What happened to just going to a game?

This week has reminded me of what an ugly term the word fan can mean. After all fan is short for fanatical. Fanatical means having extreme enthusiasms or zeal. This typically is a good thing for an individual, a family, and/or a city and state. Being a fan can inspire, motivate, and bring communities, race, creeds, and cultures together. Being fans of different teams can lead to tragedy, loss, and sometimes, death.

This is not a new story in the world of sports; unfortunately. A visiting fan goes to his team’s away game for opening weekend. Excited about what the new season may bring and ready to cheer on his beloved team. Wearing a jersey supporting the visiting team, said fan is greeted by multiple jeers and slurs. Nothing one cannot live through but something one does not need when attending a game; this is supposed to be a family atmosphere is it not? After visiting team beats the home team, said fan is taunted all the way out of the stadium by the home team’s fans. This fan is taunted to the point that the home team’s fans beat him to the point of brain damage while other fans of the home team watch. How and why does this happen?

For those of you unfamiliar with the background of this story, during Major League Baseball’s opening weekend a Giants fan was beaten to the point of having brain damage outside of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Living in Los Angeles and having attended too many games to count, what happened does not surprise me. I witnessed a St. Louis Cardinals’ fan being picked on and then ultimately punched several times for no reason other than wearing a Cardinals’ jersey; and yes I did something about it other than just watch. Not that it would matter, but these attacks did not take place during the playoffs with the season on the line. This was not during the last game of the World Series with an entire season balancing on one game. This was one of 162 regular season games. One meaningless game out of 162 games. This was a fan that thought it was safe to support his team without harm at a visiting stadium.

The Dodger’s have to take accountability for the actions of their fans in this altercation. Where was their security and local law enforcement during this altercation? This is a well known rivalry! It’s well known that fights breakout between Giants’ and Dodger’s fans, seemingly, all the time. Still in the midst of a recession with soaring prices on everything, why would one want to subjugate themselves to this kind of environment?

Having attended games at places like Yankee Stadium, security is omnipresent. One gets the feeling that stadium security is everywhere. If a fight were to take place, security is there to help keep people (gulp)… secure if needed!

To further the point of accountability on the Dodger’s part, their marketing department has a commercial airing to promote 2011 Dodger baseball. The commercial features an apparent “LA” gang tattoo on the bicep of one of their fans. Is this the image that the Dodger’s really want for their ballpark and fans? Is this the underlining theme of “Take Me Out to The Ball Game” sung during the seventh inning stretch of every game?

Just to clarify, I will always love going to sporting events. Will something like this keep me from going to future games... of course it will. The thought will always be hanging in the back of my mind. After all, who wants to get into a fight over a team that will not make the playoffs again this year?!?!