Violence in sports culture is not new to sports fans who have been following their teams since childhood.
I still remember going to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as a kid with my dad to watch the Raiders games, where the action was on the field and in the stands. I saw fans from rival teams get beaten to a pulp. I saw a Steelers fan get his jersey ripped right off his body just for saying “Go Steelers.”
Fan violence is prevalent in sports all around the world. From Europe to Los Angeles, fans get into fights. In 2012, two Seattle off-duty police officers were kicked out of CenturyLink Field when they drunkenly confronted a female Seattle police officer and got into a profanity-laced altercation with a fan and his family. Many factors come into play when fights break out. Alcohol consumption, fan trash talk and mob mentality contribute to the violence.
Technological advances has allowed the public to be able to watch the craziness that sports fans get into. When a fight breaks out, nine times out of 10, someone is recording it. With social media, we can watch those videos in an instant.
Twitter can be a double-edged sword. Fans are allowed access to players who are on Twitter but it also allows them to send vile and hateful tweets at players, coaches, referees, media and fellow fans. It gives these so-called fans internet muscles and allows them to troll and send digital hate.
In September, a fan captured a brawl on his cellphone at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Downey. The video shows a group of men in football jerseys punching and kicking each other. It’s safe to say alcohol played a role in this brawl. The video was uploaded to Facebook and went viral.
Alcohol has taken most of the blame for fights and profanity-laced altercations. The infamous Malice at the Palace, as it is known, led the NBA to increase security between players and fans and limit the sale of alcohol in games.
In 2004, a fight broke out on the court involving players from the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons. When the fight was broken up, a fan threw a cup from the stands that hit Ron Artest while he was lying on the scorers table. Artest ran into the stands and sparked a huge brawl between players and fans.
The vicious 2011 beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, which left him with brain damage and disabled, made the nation take notice of the violent nature in sports culture. The attack led to public outrage and increased security at Dodger Stadium.
The Stow incident made fans think twice about taking their families to sporting events, due to the fear of having a confrontation with crazed-drunken fans. These aren’t isolated incidents. At any given game, in any given city, fans can get kicked out and arrested for acting out.
