0211140379
DETROIT FREE PRESS
021114
Thursday, November 14, 2002
METRO FINAL
1D
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Copyright (c) 2002, Detroit Free Press
WHEN FANS TAKE FIELD, THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR
Let's say you're a salesman. How would you like it if, moments after you lost
a big account, someone ran into your office and started wagging a finger and
yelling, "Ha! Ha! Too bad! Guess the other guy had a better pitch!"
Or you're a lawyer. You just lost a big case. As you turn to leave the
courtroom, 1,000 people surround you hollering curses and insults. You can't
even get to the door without wiggling through their army.
Sound annoying? Sound wrong? Well, then maybe you can tell me, why was Jon
Wauford the one led off in handcuffs after the Marshall-Miami (Ohio) football
game Tuesday night?
Wauford, in this story, is the lawyer or the salesman. He was leaving his
place of work, the football field. Suddenly there were hundreds of fans
between him and the locker room, all of whom were celebrating Marshall's
last-second, 36-34 victory over Wauford's team.
One of these fans, a 36-year-old man named Robert Flaugher -- and why a
36-year-old man has to run onto a football field is a question we will ponder
in a moment -- was, according to his brother, "celebrating with the Marshall
players" and "waving good-bye to the Miami players."
Now, "waving good-bye," in the lingo of crazy postgame fans, is not "waving
good-bye" the way, say, a flight attendant waves good-bye.
More often than not, it's: "SEE YA! WOULDN'T WANT TO BE YA!"
Or "GO HOME, LOSER!"
Or words to that effect.
No matter what, it is not something a football coach or a player should have
to endure as he tries to make his way off the field. Doesn't a person have the
right to leave his workplace without confrontation?
The system is out of whack
Nonetheless, when Wauford tried to leave the field after the wild, last-second
loss, he was faced not only with hundreds of opposing fans, but the sight of
Flaugher and his "waving good-bye" antics.
What went through Wauford's mind? Some say he thought he was in danger. Some
say he thought one of his players was in danger. Maybe he was just ticked off.
But he shoved Flaugher and Flaugher went down. Hard. He landed on the
artificial turf, banged his head, and was eventually taken away on a
stretcher.
Wauford was taken away in handcuffs.
The arrest charge? Battery. The fallout? Wauford was suspended from the
program. And we can only imagine what is coming his way once Flaugher's
headache clears up and he talks to lawyers.
But while no one condones violence, you have to wonder if Wauford should be
taking a fall for a system that is out of whack.
After all, we live in a world where a tennis player, Monica Seles, was stabbed
in the back by a rabid fan. Where a baseball coach was recently jumped and
beaten by two fans. Where soccer crowds routinely endanger one another in
postgame celebrations. Did you know a Marshall fan Web site made such ominous
threats against the Miami team, that Miami's head coach brought along several
police officers to guard the sidelines? Is that what these sports have come
to?
At what point do colleges -- which have rules about almost everything -- make
rules about who belongs on a field and who doesn't? You have a harder time
getting into the library than you do getting to the 50-yard line.
Fans are not part of the game
Consider a few basic facts of this story. Miami had just lost the game on two
controversial pass-interference penalties. Wauford is Miami's defensive
coordinator, and therefore, he likely felt worse than anyone else. He is 32, a
former standout player himself, a big guy, strong, and used to physical
contact. Along comes this taunting fan. And Wauford -- in anger, frustration,
self-protection, whatever -- shoves the guy. And the guy happens to land on
his head.
All those circumstances add up to disaster for Wauford. But what about the
preventive math? How about a rule that keeps fans off the field -- period?
What right do they have to be out there? The six beers they drank?
I have seen players swarmed and swamped by drunken idiots. This from
universities that are supposedly concerned about their athletes' welfare. Mark
my words, one day a kid is going to break an arm under a pile of whooping
fans, and his career will be over. And then what?
Wauford may have been wrong, but he was only being human. What was Flaugher
being -- besides a fool? A 36-year-old has to run onto a football field to
wave good-bye? Why? Was he a part of the win? No. That's the mistake too many
fans make. They think they matter. They think they belong. They think by
wearing T-shirts or painting their faces, they are a part of the game and on
the team.
They're not. And they don't belong on the field. You wouldn't put up with such
exits at your office. And football teams shouldn't have to, either. The
handcuffs were on the coach. But it's fans who pose the danger.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch
Albom Show" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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COLUMN;FAN;BEHAVIOR