With a pool of blood in front of me, on the middle of Elm Street, I stood on the sidewalk and photographed Nashua police officers taking pictures and measurements for hours, as they investigated what appeared to me as a pedestrian accident with a car, behind Nashua City Hall Friday morning, May 2, 2008. But who would think that it allegedly started as a confrontation between Red Sox fans and a Yankee fan in a nearby pub?

 

The tire tracks of the car stretched a city block through a gravel parking lot. And, there was a huge hole in the windshield of the car where the person was struck. It was a grusome scene.

Just how far do sports fans go to protect their pride? As a Minnesota Vikings fan, growing up in Wisconsin, I was the one who sat on the other side of the room to watch the teams play each other. Fortunately for me, the Vikes usually came out on top, and it got pretty quiet around my friend's house after the game. But to allegedly take someone's life for the pride of your team...

Not long after we moved to New England in 1992, I started to switch my alliance with the local pro teams. After all, how many Vikings, Packers, Twins, or Brewers games do you see on television out here? After my son was born, we decided to raise him as a Red Sox and Patiots fan. Now he can tease his grandfather, and bet on games with his uncles back home.

I can understand a little joking around, and the occasional beer-throwing at a Red Sox game when a Yankee fan blurts out an obsenity, but what was the driver thinking here?

I was in Taunton, Mass., last weekend for a pair of AAU baseball games with my family. Some of us stopped at Friendly's for a bite afterward. In the booth next to me was a boy not more than a year old. On his shirt it said "Yankees___Yuck." His parents wore the other version. Now, you have seen the shirts for the older fans, where the "Y" is substituted for a more vulger word. They were teaching him young!

As upset an we get at opposing fans for taunting and geering us, we have to remember that it's just a game. No words exchanged are ever worth fighting about, or taking a life. Walk away and you will be around to watch or play in the next game.

-Bob Hammerstrom