Ridiculous Violence at 2012 Winter Classic Symbolic of Epidemic Plaguing Sports

For all the differences we have with one another, the one part of life that brings so many different kinds of people together is sports.

The passion and excitement we feel when we watch or play sports is unlike any kind of emotion we feel in other aspects of our daily lives, but when does all the passion and excitement go too far?

In the last decade, there's been a disturbing amount of incidents involving fan violence in sports. I'm not talking about the normal disagreements about why my team is better than yours; I'm talking about passionate sports fans going over the line and even assaulting other fans to the point where they put the lives of their victims in danger.

Log onto the Internet, go to YouTube and type in the search query "fan fight." I got 167,000 results, enough videos to keep me up for days.

What Recent Events Have Occurred?

After the New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in the 2012 Winter Classic this week, three Flyers fans assaulted a Rangers fan who currently serves as a police offer for the Woodbridge Police Department in New Jersey, and has served our country in the Marines.

Neal Auricchio is an American hero. Auricchio risked his life as a member of the armed forces to protect our country so we can enjoy fabulous events such as the Winter Classic. He even was awarded with a Purple Heart for his service in the military.

Fan violence is a problem in our world, and now it has been taken to a new level. Assaulting or abusing any fan is always wrong, but when American heroes who have risked everything to keep us safe are being assaulted, we have a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

Warning: The following video contains explicit language and violence.

This has nothing to do with your opinion of Flyers fans, or Philadelphia sports fans in general. This is a real problem that needs to be brought to the forefront of America.

There have been way too many incidents of fan violence in America that have ruined the fun and excitement of cheering for our favorite teams and players.

Last March, San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow was badly beaten by Los Angeles Dodgers fans at the two teams' season opener, and spent months in the hospital recovering from serious injuries before being released on October 11.

Stow attended a game to see his Giants play the rival Dodgers on the road. I can tell you from my own experience that watching your favorite team play on the road is a different experience than watching them at home.

However, there's no reason a fan should feel threatened by cheering for his team in an enemy ballpark. Earlier this year in the Champions League (a European soccer competition between top clubs), English club Manchester City sent a letter to fans warning them about wearing the club's colors in Italy against Napoli.

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City's letter, signed by the operations manager Steve Sayer, says fans should "take care and use common sense" and "travel in groups where possible".

It says the club is "confident that there is a low risk of problems" but adds: "We would also advise against wearing club colours away from the game, particularly when taking public transport."

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It's sad that we live in a world where we need to be cautious of wearing our team's colors in and around an opposing team's stadium. Just because someone wears a Red Sox jersey to Yankee Stadium doesn't mean they are a bad person, or deserve to be abused in any way if they cheer for their team.

Why Does Fan Violence Happen?

A New York Times story from August dove into the issue of fan violence, when two fans suffered injuries following a shooting after a preseason game between the Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers.

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Experts say that fan violence — especially postgame, perhaps aggravated by alcohol — can play out in parking lots and out of the view of stadium security, sometimes to deadly effect.

“There is a culture of aggression and masculinity that permeates out onto the fans,” said William Wiener, a sports psychologist in private practice in Manhattan.

“Having a conflict and not backing down seems more appropriate in this environment for some,” he said. “It becomes an outlet for their life’s aggression.”

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The topic I take from that passage is the notion that people don't like to back down during confrontations about sports. This right here is where I think the issue of fan violence lies.

Think about a time when someone told you that your favorite team sucked. How did you feel? Most people would take offense to something like this and refuse to back down, because doing so makes you look weak and unmanly, for a lack of a better phrase.

There is no reason to assault another fan because he's bashing your team. You're not going to prove that you're tougher, or that your team is better by dealing with the situation in a physical way.

Just because you love your team and pay an insane amount of money for tickets does not entitle you to behave like a madman at a sporting event. There are more important things in life than sports, which is hard for some people to believe, but at the end of the day we shouldn't have to worry about facing overly aggressive fans when we go to games.

Face Reality: Fan Violence Is an Issue

Over the last year, sports experts and fans have talked a ton about keeping players safe. Athletes are stronger and faster than ever, and the threat of concussions and other serious injuries is more of a problem now than even 10 years ago.

While player safety is an important issue we must deal with every day, we shouldn't have to worry about the safety of fans at sporting events, but the reality is we do.

People need to remember that even though sports hold such a special place in our lives, at the end of the day it's just a game. Nothing more, nothing less.

The disturbing amount of incidents of fan violence in sports over the last decade is appalling, and it's time we wake up and do something about it.

How We Can Stop the Violence?

There are a number of ways to stop fan violence, and that effort starts with ourselves.

What's the best way to handle fan violence? Walk away from obnoxious fans and ignore them. Sounds cliche, right? Well that's because it's the best way to handle these types of situations.

While we can take measures to prevent fan violence, such as adding security and banning alcohol sales, the best measure we can take to prevent terrible violence among fans is to choose how we are going to act in these situations.

If we choose not to engage fans and not be physical towards others, people will enjoy and have fun watching their favorite teams play.

If alcohol sales need to be banned inside of ballparks to reduce the number of incidents involving fan violence, so be it. If tailgating needs to be banned from sporting events, such as football games, so be it. The safety of fans and players is priority No. 1 at sporting events, and if these steps need to be taken to ensure we can all enjoy games peacefully, then that's what needs to be done.

The next time someone interferes with your enjoyment of a sporting event, walk away and call security. Defending your honor by not backing down doesn't prove anything, and it's not worth it.

Going to a game shouldn't be a life-or-death experience. We shouldn't have to worry about our safety at sporting events, which are supposed to be a way to have fun and a place to forget about our problems for a few hours, not add to the issues we already have.

Nicholas Goss is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report.

Follow @NicholasGoss35