leafs’ Tie Domi wrestled with a fan in the penalty box during a game against the Flyers. Domi, who was serving a penalty, twice poured water over taunting fans in the front row. The attacking fan, Chris Falcone, was sitting in the second row. Falcone lunged against the glass and threw a punch at Domi that did not connect. A glass panel separating the two collapsed, and Falcone was pulled into the penalty box by Domi. A linesman already in the box broke up the fight. Falcone was then escorted from the arena and given a citation.
-On Dec. 23, 1995. An abundance of snow and thousands of bored Giants fans made for a dangerous combination. The crowd started throwing snowballs in the fourth quarter of a Chargers-Giants game, striking Chargers equipment manager Sid Brooks in the face and knocking him unconscious for 30 seconds. The final tally: 14 arrests, 175 ejections and 15 injuries.
-On Nov. 24, 2004. An unidentified fan near mid court hits Artest in the face with a cup filled with ice and a beverage.Artest storms into the stands and attacks the fan he believes hurled the cup at him.Indiana’s Stephen Jackson joins Artest in the seats and throws punches.Back on the court near Indiana’s bench, Artest punches a fan wearing a Pistons jersey who walks toward him. After another fan tries to tackle Artest, Jermaine O’Neal runs toward the fan and lands a hard punch to the fan’s face.Pacers players and coaches leave the floor and are showered with beer, popcorn and assorted debris, including a folding chair.
-Vernon Maxwell, then a guard for the Houston Rockets, who ran 12 rows into the stands in Portland in 1995 and slugged a heckler. The NBA suspended him for 10 games and fined him $20,000. Maxwell accused the fan of baiting him with racial epithets about the death of his infant daughter. (The fan denied this and said he had taunted Maxwell instead about poor play.)
-Texas reliever Frank Francisco faces aggravated battery charges for throwing a chair into the stands and breaking the nose of a female fan during a brawl between fans and players in Oakland.
-The Champions League quarter-final second leg between Inter Milan and AC Milan was abandoned after 73 minutes after Inter fans threw flares and bottles, one striking Dida, the Milan goalkeeper.There were so many flares thrown that firemen were needed to clear the Milan penalty area yet while they were doing this Inter supporters continued to hurl flares at the firefighters. Play was stopped for about 10 minutes with firemen trying to clear the flares, bottles and other objects while Dida received treatment.
-During the Men’s marathon event at the 2004 Summer Olympics, defrocked Irish priest Neil Horan burst out of the crowd to accost race leader Vanderlei de Lima, an action which probably cost him the gold medal. De Lima ultimately placed third in the race.-Dennis Rodman kicking a cameraman in a game between the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves.
– Tennis star Monica Seles, who was stabbed in the back by an obsessed fan in April 1993 during a match in Hamburg, Germany.
With so many incidents involving fans and athletes in recent memory,it’s hard to determine where the solution lies to get rid of this sort of behavior.One might suggest to stop selling alcohol after a certain point during the game or to stop selling alcohol completely as nothing good comes from it once sold. Another recommendation would be to toughen the fines or penalties imposed on both players and fans alike to get the point across that incidents like these won’t be tolerated in the future. Also, it would be a good idea to ban fans from stadiums if such an event occurs. Simply banning them for a little while isn’t good enough as certain standards need to be set and a lifetime ban would help to get the point across.
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