It's Just a Game

The current version of Sports & Entertainment Marketing I has a section on security, which gave me a chance to discuss famous security incidents at sporting events, from the Munich Olympic games to the Monica Seles attack.

In the last week, my classes have discussed two incidents involving fans at Major League Baseball games--the beating of a Giants fan into a coma at Dodger Stadium and fan at PNC Park (in the video above) who was tasered and clubbed after refusing to leave the park.

I don't quite get the thinking behind these incidents. In the first case, how does a fan get so worked up about his (professional) team that he feels it necessary to send a fan of an opposing team to the hospital? In the second, why wouldn't you just leave when the police tell you to go? There were interesting comments from my classes regarding both of these cases.