This article attempts top cover the state of fans, from the incident in Cleveland to radio talk shows and "sports bulletin boards". Here's the link to the article from the Houston Chronicle: Sports fans are angry and some say rightly so excerpts: From Cleveland and New Orleans, where NFL fans this week pelted the field with plastic beer bottles to protest a referee's call, to Irving, where Texas fans showered players with boos for unfortunate plays in the Longhorns' loss to Colorado, to Denver, where Nuggets coach Dan Issel answered an abusive fan with profanity and a racially insensitive remark, sports fans are upset. They are loud. They are vocal. They can be abusive and, at times, violent. The trigger points are as varied as the number of fans who boo, throw things, snarl into their telephones at radio talk show hosts or whip out ferocious e-mails to their favorite computer bulletin boards. As the outlets for expression expand, so do expressions of anger and contempt for the players, owners and executives in the world of sports. Quote from Rich Lord (talk show host 610AM in Houston, all sports radio) "The Rockets are as bad as they have ever been in Houston, and all of a sudden, guys are getting suspended for dope (Maurice Taylor, suspended for violating the NBA's drug policy) and arrested for driving drunk (Steve Francis), and the greatest player in the team's history (former star Hakeem Olajuwon, who left the Rockets as a free agent) says the franchise is garbage." --
not one bit towards players/coaches. I'm pissed about ticket prices, but I'm not throwing bottles onto the court. I'm more pissed at Hollywood for putting out crappy movies.
That makes more sense, but try heaving a beer bottle at dub'ya and see what happens to you..... Americans are in a very agitated state these days with the crappy economy, WTC bombing...etc and they'll take it out on the easiest target available as long as they think they can get away with it.
You know our fans are cake compared to those in Europe. I was just talking to a freind today whos freind was shot in the leg during a riot at a soccer match. I guess he still limps. He said the Clevland fans reacted pretty mildly compared to things he did. then again they outlawed beer bottles in Portugal. Mabey something can be learned from this.
I wouldn't imagine an empty plastic bottle would go very far, and I sure as hell wouldn't waste a beer by throwing it at anybody. Not for the $5.00 they (stadiums) charge at any rate.
I think that was a pretty fascinating article. IMO, much of what fans are experiencing is transferrence. They are transferring their feelings of frustration and, at times, jealousy, onto people who are easy targets. Quite often, we Americans are guilty of taking shots at the easiest of targets because the real underlying problems are too painful to look at or took complex to fully understand.
