Ohio State and Los Angeles Lakers: Do Fans Need to Take a Deeper Look Inside?

The Los Angeles Lakers have a rich history of basketball and championships; names like Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, to name a few, are synonymous with greatness.

So after Game 2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, when Steve Blake missed a shot near the end of the game, Laker fans’ behavior was alarming. Despite multiple past championships and some of the greatest players in history, fanatical basketball fans fired death threats via social media at Blake’s Twitter. 

Blake’s wife ended up having to block around 500 people. The question is asked: has society gone too far? Do we as fans need to reevaluate the priorities in our life? Has our sports following produced an irrationality that's detrimental to teams, our society and ourselves?

Buckeye fans may also share in this alarming behavior. In recent Ohio State Football history, two young men, Alex Anzalone and Lewis Neal, experienced similar things as Steve Blake. After their decommitment from Ohio State, fans took out their wrath on these two young men. Unlike Blake, they are not professionals but two people who are trying to figure out where the best place for their education will be. This decision will affect the rest of their lives.

Alex Anzalone talked me over the phone after I requested an interview. I asked him what were some of the things he had to endure after his decommitment. He responded by saying:

1.) OSU fans apparently went on the website ratemydoctor.com and wrote false reviews of Alex’s dad essentially trying to tarnish his reputation as a physician. Dr. Anzalone is a pediatrician.

2.) Anzalone received a number of threatening tweets that were so vulgar that he was not comfortable sharing them.

3.) Fans emailed his dad’s office complaining about his son’s decommitment.

4.) Even a Pennsylvania newspaper, the Reading Eagle, misquoted Dr. Sal Anzalone printing: "Something's just not right at Ohio State," Sal Anzalone said. "It's not for him." The paper later ran a story retracting his statements as a misunderstanding and misquote. All this because a 17-year-old boy who is not legally an adult decided he needed more time before deciding which college he would attend. 

Alex Anzalone told me that the stories that were coming out about his decommitment on the Internet were not all true, but fans really felt they knew the whole story. In his opinion, they did not. Anzalone knew of Charles Waugh’s enormous amounts of texting but was already having issues before the picture with Waugh came out. 

He was not ready to get into specifics, as he is still in the stage of deciding which school he will attend. When I asked him if he had crossed Ohio State off of his list, his reply was no and that he's still considering Ohio State but is in the evaluation phase of making his college choice.

Lewis Neal decommitted a few days before Alex Anzalone. He communicated to me that everything was fine, but when he decommitted, OSU fans berated him by emailing, tweeting, etc. comments like: “We did not want you anyway.” “We are happy you are not coming to OSU.”

He was also called “an idiot,” scolded like a little child: “You made a mistake and are not being an adult. If my child were in your situation______.”

Neal is also only 17 years old.

I think it is time we all, myself included, take a deep look inside and realize that our "fanaticism" has gone a little too far; actually, a lot too far.  When fans are threatening families’ lives after a missed shot, when 17-year-old boys incur the wrath of a university fanbase to the point where their daily living is influenced, things have gotten out of hand.

It was overzealous fans that got OSU in trouble in the first place. Overzealous fans paid money for players’ paraphernalia, paid too much money for jobs and sent emails to coaches. Ohio State has a three-year probation and has already taken great pains to ensure that no further damage will take place to the football program. Let us, the fans, not make it any harder.

But fans have their responsibility and need to realize that passionate support of football can lead to consequences that sour a state.  Ask people like Rife, DiGeronimo and Cicero.

If we the fans are not careful, our emotional zeal can lead to damaging irrational behavior that can cause harm beyond our imagination. With Ohio State being on probation, the program cannot afford it.