Crime & Safety

When Sports Rivalries Turn Deadly: How Far Would You Go to Defend Your Team's Honor?


First it was Brian Stow, the San Francisco Giants fan nearly beaten to death in Los Angeles in 2011.

Now Jonathan Denver, a Fort Bragg Dodger fan, is dead, stabbed to death after a fight with Giants fans leaving a game near At&T park Wednesday — within the same week the Giants were holding fundraisers on Stow's behalf.

Now there's even a Facebook page on the topic called, appropriately, Giants & Dodgers Fans United Against Fan Violence. 

We want to hear from sports fans about the issue of team rivalries getting so heated they come to blows or worse. Have you ever been harrassed at any Bay Area sports event for wearing your team's colors? What can be done about this craziness? Isn't it JUST a game, people?

Of course the players themselves often don't set a very great example. In a post on the anti-violence Facebook page is a picture of former Giant Brian Wilson reportedly screaming at Larry Baer about his World Series ring. Wilson, come on! The kids are watching.
    
San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr summed it up: "There's no place at these games for violence," he said. "Nobody's life should be at stake." 

— Bay City News Service contributed to this report.


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