For as long as I’ve been watching sports, I could never make any sense of championship celebrations. Your local team endures a regular season schedule, fights through several playoff series, and stand as the lone victor in the end. In appreciation for all they’ve done, some fans choose to create riot type conditions and trash their own cities. Why is that?
The Boston Celtics are the NBA champions for the first time in 22 years. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce achieved their long awaited goal. They celebrate on the floor of the new Boston Garden. There are smiles, hugs, champagne, music and confetti. Meanwhile, outside of the arena, all hell has broken loose. Windows are being smashed, fights are breaking out, arrests are being made, and properties are being vandalized. This has become America’s method of celebration, and it still leaves me reaching for answers.
If anything, though equally wrong, wouldn’t it be more sensible to see the championship loser trashing their cities? After all, these are the fans with the anger. Are they not? How do you smile on your road to destruction? Obviously it’s artificial, and rooted deeper than any local team accomplishment. Anyone willfully finding enjoyment in the destruction of the property of others isn’t celebrating anything at all. These people are fulfilling something they’ve always wanted to do, but could never find a damn good reason to do it. If you pick up a brick and smash a store window, or light a match to burn a vehicle, this isn’t a celebration of the Celtics. It’s anarchy. When you gather the numbers of individuals similar in deviancy, together you celebrate lawlessness, if even for just a moment.
These people hide behind the conclusion of an event, and they blame it on alcohol. People didn’t get drunk in Boston, until their local teams won? The daily drunk doesn’t terrorize his city, but the camouflaged “championship celebrating” drunk uses it as an excuse for his actions.
After 22 years, you could say it was building, if this was anywhere but Boston. But after watching the Patriots and Red Sox bring home titles, and the city experience the same disturbances, again I’m left without reason. Boston area fans were very critical about a news story telling of a Celtics fan being attacked by Lakers fans at Staples center. They called Lakers fans and citizens of Los Angeles “Savage” and “Barbaric”. But if these are the labels given to your enemies that attack members or your fanbase, what is the label given to those that purposely attack their own for the sake of enjoyment, and all in the name of celebration?
The Celtics and their players, I congratulate for a tremendous season. But for the City of Boston, dealing with the aftermath, I am not green with envy.
The Boston Celtics are the NBA champions for the first time in 22 years. Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce achieved their long awaited goal. They celebrate on the floor of the new Boston Garden. There are smiles, hugs, champagne, music and confetti. Meanwhile, outside of the arena, all hell has broken loose. Windows are being smashed, fights are breaking out, arrests are being made, and properties are being vandalized. This has become America’s method of celebration, and it still leaves me reaching for answers.
If anything, though equally wrong, wouldn’t it be more sensible to see the championship loser trashing their cities? After all, these are the fans with the anger. Are they not? How do you smile on your road to destruction? Obviously it’s artificial, and rooted deeper than any local team accomplishment. Anyone willfully finding enjoyment in the destruction of the property of others isn’t celebrating anything at all. These people are fulfilling something they’ve always wanted to do, but could never find a damn good reason to do it. If you pick up a brick and smash a store window, or light a match to burn a vehicle, this isn’t a celebration of the Celtics. It’s anarchy. When you gather the numbers of individuals similar in deviancy, together you celebrate lawlessness, if even for just a moment.
These people hide behind the conclusion of an event, and they blame it on alcohol. People didn’t get drunk in Boston, until their local teams won? The daily drunk doesn’t terrorize his city, but the camouflaged “championship celebrating” drunk uses it as an excuse for his actions.
After 22 years, you could say it was building, if this was anywhere but Boston. But after watching the Patriots and Red Sox bring home titles, and the city experience the same disturbances, again I’m left without reason. Boston area fans were very critical about a news story telling of a Celtics fan being attacked by Lakers fans at Staples center. They called Lakers fans and citizens of Los Angeles “Savage” and “Barbaric”. But if these are the labels given to your enemies that attack members or your fanbase, what is the label given to those that purposely attack their own for the sake of enjoyment, and all in the name of celebration?
The Celtics and their players, I congratulate for a tremendous season. But for the City of Boston, dealing with the aftermath, I am not green with envy.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment