Article:Why is someone is jail because she heard "Yankees Suck"?

This is a reaction piece to the incident highlighted in the article http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/05/red_soxyankees.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed2

Not all the facts are known at this time and no matter what a tragedy for two people and their family and friends have occurred.

I, and probably most of the people who know me, would consider me a sports fan. I frequent website that pertain to my favorite teams and sometimes like to see what the other teams fans have to say on their websites. I have gone to Yankee Stadium and cheered the Mets, whether they were playing them or not. I plan on going to Philadelphia and seeing a Mets-Phillies game either this year or at the latest next year. There is just something about me that doesn’t want to get into an actual fight about the Mets.

You can call me a pussy, it won’t be the first time, that I won’t get drunk at a bar and challenge all the opposite fans to a fight. I just have never seen the point of it. A woman is in jail because somehow at 43 this was the first time she had heard that the “Yankees suck.”  It must have been the first time because no matter how drunk you are I cant believe that the brain could say what she did was a good idea.

Crazy lady to brain:  I got into a fight with that young girl and bruised her but let’s run her over anyway. I have to because they all said the Yankees suck

Brain to Crazy lady: No that’s stupid, instead accelerate for 200 feet and then stop. They’ll be so scared, then you can tell all your friends how funny this was. You can do it, you’re not that drunk. I even knew which you’re to use

Crazy lady:  Good idea

How insane are we about sports that this could happen? I have done some pretty dumb things because I was drunk, as has anyone else that has gotten drunk. We all have said some things we shouldn’t have said and have regretted those words or deeds in the morning. I understand that, but this is the type of story that makes me angry knowing there are people who don’t fully understand the concept that sports and rivalries are just forms of entertainment. We should be entertained by sports not harassing people about their teams. If hearing your team sucks gets you that angry that you want to fight someone, you should see someone because you need help.

We root for teams for five reasons, one we grew up in the area of the team, two our parent(s) rooted for them, three the team was hated by our parent(s), four your favorite player is on that team, or five you are a frontrunner. There might be others but they seem more or less like offshoots of those five reasons. The teams we root for have never defined who we are as people, my life would not change one bit if I was a Yankee fan from birth, sure I might view the regular season differently and assume all free agents wanted to go to the Bronx, but I as a person would not change. We as a society have said that the teams we root for define us, I have been guilty of that many times, and I think that when we let other people define us with our sports teams only bad things happen.

Ten things I think I think right now

1)      I think I’m Peter King

2)      I think this was the first article I tried really hard to be poignant

3)      I think I might have succeeded

4)      I think Yankee and Met fans are really worried about this year

5)      I think it makes me laugh that everyone is trying really hard to find all the tiny cracks in a team before the cracks get bigger so they can show how smart they are

6)      I think Marvin Harrison will be suspended by the NFL

7)      I think Michael Strahan will play one more year

8)      I think the Rangers will shakeup the roster to try and get out of the second round

9)      I think I didn’t like Roger Clemens before the Mitchell Report and somehow my opinion of him hasn’t changed that much

10)  I think in the summer there will be a new manager and GM for the Toronto Blue Jays