Being a fan gives you many rights, since you are paying to be a spectator at a game. However, you have to remember that the players are just human like you and me. Recent events make you question what draws the line between being a fan and just being flat out wrong?
The National Football League game featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the Major League Baseball game of the Atlanta Braves raised a few eyebrows last week.
During the Chiefs home game vs. the Baltimore Ravens, the Kansas City quarterback Matt Cassel was laid out by defensive lineman Haloti Ngata, and fans began to cheer. Cassel appeared to be knocked out cold. While he laid on the turf, defenseless, Chiefs fans were cheering.
Just because you can cheer for an injured player does not mean it is the right thing to do. Mike Dittka, an ESPN analyst, said it best by saying “just because you have the right, doesn’t mean it’s right.”
Being a fan myself, it is common sense that when a player goes down, home team or away, everyone is supposed to be silent. You do not know what the player’s going through or the extent of the injury sustained. Cassel’s family was probably scared just to see him down.
For the crowd to be cheering is disrespectful and a disgrace to the Chief’s fanbase and its organization. You should be ashamed if you were cheering during Cassel’s injury.
Imagine laying there, knowing you are trying to do your best to win a game, and your own fans are cheering. This behavior is just sickening.
Fans were involved in another game-changing event during a National League Wild Card playoff game when the Atlanta Braves went up against the St. Louis Cardinals. An routine pop fly was knocked into left field. The umpire called a preposterous in-field fly rule.
For some of you who don’t know what a in-field fly rule is, it’s when a fly ball in fair territory (not including a line drive nor an attempted bunt) can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort, when first and second, or first, second and third bases are occupied, before two are out. The pitcher, catcher and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play shall be considered infielders for the purpose of this rule.
When it seems apparent that a batted ball will be an Infield Fly, the umpire shall immediately declare Infield Fly for the benefit of the runners according to the official rules on MLB.com.
The Cardinals have a legitimate appeal, due to the fact that the umpire yelled and confused the outfielder, who thought the player behind him was calling him off. The ball fell right between the two Cardinal players. Since it was called an in-field fly, the batter was called out.
Braves fans went insane. Fans threw trash onto the field, causing a 19-minute delay. Some fans thought it was disrespectful to trash the field, but I thought it was extremely appropriate, since the call was so horrible.
The Braves were basically shooting themselves in the foot, because the pitchers had to warm up again, which played a crucial role in the game.
These two incidents showed perfect examples of when it is okay and not okay to abuse your power of being a fan. The behaviour at the Chiefs game was despicable. The Chiefs lost the game 6-9. The Brave’s burst of anger also resulted in a 3-6 loss and knocked out of the playoffs.
