Drama On and Off the Field--

Drama On and Off the Field--

Last Sunday we took a road trip.  We had tickets to watch the St. Louis Rams play the Dallas Cowboys in St. Louis.  It was a beautiful day.  Perfect for a little car time.

The stadium was full.  We were surprised to see as many or more Dallas fans as Ram's fans.  One Ram's fan had on a short blue skirt, fuzzy blue knee socks, blue shiny jewelry, a painted face with blue around her eyes and hair that was done in a blue do.  She made quite a presence.  I loved her outfit.  Takes a lot of courage to do your own thing when everyone else's idea of dressing for the game might be a jersey with their favorite player's number.  Some folks simply like to stand out.

Our seats were seven rows from the field.  They were great.  We felt like we were part of the action.  Being almost level with the players was a new experience for me.  Some of those guys are monsters.  They are huge.

Everything was going well until around the fourth quarter.  Dallas pulled ahead of the Rams.  It was pretty exciting.  Everyone knew it could go either way.  In fact, for a bit the score was tied.  Overtime was a definite possibility.  At the absolute last few seconds Dallas intercepted the ball, and the game ended.

For the first time in my life of attending sporting events, I thought a fight was eminent.  A young man was seated two rows down in front of us.  He was a Cowboy fan.  He would stand up and yell even though he was surrounded by Ram's fans.  He would address certain people and make them uncomfortable.  His language became quite nasty, and he accused everyone sitting around him of harrassing him.  People tried to calm him, but it was evident it was only going to get worse.

At one point the young red headed man with small children, whose seat was next to this guy, left for a bit.  When he returned, the loud mouth was in his seat.  He asked in a very kind and polite manner for his seat.  The guy refused.  That was the first moment when I thought it might get ugly.  Security was summonded.  Before they could arrive, a fellow behind us tried to calm the unruly guy down.  It didn't work.  They were on their way to meet and duke it out when finally security arrived.

As I watched and listened, and you had to listen because it was practically in your lap, I thought about how nasty people can be.  All around this young man were people who were trying to calm him down.  They were trying to reason with him.  He wasn't interested in anything but what he had to say, and who he was ready to hit.  Security stayed with him until the game ended.  They should have escorted him out of the building.  I don't know why they didn't.

It was so interesting to watch this man and his behavior.  He was probably in his 20's.  You know the type--has all the answers and talks when everyone else is.  Loud and rude.  I wondered why he behaved the way he did.  Wondered why he thought it ok to accuse others of whatever was on his mind.  It was sad, really.  And certainly a learning experience.  Was glad the children had been taken away by the time it got really ugly.

In spite of all the drama, we had a great time.  As we were leaving, I wondered what the rest of the day would look like for this young man.  My hope is he calmed down and walked away peacefully.  I fear for him and his safety.

Even though he would never guess, he provided all of us with a great lesson in how not to behave in a public arena and how to push people far, far away.  He would say he didn't care.  But, I think he does care.  You could see it in his eyes.

It was evening when we arrived safely back home.  The interesting thing about all the events that took place is this.  We talked about plays.  We talked about passes and defense.  We spent no time talking about him.  That would suprise him, I am sure.