Almost no outcome from a sporting event is worth getting furious over, but it happens anyway.
I woke up Monday morning and opened Twitter, only to be greeted by a now-viral video of an angry, shirtless man murdering a TV with a right hook during Sunday’s Rams-Saints game. It’s just 13 seconds long and plays out like so: a made field goal leads to the punch, the guy’s friend backing away and the puncher walking offscreen complaining loudly (with words I can’t print) about the Saints losing in a way calmer tone than you’d think given what just happened to the TV. I must have watched it about 30 times that morning — it’s pretty funny even if it almost seemed staged.
It also made me wonder where the line is drawn for sports-induced rage. Where does it stop being funny and cross over into concerning territory?
One of the many things I love about sports is how they can stoke our emotions for better or worse. It’s hard to top the sensation you get when a team or athlete you root for pulls off a major victory. Conversely, sports also have a funny way of snatching all the joy from your body with the quickness when the game works against your interests (as a lifelong Buffalo sports fan, a feeling I know all too well). But we don’t all handle these losses the same way.
If there’s anything I understand getting legitimately angry over, it’s losing a bunch of money on a bet. If the Saints or Chiefs just cost you a pretty hefty chunk of change, for example, I get it. You just took a big hit. I’d be angry, too. Other than that, why dwell so much on it that you break things or pick fights or just straight up act like a jerk? It’s just a game.
Sports really can bring out the worst in people. You probably know all about fans of certain American sports teams having reputations for being violent or classless or unpleasant in any other way. Go overseas and you’ll see it in an even worse way with soccer. There are hooligans and extremist groups out there that will put many of the drunken idiots fighting in parking lots here to shame.
People really want to throw hands or even draw weapons because they feel they’ve got this weird sense of duty to defend their favorite sports folks at any cost. Kicking or throwing a ball around means a lot more to some people than it ever should. That’s the unfortunate reason why people like Marc Antenorcruz are dead and people like Bryan Stow have permanent injuries.
You probably know somebody who gets way too angry about these things. I know people like that. Heck, maybe you are that person. If so, no offense but you’ve got to take a deep breath and look at yourself. Living and dying by a team like that doesn’t really prove anything to anyone. You weren’t on the roster or coaching staff when the team lost the game. The athletes’ lives will go on without you just as your life will go on regardless of a win or loss you just saw. If you’re the “keep politics away from my sports” type who just wants the games to be fun distractions from everyday life, treat them that way.
If you want to break your own stuff because of a loss, that’s up to you. Just don’t take it out on other people or their stuff, verbally or physically. Nothing can justify that.
