Two years after Giants fan Bryan Stow was brutally beaten by two Dodgers fans, a judge has finally reached a sentence. The fans,
Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez, will both serve jail time. Sanchez will be in the can for eight years while Norwood will see four years. Since both criminals have been in jail since they were caught, and that time will go into their sentences, so Norwood will be a free man in a couple years.
Nevertheless, the Stow family finally has a reason to smile again. Ever since the incident Bryan Stow has required 24 hour care. He takes 13 medications every day and has seizures on a regular basis. The beating left him severely brain damaged and his family has to dress him, shower him, and feed him. The Stow family called the criminals "cowards" and watched as they were carried to jail.
The Bryan Stow incident did not only have an affect on the Stow family. The sports world became outraged and stadiums everywhere began rethinking their security measures. I myself was terrified to go to Oakland (scary enough) in my Detroit Tigers jersey to see the Athletics take on the Tigers. This event left a permanent scar on life at sports games.
Do you guys think life at sports games will go back to normal now that justice has been served? Would you go to a rival teams game in your teams jersey? Will you watch your back in Seattle in your Crabtree jersey? Should the criminals have deserved a longer sentence?
Article
LA Times
2 comments:
I think that it is very important that the two men were sentenced today. That kind of violence has no place in the worlds of sports, especially from the fans. This incident has made sure that sports teams are more careful as far as security, but that won't cover everybody; we as fans need to be able to behave ourselves at least a little bit so that nobody gets hurt. It is a game after all. I believe that supporting your team should always be an option, so I would hope that the other fans could respect that, but after this incident, I'm not sure they could. I'd say that you should always be careful when you go against the grain (rooting for the other team). As for the last question, I think that this sentence was okay because it is long enough to make a huge impact on their lives, but not totally ruin them. Hopefully in the future the two men will learn to be better fans.
I agree with Connor that fans need to be responsible for their own actions at sporting events. I have personally witnessed unnecessary violence at professional sporting events and not only is it awful to see people get hurt, but it also takes away the fun and spirit of going to a sporting event. Based on my own personal experiences, I think that a major cause of violence at sporting events is alcohol. So many people tailgate before the game and then buy more drinks in the stadium to the point where they are unable to control their actions. I don't think completely eliminating alcohol at sporting events is the answer because people will drink before the game or find a way to bring it into the games anyway. However, there should be some kind of security or some way to prevent rowdy fans from getting out of control. I personally have attended sporting events wearing the opposing team's jersey and I have never really had a serious problem, but I think in any situation, people have to be smart about who they talk to and what they say.
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