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The Thin Black Line
   
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Top 14 Tips For Selecting A Golf School
With the increase in number of schools for learning Golf,
it has become necessary for the learner to find out a
school that suits him best from all the angles. Here are
the tips for selecting a Golf School:
1. When .....
In all my years as an avid sports fan, I have been exposed to a number of With the increase in number of schools for learning Golf,
it has become necessary for the learner to find out a
school that suits him best from all the angles. Here are
the tips for selecting a Golf School:
1. When .....
extraor-dinary events. However, over the last year, a certain trend has not only questioned my responsibilities as a sports enthusiast, but also my rights as a paying spectator of these enthralling events. The recent escalation of fan-player interaction and violence has made me reevaluate what purpose I serve for the athletes and that which they serve for the fans. In fact, the very idea of people paying to witness a sporting event, watch it on television, or read about it in a newspaper has come into question.
Ever since last November 19, when members of
the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers got in a fight with each other, which, within
minutes, included the patrons as well, the relationship between spectators and
athletes has been questioned not only by me, but also by league officials, sports
journalists, law enforcement officers, and players alike. Although relatively brief, in
my lifetime I have playedmany organized sports games in fairly hostile
environments, but seldom have I even been tempted to respond to taunts and
cheers from the audience. So in light of recent events, I am left only to wonder: at
what point do athletes feel the need to, or have the right to retaliate against these
raucous crowds? And how far are fans permitted to push these players until they
are held accountable for their provocations?
Last November, late on a Saturday night that had started off just like any other,
I happened to glance at a television and my face lit up when I saw that, in the
middle of a party, someone had tuned into my favorite channel, ESPN. But to my
shock, the station that usually brightens my day was showing the same horrific
video clips over and over. As gruesome and barbaric as it looked, I could not take
my eyes off the image of Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest jumping off the scorers
table after being called for a flagrant foul, and racing into the stands to attack a
man who had thrown a cup of beer at his face. To make a car accident analogy
would not do the situation justice my eyes had never been so wide open, nor my
jaw so much farther from my nose in my entire life. For the following fifteen
minutes, I could not help but feel as though the world as we knew it was about to
end. First, there was Stephen Jackson who followed Artest into the crowd, but not
to help protect his teammate from further abuse, but instead to ferociously
blindside an innocent bystander who was unlucky enough to be seated behind the
man who had originally thrown the cup at Artest. Next, I watched clips of Artest
and teammate Jermaine ONeal mercilessly swing at two fans who had, for some
reason, felt it necessary to wander onto the playing court while the melee was still at
its height. The broadcast continued with images of fans pouring beer, popcorn and
other concessions on Pacers players as they were escorted off the court, and
concluded with perhaps the most damaging image of the entire fiasco: a young fan
crying and hugging his parents as his idols brutally attacked each other and their
supporters.
The events of that night sent a deafening scream throughout the sports world,
begging for answers to a number of crucial questions. First, and most importantly,
who is at fault? In almost every confrontation, there is an aggressor and a victim;
but the nature of this riot was much more complex than most. Although players are
expected above all else to refrain from acting maliciously toward fans, it is absurd
to think any performer would stand passively by as he is physically abused by his
audience. But at the same token, to forgive spectators for harming those whom
they pay to watch would be equally ludicrous. So, at what point do the taunts and
cheers that are simply meant to distract athletes from playing their game, turn into
malicious threats or criminal slander? Dr. Richard Lustberg, a renowned sports
psychologists and owner of PsychologyofSports.com writes, Fans hurl insults for a
myriad of reasons. Perhaps some try to have some control over the players and the
game; others are simply uncouth. By responding the way they do, the athletes have
in affect given control of their actions to the very individuals they are trying to
silence.
Need To Get Into Swimming Shape?
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Each person involved in the brawl in Detroit has his or her idea of whom is at Have you taken a break from swimming?
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fault according to Pacers coach Rich Carlisle, the arena security and Pistons
coaching staff is to blame, and Robin Flicker of the New York Times argues that the
athletes are at fault, while most NBA players will just as soon point at the fans for
crossing the line. In 2003, retired social psychologist Gordon Russell remarked in
the San Francisco Chronicle that aggressive fan outbursts usually begin with one
persons thoughtless actions, the high of physical aggression, the thrill of a
momentary sensation all contribute.
Unfortunately, such incidents as this, although not nearly as devastating, have
become increasingly prevalent in the past twelve moths. Major League Baseball
witnessed two unexpected outbursts last fall when Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder
Milton Bradley walked over to a fan that had been taunting him and threw a beer
bottle at his feet. This occurred only two weeks after Texas Rangers relief pitcher
Frank Francisco leapt into the stands from the bullpen at the Oakland Coliseum,
only to hurl a chair at a group of hecklers whom had apparently gone too far in their
jeers. With each event, the line between fans rights and athletes threshold for
insults gets fuzzier and fuzzier, leading America down a path of conflict and
uncertainty.
This issue intrigues me so much because I am in the unique position of
relating to both parties. Not only do I relentlessly follow professional basketball,
baseball, football, hockey, and college sports, but I have also played organized
basketball my entire life and am currently participating in an intramural league at
my university, which on some days takes on a much more raucous atmosphere than
any professional game I have ever witnessed. My family has had season tickets to
Los Angeles Clipper games for the last ten years, and I, just as nearly every other
Clipper fan, have yelled, taunted, and even cursed the players when their play has
been sub-par (which is quite often). On only two occasions have I garnered any
kind of response from an athlete once a player simply put his index finger to his
lips, signaling for me to be quite, and the other time a player actually threw his
headband to the floor and yelled back at my cohorts and me. But rather than
sensing as though I had overstepped my bounds, I had a feeling of empowerment;
that I had actually had an affect on these men whom at times I idolize, despise, and
emulate.
In my intramural league, I have witnessed fraternities perform taunts that took
days to prepare, and have a very apparent affect on the players. In a first round
playoff game three nights ago against the Kappa Sigma frat team, each time I
stepped up to the free throw line the brothers in the stands screamed in unison the
name of a female acquaintance of mine that they knew would surely distract me. I
went one-for-eight from the stripe and could not stand to look any of them in the
eye the following day. After that game, my hatred for those drunken frat boys was
nearly as profound as my own embarrassment, as I knew that all of their taunting
should have not only been expected, but silenced by my preparation and
performance. In hindsight, I assume that I would have retaliated had the fans come
onto the playing court, or had their verbal attacks crossed over into the realm of
personal assault.
But rather than defining exactly how far fans ought to be allowed to push their
favorite or least favorite athletes, why not reevaluate the purpose of spectators at
athletic events in the first place? Granted there would be little to no interest in
sports if spectators were removed from the playing atmosphere, but it is worth
considering the purpose of having a partial crowd affect a fair and neutral sporting
event. Would sports be better suited having every event televised, but restricting
fans from watching in person? No matter what the effect on the actual outcome of
the games, this would clearly eliminate such instances as the ones we have seen in
Detroit, Los Angeles, and Oakland over the past year, which have stained the face of
professional sports leagues, and turned eager, enthusiastic, young fans away from
the games.