crossing the line on sports rivalries
(Originally posted at Boltsmag.com)
I got sent a story last night from my friend here in Tampa. He’s a Red Sox fan and this was about a Yankees fan… So I wasn’t at all surprised when he told me “Why is this news?”
Yet this is news indeed:
Fred Slaven is convinced this makes him the victim of a hate crime. And after six years in Florida, he’s going back to New York.
Yankees - and their fans - are generally welcome there.
The opposite may be true on Blackstone Drive in Embassy Hills, where Slaven lives. About a month ago, someone stole the Yankees vanity plate from his Chevy Malibu.
Then, on Wednesday morning, he walked outside and saw his limited-edition Yankees flag, complete with the dates of all 26 world championships. It was still hanging from the pole attached to his garage. But someone had burned a black hole in its center.
Where do you draw the line on discontent towards opposing opinions, ideas, principles and in this case, teams? I’ve heard stories like this with political candidates or political ideas/principles. I’ve dealt with the teens in my neighborhood, while growing up, giving my family a hard time by stealing things from my yard and such… But getting on a guy for being a proud fan of the Yankees?
Getting on a guy in the Tampa Bay area for being a proud Yankees fan? Tampa Bay, the home to thousands of New York transplants and the Yankees second home?
Nothing wins over my sympathy easier than seeing someone — an opposing teams fan — getting a hard time from opposing fans. I was apologizing profusely at Game Seven of the Stanley Cup in 2004 to Flames fans who were harassed by a drunken idiot sitting behind us (but those Flames fans were resolute — they hollered back “It’s just him, don’t sweat it!”). Hearing stories of car windshields smashed in outside Raymond James Stadium at Buc games always gets me — how much hate can you show an opposing team? And why, especially when your team turns out the victor?
My friend tried to justify whatever happened to Fred Slaven by saying he must have done something to piss off his neighbors… But honestly, there is nothing that can justify someone going to these lengths to harass a fan of an opposing team. Slaven likens what happened to him as a hate crime, and I’m of the same opinion. There is a line and that was crossed here. The battle is on the field, not with the fans personally.
Tags: crime, diversity, pasco, sports, tampa, yankees
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August 31st, 2007 at 6:27 pm
sodomy crosses the line. yankees fans are obnoxious band wagoneers who enjoy hyperbole as much as senator craig enjoys gay sex.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Ski — packer fans are annoying. I am not going to burn or steal their stuff for being annoying. Boston fans are annoying in the “Red Sox Nation” constant cynical outlook type thing. I am not going to steal their shit either, nor burn their shit for being fans. I’m not going to punch a Florida Panthers fan if he makes a big scene after a Panthers goal at a Lightning game. Nor am I going to follow him home and whack him and his family to prove a point that Panther fans are scum and should be treated as such.
There’s a line and to cross it like this reflects poorly on both the neighborhood in question and the fans in question. If it’s a Bosox fan, then it just reinforces negative stereotypes I am developing for that fanbase. If it’s a RAYS fan who did it, then it reflects poorly on a poor baseball team and makes the Rays franchise look like much more of a joke than it is.
September 1st, 2007 at 10:46 am
the Rays have fans?
September 1st, 2007 at 11:22 am
Touché Jason, Touché
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:39 pm
I hate (and I mean the kind of blind, seething hatred that sometimes makes it difficult to digest food) the Yankees and everything they stand for more than anybody I know, but I would never even consider damaging someone’s personal property or causing them physical harm to express that hatred. Cripes, it’s just sports. Some of the fans who take the games more seriously than the athletes who get paid to play them are a little disturbing. Those who actually abandon their basic humanity are downright sick.
September 4th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Exactly Clark. I am no Yankees fan at all but it’s on field where stuff happens, and that’s where it stays. Period. End of story. I give my uncle crap all the time because he is a big Yankees fan but I am not going to physically damage his property or hurt him if he chides me over a Yankee accomplishment. It’s basic humanity.
This is akin to Soccer (football) hooliganism in Europe where you have to be wary of dangers at the stadium for being a rival fan. Philly is the closest you can come to a threatening environment but even THEY have standards (well, not high ones, but still :p )
September 9th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
There is definitely more here than meets the eye. How many X-NY-ers and Yankees fans are living in the Tampa Bay area? Plenty, judging by the crowds at the Trop when the D-Rays are playing the Yanks. How many others are having sports-related “hate crimes” perpetrated against them? Hmmm…
D’ya think? …neighborhood kids getting even with some unpleasant “old fart.”
October 20th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
ok everyone, i am the wife of fred and i need to get one thing straight. we are not old farts we are under 50, and we have no enemies with the kids in our neighborhood or our neighbors for that matter. we mind our own business, and keep to ourselves. for someone to go to this length because they hate a team is rediculous. its not so much the flag, but the arson, if my home went up in smoke with my family in it (it happened between 2am-7am), and we all died, then everyone would be thinking differently. i know now that it had to be someone hating the yankees, because we fly a giants flag now for football season and no one has did a thing. they stole my vanity plate and burned my flag. this is absurd, and for people to think that we pissed someone off is rediculous!! i have a 2 yr old grandson in my home and when i seen the flag when i went out for the paper in the morning, all i could think about was him. he is the apple of our eye, and to think because of someone’s stupidity, i could have lost him. THAT my friend, bothers me. i dont have any animosity for anyone that roots for they’re team. thats they’re right! we’re in america, the greatest country in the world, and we should be able to root for any team we want no matter where we live, without suffering any consequences. i appreciate the comments about how some people really hate the yankees, but they would never cross the line like this. hats off to you all. it shows that there are still people out there that have some class. again, i need to stress that it wasn’t all about a flag, i can always get another, but this could have been deadly, could i get my grandson back?? oh and by the way, if it were teens in the area, where are the parents at that time of night. dont they know where they’re kids are. i know when my kids were growing up i knew everything and ruled with the iron hand, so my children would never turn out like half the hoodlums out there. honestly, i have no proof, but i can almost bet that it had to be a boston fan who did it, and whoever did it, i hope your proud of yourself, to put our family in danger. i feel sorry for you.