Torres Tackles: ‘Thug’ behavior in sports

There were a reported 31 arrests as yet another riot occurred late Saturday going into Sunday morning. ‘Thugs’ were seen setting fire in the middle of streets, with citizens burning lawn chairs, shirts and other items in protest.

Bottles were thrown, multiple fights reportedly broke out and police had to detain the ‘thugs’ from causing further damage.

Stop me when you’ve heard this story before.

What if I told you the same thing happened last year? I’m sure you’d believe me.

What if I told you these riots were nowhere near Ferguson?

Confused?

Well, these riots actually happened on the campus of the University of Kentucky, after their near-perfect men’s basketball team lost in the Final Four against Wisconsin. The same thing happened last year after another tourney exit from the Wildcats.

According to AP reports, Lexington Police stated 31 people were arrested on campus when 1,500 fans spilled into a State Street neighborhood adjacent to the university’s Lexington campus and did exactly as I described earlier, caused a riot.

The ‘thugs’ that I referred to by the way were mostly white college kids that will probably not be called thugs by other news outlets or columnists. Instead, it would simply be a matter of kids being kids.

Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said the police were “thankful no one was seriously injured and that there was no major destruction of property.”

Well of course no one was hurt, since the police didn’t attack.

Heck, I even saw a photo of one of the college kids taking a ‘selfie’ with a cop in riot gear.

Must be nice to not be perceived as a threat.

Nonetheless, the big point is how this riot has been covered compared to the protests in Ferguson. You can clearly see the double standards. If not, I’ll spell it out for you.

Mostly white college kids burning furniture, causing mayhem and fighting amongst each other in drunken rage? Kids being kids.

Mostly black citizens standing up against a proven unjust-police force? Thugs.

And that is what white privilege looks like.

To clarify, I am not talking about the looters and other terrible human beings who went to Ferguson simply to derail the peaceful protests by causing destruction. I am talking about those who did the right thing by saying enough is enough but were still labeled as thugs by many ‘hot takes’ columnists.

These riots highlight a part of sports that I hate but have been amplified due to the social media era.

The modern fan apparently believes that they have the right to say or do whatever they please without consequences.

As they say, fan is short for fanatic, and a fanatic is a person with extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal.

I remember covering a softball game where a young catcher was struggling with holding on to the ball and throwing out stealing base runners. After making a couple of mistakes, a man, who I can only identify as a fan of the team, yelled out “Take that girl off the field! She’s no good!” He went on to talk about the worthlessness of said catcher and I remember being irate, especially because the tearful catcher couldn’t do anything other than take the abuse of the yelling parent.

As a reminder, I cover high school sports.

Recently I was covering another game where yet another parent decided it would be okay to yell obscenities at the officials.

I, being a sports fan, understand the tradition of blaming the refs for everything, but this was far past the tolerable amount of abuse.

Had that same fan tried saying the same thing to the official at a grocery store, I wouldn’t have stopped the official from popping the fan in the mouth. I might have popped him in the mouth myself for those terrible words.

Being a fan can be emotionally draining and I get it. We need a punching bag. But when we’re out in public we got to do better.

We’re all human beings. I wouldn’t want to be called worthless while buying milk and eggs much less when I’m on the field playing a game.

Are these ‘fans’ any worse than the Kentucky fans from Saturday night?

Would I be correct in calling these parents thugs as I did the Kentucky fans, although it was tongue-in-cheek?

If calling the Ferguson protestors thugs was justifiable, I can easily call the softball dad a thug as well for his behavior.

Sports cannot be used an excuse for unacceptable behavior. You cannot call someone worthless, scream obscenities, burn down a town, etc. all in the name of passion for a team.

Sometimes, it really is just a game. Those goons cannot hide behind a sports veil.

Thuggish behavior is thuggish behavior, regardless of context.