Let's face it, yesterday's game was a disgrace. Antics on the field are to be expected, and in the stands too but what was on display for all the world to see was one gigantic playground of kids that were never taught traits like sportsmanship, fair play and good behavior.
Football has never been my sport. It's a sissy game that makes absolutely no sense to me. Grown up men in shiny spandex and shoulder pads running across a field grabbing on each other and crying foul to any call they don't like and making amendments to rules that probably made sense back in the day. By 'sissy,' I don't mean it's a bunch of pansies out on the green, more the punk attitude that's become so rampant.
Admittedly, I don't have the eye of one who can see the beauty in a thrown ball or a running bull. What I do admire about sports is the strategy and mindset of a team. Don't get me wrong, I 'm just as upset when people say "I don't get racing cars, it's just going in circles all day." It so is not! So my lack of interest is usually derivative of my lack of understanding, but football is just a whole other animal.
In my lack of knowledge, when I see screaming headlines or the one-sided rants sweeping across social media, I defer to my husband to explain the history and correct context to me. It's not a hard picture to fill in; one player says something, another retaliates, and it grows and grows until it becomes a 'rivalry.'
That's another name for a glorified pissing contest.
I am not completely ignorant of the way these things work. I deal with race car drivers and fans every summer and have had my share of temperaments, rivalries and infantile attitudes. Maybe it's that I live in California, more specifically in the Bay Area, that I believe our fans are the most obnoxious I have ever seen. It's not so much the arrogance as it is the denial that shit painted gold and called a nugget doesn't stink. I point to a certain team in this case but in general refer to the fans up and down the coast.
Need I bring up the name of Bryan Stow?
What I have witnessed was atrocious. Throwing of food at an injured player, the "12th man" tradition, the blockage of ticket sales to Californians, the immaturity between plays on the field, and the thug rant at the end of the game that has become the joke heard 'round the world. What kills me is the irony dripping all over the Internet. The name calling, the sickening 'threats,' the unadulterated hatred that shows football just ain't for grownups anymore. And I can't help but notice the color of one side and the color of the other.
And nearly every last one throwing the trash across the goal line are also spray painting "stay classy, Seattle!" all over the AstroTurf. If only there were a mirror big enough, the reflection would be blinding.
There is simply never a justification for this sort of spectacle when it comes to sports. I'm not going to condescend anyone with "it's only a game," because it's not. It's a billion dollar industry with lives and livelihoods at stake, which opens a whole other can of what I don't understand. Passion is one thing, using fanship as a mask for your own true nature is something else entirely.
There isn't aright or a wrong side, just a bloody middle ground littered with pathetic excuses. Everyone has a reason to be angry, but from an outsider's point of view, I have to ask why.
And maybe you should too.
