Can Anyone Explain?

Currently, a fan of the San Francisco Giants is in the hospital, due to being attacked by someone who was a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers on Opening Day.  The man had texted to a friend just moments before that he was afraid.  The doctors have said the man has suffered from brain damage and faces a long road.

Here in Oklahoma, a man was wearing a University of Texas shirt in a bar.  As a result, he got into a fight, the other man tearing his private parts, and a lawsuit coming out of it.

A joke has been running around for years about a coach reminding his players about not shouting at the umps, not swearing, not fighting, etc.  When they say they remember, he tells them, "Good.  Now go in the stands and tell your parents."

What has happened to sportsmanship?  What has happened to fun among rival fans?  In 1985, I was visiting my cousin in St. Louis, wearing a Cubs t-shirt I'd purchased the day before (at Busch Stadium, nonetheless!).  The Cardinals were playing the Montreal Expos, and vendors were going throughout the stands.  I wanted something for my nephews, and purchaed an Expos cap.  The man in front of me heard me say "Expos" and turned around, saying, "Expos?  Expos?"  He then saw my shirt, and shouted, "Cubs?  Cubs!?!?!?!?"  I pointed out I was from Oklahoma, as my cousin merely shurgged, and said, "I don't know him.  He just slipped into my box."

Well, the rest of the game, the man kept giving me funny looks, but I knew it was part of his game.  I played along, and we both had fun.  When the game was over, he turned around, shook my hand, and said, "You know I was kidding."  I told him I enjoyed every minute of it, and I've rememered it for twenty-six years.

Today, I'd be put in the hospital.  Sportsmanship is looked upon as unmanly, for the weak.  In short, it's dead.  We have taught an entire generation not to get along with others, to kill them on the 'field of battle,' forgetting that all sports were originally intended to be games.  And while there are many definitions for the word 'game,' the first one is 'activity engaged in for diversion or amusement.'  We have forgotten that over the years as people fight under the stands or in bars over whose team is better.  If they're going to fight, let it be over something of more importance than a game, for pete's sake.

We need to grow up.