From the "A" minors all the way up to the bigs, in any sport, you can be assured there is a group of fans that are classless whether they win or lose. In the past month I have experienced two of those groups. Enter the Ft. Wayne Komets and St. Louis Blues.
The Komets fans, while extremely ugly during the game, are a bit more forgivable in this case. While a lot of their actions during the game were seriously ugly and over the line at times (like a grown woman cursing at a child for cheering on her team, or everyone in the arena flipping off the Icemen fans because we were louder and more energetic than they were), they at least knew after the game that we were all people and it was just a game. We had several people wish us safe travels home, and all was well. Don't get me wrong they still suck and I still don't agree with the way they handled themselves towards opposing fans, but they get credit for leaving it in the arena.
St. Louis Blues, you are the worst of the two sample groups in this post. We were heckled in game by many people sitting behind us, and were lucky to have Devils fans sitting right beside us and a pair of extremely nice young ladies in front of us who made the experience a bit more bearable. Every time I got out of my seat, someone had a smart ass comment of some sort. One man even went as far as to call me "Situation" and proceeded to tell me to go back to Jersey. Really? REALLY?! First off I am 5'10 and weigh close to 300 lbs. and look nothing like situation or any other Guido for that matter. Second, just because I am a Devils fan, does not mean I am from Jersey. The list goes on and on and on. There was an episode with a drunk man in the mens' room, and lots of comments as we walked through the arena. Again this was all during the game, so it is somewhat understandable. However the part that I cannot and will not forgive, is the shit that happened after the game.
I have an uncle who lives in St. Louis and who met up with us prior to the game and decided to go with us. Problem is our seats were on the glass and his seats were in the upper decks. So we decided when the game was over, we would meet up outside and walk back to the cars together. Me and Ashley got out pretty quickly since we were on ground level and didn't have to fight much of a crowd. The problem is that we had to face every one of the Blues fans exiting the arena while waiting for my uncle. All of the drunk guys walking by, swearing, and telling us we suck ( not the Devils suck...WE suck), people again telling us to go back to jersey, mocking our players, and making all sorts of obscene gestures.
I mean, you WON the game. What more do you want? Our evening was bad enough because our team lost, but to rub salt in the wounds? Real classy there. Seriously how hard is it to just celebrate with your family and friends and go on your merry way? People would do well to remember that it is JUST A GAME. All the heckling during the game is completely understandable, but after the game to wish harm on people and heckle them even more? It is seriously uncalled for. As much as I love winning and supporting a winning team, I would never wish any ill-will on fans after a game, especially complete strangers who I will most likely never see again. I mean, you must have some serious issues to heckle a complete stranger that mercilessly. I can't imagine the guilt I would feel if I wished harm on someone then 5 minutes later saw them in a life altering accident or something like that.
People tend to lose sight of the fact that this is just a game. There will always be another game and another season. It boils down to the Golden Rule. Treat others the way you want to be treated. If I was the old me, I probably would've ended up in jail in St. Louis the other night because of the fans shit talking. There were a few moments I wanted to just jump on those drunken idiots and bash there heads against the Brett Hull statue standing in front of their arena. But I didn't act on those feelings. I recognized the fact that it was just a game, you survive to fight another day and life goes on. Others would do well to recognize that. Seriously people. GROW UP AND QUIT ACTING LIKE 2 YEAR OLDS....ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE ON THE WINNING SIDE OF THINGS...it makes no sense for you to be that ruthless after you just won a game....quit making things personal and just enjoy your team and your sport. It's really not that complicated....
No comments:
Post a Comment