Justine Gubar

FANATICUS: MISCHIEF AND MADNESS IN THE MODERN SPORTS FAN by Justine Gubar was a great read - unsettling and depressing - but a great read, nonetheless.
This book is well-researched and includes a very comprehensive and helpful Notes section; Bibliography and Index. There is an Introduction; 8 chapters and a thoughtful conclusion.
Ms. Gubar is a “four-time Emmy award-winning investigative journalist” and a television producer for ESPN for over twenty years. She is a good writer and impressive researcher.
I liked the introduction where Ms. Gubar says, “Printed on the flip side of my business card is our corporate mission: To serve sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere. But here’s the paradox: While we exalt the passion of sports fans, we must also face the dangerous and dark side of their behavior.”
I am interested in many sports, but increasingly I am too embarrassed to watch them. Interestingly enough, while finishing this book last night I saw a Toronto Blue Jays fan(s) throw a bottle or cup onto the outfield in order to distract the outfielders trying to make a catch. (This is during the AL East Wildcard deciding game.) And this is elementary school stuff. There are fights, drunken brawls, insulting, bullying behavior and riots happening at many games - football, baseball, basketball - you name the sport and many fans seem to be increasingly out of control. Many high schools and colleges have tried instituting ‘codes of behavior’ to varying degrees of effectiveness. But the pro sports seem too interested in revenue to try too hard.
Chapter 3 - Fans throughout the world is a very disturbing chapter. In some countries, you are courting death if you attend a sporting event - usually soccer/football. “Brazil, a country whose national identity is immersed in the game and that produces the best players in the world, has a sickening resume of fan violence.” Crime, corruption and lawlessness often go unpunished or restricted. “In 2014, in the city of Recife, a fan was killed by a toilet bowl that had been ripped from a stadium bathroom and thrown at him by rival fans.” Not a pretty way to die.
Chapter 8 - The age of Entitlement was the most interesting to me. Our culture seems to be one of increasing rudeness, entitlement and narcissim - in epidemic proportions. These traits are manifested on the playing field and in the stands to an alarming, dangerous degree.
What to do?
Legal remedies including harsher penalties for fighting and public intoxication?
College expulsions and codes of ethics?
Police? Security measures? Sanctions against teams with the rowdiest fans? How does one measure that?
What are your thoughts?… (más)