While this story is a few days old, it brings up an important problem in sports-spectating today (the picture represents the reaction of Ms. Vasquez). We start off with the recent interview of Carmelo Anthony’s fiancée, Lala Vasquez concerning an incident at the Western semis Game 5 between her and a group of fans as posted on Mom Logic:
They began yelling ‘F*** the Nuggets!’ right in front of my son.” Then she says they started calling the Nuggets players “n*****s.” She was shocked. “I’ve been at a ton of games — but I have NEVER heard fans say things like that.” Then, looking directly at her while taunting Anthony on the court, Lala says the fans called her son a “bastard.”
While this seems a case taken to an extreme, it certainly isn’t so uncommon to anyone bringing their children to a game. Especially this year’s playoffs (with Mark Cuban dumping on somebody’s mom and children being tossed aside by large men) it seems like sports, specifically basketball, have become less and less family friendly.
OK, OK. I’m blowing this a little out of proportion, besides I’m a single, young guy. Why should I care about this anyway? Well, come on, some things belong in sports and some don’t. The kind of language and behavior I’m talking about goes far beyond anything acceptable at a bar, let alone a public all-ages event. So it’d be nice to see something done at least to dissuade people from unloading a salvo of vulgarity at the back of an 8-year-old’s head. What if they rise up against us? Look at that face up there and tell me you wouldn’t run for it.
