Players Play, Spectators Spectate

My beef this week is with 17 year old Steve Consalvi, (we'll call him Dummy) who ran onto the field during a Phillies game and those criticizing police for tasing him when he did so.

Last night, Dummy decided it would be a good idea to run onto the field. Dummy, who will be attending Penn State University next year (or was supposed to be attending Penn State University pending the university's view of how his being charged as a juvenile for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and defiant trespass should play into his admission) wasn't on any drugs, and hadn't even had any alcohol. In fact, he even called his dad asking permission to run on the field, to which the dad replied that it wasn't the best of ideas, maybe shrugging it off as a practical joke.

Well, Dummy wasn't joking, he hopped over the fence and ran onto the field, and a few seconds later found himself lying on the ground after being tased by the police chasing after him.

99.99% of the time, people running on the field only desire to make drunken idiots out of themselves, and get roaring cheers from the crowd. But then there is that 0.01% of the time when the person running on the field is out there to do damage to a player or whoever they can get to.

Back in 1993, Monica Seles, ranked No. 1 in women's tennis at the time, was playing a small match in Hamburg, when lunatic Gunter Parche ran from the crowd and onto the court during a break and stabbed Seles between the shoulder blades. Seles was only 19, but she had already won two Grand Slam titles, and was on her way to becoming one of the best tennis players of all time.

But now because of Parche, we'll never know what could have been. Seles returned to the game in August 1995, and despite winning her first tournament back at the Canadian Open, was never close to the same player she was before the stabbing. Her career and life were ruined.

Then there was the Tom Gamboa incident. The 54 year old Gamboa was doing his job, coaching first base for the Kansas City Royals on September 19, 2002 in a game against the White Sox. That's when 34 year old William Ligue, Jr. and his 15 year old son, ran bare-chested onto the field and attacked Gamboa, who never saw it coming, as his back was to the stands when they attacked him. Thankfully, the Royals ran out of the dugout and took down the attackers before Gamboa had any major injuries. It could have been much worse though, as a pocketknife was found on the ground where the attack had taken place. Aaron Rowand, then a White Sox outfielder, said he saw the pocketknife fall out of one of the attacker's pockets, during the incident.

Sure, when a 17 year old kid runs on the field, everyone just thinks that he's drunk or trying to get some attention. And that's exactly what Dummy was doing; just having a good time. But why take any precautions? What he is doing is not only illegal, but also dangerous to the players just doing their jobs. Why risk a player's safety for some idiot who decided that instead of just being a spectator, he had to grab some attention. The players should play, and the spectators should spectate, nothing more, nothing less.

After the tasing, there were some mixed feelings on whether or not the police had used excessive force in bringing Dummy down. The usual method for bringing people like Dummy down is a tackle or when the crowd is really lucky, a clothesline. But tasing allows the police to not have to get close to the spectator-turned-participant, and still be able to bring him down effectively. Plus, I'm not sure how many of you have seen this infamous video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bVa6jn4rpE) but being tased certainly isn't bundles of fun. It actually seems like an extremely painful experience. But when someone breaks the law and has the possibility of hurting an innocent person or player, then I'd rather have the criminal who may or may not have malicious intent brought down by any means necessary than to see an innocent person doing their job get hurt, or have to fear getting hurt. Maybe if people see how painful tasers can be, then they would think twice before running onto the field.

So sorry if I'm being a bit of a buzzkill, but is it really that hard to stay in your seat at an enjoyable sporting event? Sure, incidents like Monica Seles' stabbing or even Tom Gamboa's attack rarely happen, but why put innocent people at risk for the sake of criminals. If all of the drunks, streakers, loonies and foolish 17 year old kids were tased whenever they ran onto the field, we would most likely be able to avoid tragedies like the one that ruined Seles' career and scarred Gamboa. Don't protect the fools who know what will happen and what they will do when they run onto the field, protect the players who don't.