In Lieu of Stow and Raiders Shooting, Fan Paranoia Has Gone Overboard

I’ve been to over 200 sporting events in my lifetime, and probably more when you include near after thoughts like the Long Beach Ice Dogs and Los Angeles Avengers. So a lot, nonetheless.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images via Zimbio

Yet, in those endeavors from Folsom Field in Boulder to PetCo Park in San Diego, only once have I ever been surrounded by an altercation, and only one other time have I ever yelled back at anyone else. Both of those events? You guessed it. Right Field Pavilion at Dodger Stadium. But this is less about Dodger Stadium, less about the Dodgers, and more so about the over-sensitivity that’s become rampant lately.

The 49ers and Raiders played their annual preseason game this past weekend at Candlestick Park, before it ended with shots fired in the parking lot, prompting the two franchises to agree to discontinue their yearly preseason affair.

Now, back here in LA, it brings back up the Bryan Stow beating, and shockingly shows that malice does in fact take place in San Francisco. So in true ESPN-Radio fashion, the whole day was devoted to the pointless cause of how people need to supposedly think twice about going to games period, especially with children and even more so if you’re willing to wear your colors into a road environment. Apparently you’re supposed to wear street clothes and sit on your hands.

Both John Ireland and A. Martinez advocated concerns over child safety, with Martinez going on and on about how going to Dodger Stadium requires one to people-watch more than pay attention to the game.

Quite simply, they’re wrong, and hear me out. Without too much deductive reasoning, it’s easy to pinpoint the culprit of both the Stowe beating and the 49ers-Raiders shooting. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the Dodgers and Raiders are the most  gang affiliated franchises in sports, with the White Sox being a very distant third.

Certainly not every Raider fan fits this bill, but an overwhelming amount compared to the rest of the 31 teams in the NFL. So again it’s not surprising that the shooting on Saturday night has already been tied to rival gang warfare, and it included -kid me not- a victim wearing an ingenious “[Expletive] the Niners” shirt.

According to the ESPN-Radio guys, visiting fans shouldn’t wear their colors, especially since this Raider fan was shot outside of Candlestick. See, that’s not only wrong, but misleading. First of all, the guy wasn’t innocent and walking around in an “Al Davis Rocks” shirt. He was clearly seeking attention in his attire, and has been directly linked to gang activity, as with the shooters.

And secondly, being afraid to wear your team’s gear on the road is just being overly paranoid. In college sports, where the hating of opposition is strongly encouraged, it’s a requirement to wear your colors to game, and is an accepted act of pride. Nothing is better than seeing the Rose Bowl the day of the USC-UCLA game,  with the end-zones completely cardinal, and the sidelines clad in blue. That’s what makes college football.

And in general, if you act respectful, support your team in a non-obnoxious way, and refuse to partake in actions that bring attention to yourself, then wearing your favorite team’s shirt doesn’t automatically put you in harm’s way.

I personally am I fan of a team that resides outside of Los Angeles. When I wear a foreign shirt to Dodger Stadium, I expect to hear things and get some general ribbing. There’s nothing wrong with that. And by not engaging in attention-seeking, it’s never a bigger issue.

Going to sporting events is like life in general: you make sure you don’t put yourself in bad situations. Going in, you know that the pavilions are rowdy at Dodger Stadium. If there’s going to be a brawl, that’s where it’s going to be, not in the field boxes, A. Martinez. And, if you go into a road venue and flaunt your jersey and/or verbally call out home fans, you’re putting yourself in jeopardy. Merely wearing a different color shirt isn’t going run you down the wrong road.

In the Stowe case, he’s been said to be one to not provoke. You know what that makes him? The anomaly. It’s terrible that he was beaten like he was, and it makes everyone sick to their stomachs, but let’s be real here.  There’s not a single person that deep down inside, thought it was an average Joe Smith fan that beat Stowe, because we all knew it was the act of those with previous records. Those are the people that sit in the pavilion. Be smart, don’t sit there.

So the next time you want to travel with the Kings to San Jose, go ahead and wear a Kings shirt. Just don’t flaunt, don’t engage, don’t put yourself in a bad situation and be respectful. It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. Therefore, wearing your team’s colors aren’t the problem.

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