Fenway Park incident should be used to bring changes
From the Editor’s Desk

Chris Chatelain

As I watched another fan versus player incident on national television Thursday night when a Boston Red Sox fan leaned over the outfield fence to interfere with a play and appeared to touch New York Yankee player Gary Sheffield in the process, I couldn't help but experience both laughter and sadness at the same time.

The debacle forced me to ponder whether we have a problem with sports fans that needs to be addressed outside of the sports arena.

Of course, the "incident" occurred at Fenway Park in Boston- and everyone knows (even those who aren't baseball fans) that Red Sox and Yankees fans don't like one another much, and frequent shouted obscenities and verbal lashings are common for a player in a visiting park. But a heated rivalry is still no excuse to act like an idiot.

Looking back there have been several incidents in professional sports over the past few years that indicate a trend. In fact, these two teams were involved in a fan-player incident just last October in the playoffs; and Los Angeles Dodger Milton Bradley took anger management classes after he did everything but assault a fan late last season.

And who could forget the absolute disgraceful act of the National Basketball Association's Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers actually climbing into the stands to go and punch a fan who he thought had threw beer on him. Turns out he was wrong and punched the wrong guy.

Now, while it is human nature to react to someone hitting you or throwing things at you, it is never okay for a player to enter the stands, first and foremost (unless, of course, he's signing an autograph for a young fan in a wheel chair or something charitable and humble as that.) Second of all, it is never acceptable for a player to touch a fan, or worse, punch a fan- that will do nothing but make a situation worse and rile a crowd and teams up in a negative way.

Conversely, I believe we should also take a look at fans, because good behavior should be expected from them as well. We must remember that these players are going to work, just like you and I do probably five days a week. The difference is, you and I don't have 30,0000 -50,000 people screaming at us, yelling things about our mothers, throwing beer on us and sometimes even hitting or punching us. While these players certainly make enough money to endure a tongue lashing, I don't believe it is fair to expect to come to work and get physically abused as well.

That's where the system is breaking down- there is no meat behind enforcement to curb for fans' bad behavior, yet players automatically get fined or suspended whether or not the incident was their fault or was initiated by them. That's not fair, and it needs to change.

Fans throwing beer or touching a player while a game is in progress should face prosecution rather than simply being thrown out of the game. In my opinion, that is assault and should be followed up. If the two were to get into a fight at a public bar or restaurant- there would be legal issues, so why not at a ball game? I also believe that if the fan is a season ticket holder, they should lose those privileges.

And that goes for players as well. Players who retaliate and storm the crowd and hit fans should also be prosecuted.

Next, perhaps baseball and other sports should look into actions that would prevent these incidents from even occurring in the first place, such as making the walls higher, placing rails around the wall preventing fans from reaching over into the field of play, or maybe even tearing out the first row or two of seats to create a buffer.

I understand that people want to be closer and closer to the action these days, but several fans have proven that they cannot handle the situation in a mature fashion, so they ruin it for the rest of us. Oh, and that control thing- why not put a beer limit on tickets. Formulate a stamping system for each ticket that carries a two or three beer limit, that way by the end of the game most of the fans will still realize where they are and be smart enough not to reach over the wall or touch a player on the field.

Oh, and what of setting examples? Not only are players role models, but most of these idiot fans who are behaving this way are parents. What kind of example are they proving for their children who are watching, and sometimes are even at the game with them?

It's sad, as a huge sports fan, to even have to consider these things, but something has to change before someone- player or fan- really gets injured in one of these altercations. It seems most people have forgotten that these are just games. But then again, it can also be seen as a microcosm of our modern society.

Some people just can't hold their liquor.