Posted on 10/08/2014 11:44:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
On Friday night, a Huntington Beach man, 43, was walking back to his car after the Los Angeles Angels played the Kansas City Royals in the American League Division Series. Three men accosted him, and then proceeded to beat him senseless. He is currently in critical condition at a local hospital after police found him unconscious.
I didn't find the story particularly shocking, given that I took my father and two younger sisters to the Angels-Royals game on Thursday night. Throngs packed the stadium -- the team announced the attendance at 43,321. We had bleacher seats, which sold for $68. The team must have also sold standing room tickets, since behind the bleachers -- lines of fans stood three deep, watching the game.
When my family and I arrived at the game, the ushers had not cleared paths through the standing-room crowd for those who wanted to get to their seats. We gently edged our way toward the seats.
Which is when I heard a guy scream into my ear: "Why the f--- are you bumping me?"
I turned to face a young Hispanic man, wearing a long-sleeved flannel shirt (it was reportedly 93 degrees outside at the time), baggy jeans, an Angels cap cocked off at a bizarre angle, the brim unbent. He wore a close-cropped three-day stubble. He was approximately my height, but probably 20lbs. heavier than I. Two of his friends flanked him.
Though I hadn't bumped, I quickly apologized -- after all, what point is there in a confrontation at a sporting event?
My apology, however, was not accepted. "I said, why the f--- did you bump me?"
Again I apologized. When it became clear that this fellow had downed at least a few beers and had his mind set on some sort of violence, my sister grabbed my arm and we walked away. He glared at me the rest of the game. My sisters focused on reassuring me that getting into a physical fight with the dolt would have served no useful purpose, and could have ended in a 3-on-1 beating. Which didn't make me feel much better.
Unfortunately, this fellow wasn't the only beer-soaked Neanderthal in the bleachers. When a Royals fan, who happened to be black, showed up with his girlfriend, two boozy white Angels fans screamed -- with children in close proximity -- "Go back to f---ing Kansas City!"
It's unlikely any of these charming folks were involved in the beating of the Huntington Beach man after Game 2 of the ALDS. But we now live in a society where young male barbarians are growing in number, their masculinity tied into useless aggression. More and more, young men seem to channel their aggressive instinct not into building, but into destroying -- not into defending the innocent, particularly women and children, but into confrontations for no apparent reason other than demonstrating dominance.
Why?
As a society, we have robbed men of their protective missions. Men who seek to protect women and children are called anti-feminist, gender normative. Men have abandoned their responsibilities to the state. As for building things -- well, there too, men have been told that to build is to act selfishly, without concern for the community. And young men have no male role models, since many of their fathers have abandoned them or abandoned true maleness in pursuit of vainglorious brutality. All of which leads to an increase in destruction by men without purpose, hemmed in only by the power of the state and the benefits of self-interest.
None of this is an excuse for barbarianism, of course. But it does help explain why masculinity used to center around acting like a gentleman, while now it centers around acting like a boor. The more we foster the barbarian mentality, the more barbaric society becomes.
Sane people probably stopped taking kids to pro-sporting events already
Coliseum games. I don’t go anywhere that I cannot carry. I don’t run into those types.
The read was good until it got to this part “As a society, we have robbed men of their protective missions. Men who seek to protect women and children are called anti-feminist, gender normative.”
You should have posted a gag alert in thread headline.
This is their culture. It can’t be explained away but society robbed them of their protective missions BS. Give me a break.
Sounds like the streets of Memphis
he probably was one
My kids will never go....no big loss.
I’m going to live my quiet life away from these animals.
If they ever enter my life uninvited and confrontationally, they’ll leave horizontally.
I am pretty sure no one with any concern for their safety is going to attend large public gatherings in the near future.
It is asking for trouble.
No matter what your politics, once in a crowd, you LOSE all control over your own safety.
Mass entertainment is just THAT anyway... FOR the masses.
The ‘masses’ are by definition at least 25 IQ points BELOW the least intelligent among us, and that pretty much indicates what you can expect in a ‘crowd’. Mass entertainment is geared for THAT level of comprehension and taste.
They won’t discuss the finer points of your politics before they beat your brains out.
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."
That's why I avoid crowds.
I can only imagine the NFL and other sports taking place in empty stadiums... will they be on PPV to make up the difference?
Angel fans?
Things certainly have changed.
If the ‘bread and circuses’ HAVE to continue... of course, they will only attract the lowest element.
I have NEVER seen myself as part of that and am always uncomfortable in large public spaces.
Most people behave in a crowd in ways they’d NEVER behave alone... it’s taking your life in your hands now days to trust people to remember their manners... if they ever HAD any!
Personally, I don’t rely on THAT.
bump
Drunken brawls between fans of opposing teams is a time-honored baseball tradition.
There is no extra charge for this added entertainment.
The really shocking thing is that people pay $68 for a bleacher seat.
I've worked with several major professional sports organizations in the past, and every one I dealt with is laying the groundwork for a future business environment in which no alcoholic beverages will be sold at any sporting events.
What's behind this is their fears about exposure to massive civil lawsuits when alcohol-fueled animals behave like -- well, animals. The turning point came a few years ago when stadium concessionaire Aramark was hit with a massive lawsuit over a drunk-driving incident after an NFL game at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The original $135M verdict was overturned on appeal and an out-of-court settlement was reached after a new trial was ordered, but these sports leagues all know that the handwriting is on the wall and it simply isn't worth the risk.
Perhaps you should switch to NASCAR. We have. Fewer barbarians. Audience filled with real men who tend to be polite.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.