It’s safer to be an Orioles fan
by Matt Vensel | May 5, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Posted in sports
Here’s a disturbing story out of New England about a Yankees-Red Sox argument gone bad. Ivonne Hernandez, a 43-year-old Yankees fan, became so enraged with anti-Yankees chants inside and outside of a New Hampshire bar, she drove her car into a crowd of Red Sox fans who were heckling her, killing a 29-year-old man, Matthew Beaudoin.
After an argument about the heated baseball rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox spilled outside of the bar, Hernandez jumped in her car, drove full speed into the crowd and slammed into Beaudoin, who later died of massive head trauma at the hospital.
She didn’t slam on her brakes or swerve to avoid the crowd, claiming that she just wanted to scare them and thought they would get out of the way. Hernandez, who had been drinking and refused to take a Breathalyzer test, now faces second-degree murder charges.
Seriously, what is wrong with people? I understand being a rabid supporter of your favorite sports team, but needless to say, this was a bit much…
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May 6th, 2008 at 1:22 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
My favorite sports team in the world is Arsenal Football Club (All Hail The Mighty Gunners!) (Except this year, when they crashed out of everything!) in the English Premier League. As such I have an almost ingrained dislike of their archrivals Tottenham Hotspur, and no love for Manchester United. One thing I have always admired about English football fans (and most fans of soccer world wide) is the degree and depth of support they have for their teams. It is amazing to see that kind of passion that transcends the big money and cynicism of modern professional sports. But I have never, ever, supported, condoned or understood the 'hooligan' type behavior that too many supporters seem to exhibit. Physical violence or harassment perpetrated because of a perceived slight to one's pride is ridiculous (and illegal), but killing someone is outrageous and unacceptable.
What is wrong with some people is that they seem to be missing something in their lives that they choose to replace with a misguided identification of a 'tribe' with the 'self'. Combined with intoxication and poor impulse control, tragedies like this are the result. As much as I loathe the 'Spurs (or the Yankees, for that matter), I would never EVER attack the fans no matter how obnoxious they were behaving. The games and the teams that play them are important, but they are never a life or death matter.