Nuttery

Over at SportsbyBrooks, there's a bit of a buzz about the misbehavior of some Giants fans (Warning: some of the comments on the page aren't safe for work or young'uns). In brief, these people, apparently enraged that the Giants lost (and possibly under the influence of various exogenous chemicals) went on a rampage, trashing cars through the parking lot.

I was writing about fans behaving badly several days ago in sweeping generalizations, but honestly, I didn't know how far some of this has gone. Perhaps I am frightfully naive (or at least was today), but generally, when I go to games, people are civil. Of the 10% of the less-than-savory types, the breakdown (in my opinion) is as follows:

a) Angry drunk people whom, aside from yelling out a Carlin-esque litany of filth, are harmless (4%)

b) Kids, perenially up to no good (2%)

c) Creepy guys making the moves on girls born in 1988 or thereabouts (2%);

d) People in front of you who just won't sit down, no matter how much you yell at them (1.5%)

I suppose the remaining 0.5% would include the people mentioned above. See, for the most part, everyone's just around to enjoy a game, regardless of the outcome. I went up to Chicago last December to see the Bears play Jacksonville, and, after the game, a group of Bears fans (myself included) were joking and shaking hands with a group of (misguided as they may be!) Jaguars fans. Awww. How cute.

Do I occasionally get ridiculously mad about the outcome of games, including reaching the "nearly having a stroke in the stadium" stage? Of course. Have I screamed, cried, and been outright unpleasant for days because of bogus penalties/last-second field goals/egregiously bad play-calling? Of course. Would I once and a while like to see certain fans, or certain players leap off of Hoover Dam?* Who doesn't? But these folks in New York? Whoever you are: you're a disgrace to the sport. Really.

Sometimes I think that it would be funny if the NFL started running commercials about the value of sportsmanship, not unlike most of the major college conferences do. It would be epically cheesy. I'm personally imagining some kind of sketch involving the Mannings beating each other up. Something with officials and penalty flags (although not Ed Hochuli, this would get all of San Diego destroying cars)? Maybe Kurt Warner sounds like he'd be a good spokesman for said cause, or John Madden can get up and state the obvious for the umpteenth time. Maybe I can stop using topical humor. Whatever they decide, it would be much better use of time and resources than, for example, complaining about Wes Welker making a snow angel in the end zone, and it would remind some of these lunatics that it's a sporting event. 

*I'm not saying in particular who. "Prima Donna WRs who wear #81" is a good general class of said players, though.