It was only an inkling before, but after some of the comments left on my previous column, I am now certain that those from Connecticut, besides being rather rude people in general, know absolutely nothing about sports.
Much to my delight in witnessing stupidity, Greg Jones responded to my May 21 "A Jaded Look at the NBA" story with some strange gibberish: "Connecticut 'obsolete'? How about good standards in journalism being obsolete if a newspaper needs garbage like [yours] to fill its columns."
My response to the temperamental cowboy: "You're right, [Greg]. I've been writing garbage like this since the day I picked up a pen. Where would I be if guys like you didn't read it ... For that, my deepest thanks."
And there it ended: two human beings — although to be safe, I'll say one for now until we confirm Greg's planet or origin — who disagreed, vented their disagreements, and then left it at that. Two human beings — one intelligent, one who is most likely still bitter about scoring inordinately low on his SATs — who had an argument about sports without going Milton Bradley on one another.
Unfortunately, with the mention of Bradley and the Los Angeles Dodgers comes the tragedy of my story:
On a near-100 degree May 21 afternoon in Los Angeles, I went with some longtime friends of mine to watch the second game of the Dodgers/Angels Freeway Series. Now I am a miserable guy in general, but the ungodly May temperature — I complain every minute it is not 72 degrees outside and the breeze disturbs my hair — made the game a bit unpleasant.
Add that to the feverish symptoms I had at the time due to what I realize now was my impending association with Greg and, as I'm sure you'd understand, I could have hit something (figuratively speaking!) by the time the Dodgers lost an ugly 3-1 game to the undermanned Angels (Vladimir Guerrero, Garret Anderson, and Francisco Rodriquez were all sitting out with injuries) to fall to 22-20 after starting the season at a MLB-best 12-2.
Keep in mind that I said figuratively speaking!
In no way shape or form is it acceptable to turn a sporting event into a sparring match, right? You would never physically assault someone who didn't like the same team as you, would you?
For seven to 10 "fans" at the May 21 game, the answer to the latter of the two questions was a repulsive "yes" as they joined cowardly forces to brutally beat and bloody an Angels fan at the game.
There to enjoy a baseball game on a Saturday with some of my closest friends, I expected to be watching baseball being played on a baseball field — instead, I, like Aaron Dow, a seasonal firefighter and Bakersfield, CA resident, saw a brawl being conducted in the stands. Dow explained how he saw things unfold at the stadium later in a telephone interview.
"There were some rowdy Dodger fans who had too much to drink who were talking trash to an Angels fan," said Dow, 22. "The Angels fan said, '3-1' [the final score] back to them after the game and they started beating him helplessly."
"There were kids around who were crying and screaming," he continued. "[My girlfriend and I] had food thrown at us as well because I was wearing an Angels jersey. I am appalled by these actions and want to say they were extremely uncalled for. There is never a need to fight at a sporting event. Do these [criminals] think they are bigger for beating someone up like this?"
Lindsey Bockoven, Dow's girlfriend and a 21-year-old college student from Moorpark, CA was also disgusted with what she saw. In a telephone interview, she said, "I feel threatened at Dodgers Stadium now as a young woman and I wouldn't want to bring a child to a game there, either. It's sad because people take their families to baseball games to bond and have a good time and you can't even go to a game with two rival teams without feeling threatened." The soon-to-be San Diego State University student and Georgia native said she will attend Angels games instead, if any games at all.
The victim appeared to be a man in his late 20s. After the fight, which I estimate lasted upwards of two minutes, he lay on cement bleeding heavily from the ear after sustaining what were at least 50 punches from grown men, mostly to the face. I saw one man — being the coward that he was — run from roughly 40 seats away to unload at least six punches directly to the victim's face.
What makes the incident even more sickening was the way many of the fans surrounding the fight reacted to it (note: I use the word fans here loosely as a euphemism for cretins): chants of "An-gels Suck! An-gels suck" began from the 30 to 50 people apparently happy to see a severely injured man writhing in agony. An Angels fan, yes, but, an Angels fan who has a family, possibly kids of his own.
Personally, I am an avid Dodgers fan and I was upset to see the Dodgers lose the game, their third in a row and their sixth in seven games. There are few things I enjoy more in life than listening to Dodgers legendary broadcaster Vin Scully weave a tale about a ballgame, but, nonetheless, I have never been more ashamed to be a resident of the greater Los Angeles area and a fan of the Dodgers than I was on May 21. I still haven't decided whether I will be going to Chavez Ravine to watch the Dodgers play again.
I demand some explanations before I watch another ballgame at Dodgers Stadium and Dodgers Stadium Vice President of Public Relations John Olguin did not assuage my anger in the slightest. Olguin, who would not comment about the specifics of the fight, talked to me in a telephone interview about security at Dodgers Stadium in general:
"We are very serious about security at Dodgers Stadium," Olguin said. "We pride ourselves in providing a fan-friendly environment for our fans. We are constantly looking at new ways to improve and adjust the fan's experience."
Olguin said Dodgers Stadium is policed by the Los Angeles Police Department as well as their own private security team, which was curious, actually, because there wasn't a security presence at the scene of the fight until many minutes later.
From what I could tell, not one of the criminals was apprehended, fleeing in myriad directions before anyone realized what was going on. Olguin would not give the number of officers on duty at any given game for what he said were security measures. Reprehensibly, Olguin said Dodgers Stadium would not allow him to comment upon arrests made or injuries sustained as a result of violence at the stadium.
Allow me, then, to make a comment to Dodgers Stadium officials: if I'm paying you to watch a ballgame at your stadium, I want to know exactly how many security guards are on duty there and exactly how many crimes are committed there! You have no right — and if you do legally, you have no right ethically — to keep this information from the public. The public's access to this information should be just as seamless as their access to stocking your personal coffers with ticket purchases, which I adamantly urge them not to do until you let them know exactly how secure they are in your stadium!
If you missed that or didn't quite get what I was saying, reader, I will tell it to you one more time to make it clear: DODGERS OFFICIALS WON'T LET YOU KNOW HOW SECURE THEIR STADIUM IS. DON'T CAPITULATE TO THESE FOOLS AND PAY THEM TO GET YOUR HEAD BEATEN IN BY CRIMINALS THEY ALLOW TO SIT RIGHT NEXT TO YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN!
Jamie Heald, a 23-year-old Los Angeles City Firefighter at the May 21 game, agreed with this plea. "I believe kids and families are being jeopardized at Dodgers Stadium [due to fights like these]," Heald, a Newbury Park, CA resident said. "I'm embarrassed for the city of Los Angeles. I'm not coming back to Dodgers Stadium again. I'll go to Angels Stadium from now on. I'm just amazed at how people treat each other." Keep in mind, this is coming from a L.A. City firefighter who deals with human trauma on a daily basis.
But I agree with you 100-percent, Mr. Heald. It's just ashame that some people see sports — a supposed social cohesive — as a reason to inflict bodily damage upon one another. This is a practice that will continue to persist, I'm guessing, until places like Dodgers Stadium quit trying to hide their incompetence from the public, which will, in turn, oblige them to completely restructure the way they operate security.
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