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burn the city to the ground
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We Won… Burn The City To The Ground!

What’s up there, sports fans? Evidently the World Series finished up last night and the San Francisco Giant Men won the bizarre flag theme park Major League Baseball trophy. The players celebrated this accomplishment by doing their best “Dexter meets champagne and ski goggles” impersonation, and the fans of the San Francisco Giants celebrated with the decision to burn this city to the ground. “We won, we won! So let’s start a giant fire!” This is easily the dumbest trend to ever come out of sports on any level.

Winning a championship is NOT an excuse to go out and cause destruction. If you think it’s cool, funny, or even entertaining, then you are a certifiable moron. And if you make excuses for it, then you’re just as foolish. But of course that’s exactly what local reporters will do, so that they don’t cause a media firestorm in their own backyards.

Let’s look at some quotes from a recent article over on San Jose’s Mercury News to see this journalism of capitulation in its finest form:

It was a hard-fought victory that didn’t come any more easily for the fans than it did for the team. But celebrations that started with that eruption of joy continued well into the night and turned more rowdy as the night wore on.

Seriously? David DeBolt, Katie Nelson, and Thomas Peele (the authors of this story) should be embarrassed by the above two sentences. Fans are fans. They get to watch games and cheer for their team. The didn’t “fight hard” for this victory. They cheered how they would have win or lose. Were they emotionally invested? I’m sure they were. But by saying the win didn’t come easily for fans, it excuses what happened next by implying that fans needed some sort of release… but the fans GOT A RELEASE… it’s called their team winning the World Series.

And how do “celebrations of joy” simply turn ugly? Is there an emotional alchemist on the scene that we’re not aware of? You don’t see a baby shower or wedding turn into a mob riot very often and those are celebrations of joy, so what gives here? My best guess is that they weren’t always purely celebrations of joy, but in fact had something darker going on from minute one.

WHY Burn The City?

There was a peaceful organization founded on joy and then it erupted into chaos and arson because some people had more beer. NOPE. I’m not buying it and neither should the authors. Also, it’s not like we haven’t seen these sports inspired riots before… would you say that this situation always takes place because Joy simply becomes Destruction at some point? No one would say that, except for maybe these three authors.

Police officers — several in riot gear — kept a watchful eye as thousands paraded down Market and Mission streets in San Francisco. Some fans set fires or jumped on top of Muni buses, prompting the agency to shut down service on city streets. Other fans spray-painted walls, and hundreds threw water bottles at officers and yelled out threats as the officers tried to disperse crowds. Police swarmed in to move crowds along from one street to another until they finally broke up about 12:30 a.m.

So let me get this straight, Police WATCHED the marching rioters do their worst? The transportation agency shut down service instead of getting the police involved? Why would a City allow this type of situation to unfurl when they know it’s coming? How do they know it’s coming? Because it happened in 2010 AND 2012, when the SF Giants last won World Series titles.

“These are true fans,” said Brickhouse Cafe & Saloon doorman Will Lynch. “They come here from different parts of city to be near the ballpark.”

Sorry, Will. You’re missing the point. These are not true fans. True fans watch the game, and cheer. Idiots, like these people, come to be “near the ballpark” so they can burn busses, set bonfires, and hop on the bandwagon of a winner. There is a big difference. Maybe you’ll figure it out by the next time SF wins a World Series.

Lynch said he expected celebrations to be just as raucous as those that came after the team’s 2010 and 2012 World Series wins. But he thought it would be more “controlled” this time around.

Or you won’t learn a darn thing! So, you did know that this would happen. Why did you expect it to be less raucous? Has anything changed?

“I think some fans were embarrassed by things in the past,” Lynch said of the burning of a city bus in 2012.

Don’t worry, Will, some of us are still embarrassed for you right now! We’ve got you covered.

Tenderloin resident Stu Barnes, 33, said the coming together of people from all over the Bay Area was reflective of the City by the Bay being a “baseball city.”

“Take a look around you,” he said while watching the game in black-and-orange pinstripe pants from Hemlock Tavern on Polk Street. “There are weirdos in here that can tell you the E.R.A. of a bullpen pitcher. It’s beautiful.”

Dear Stu, you are also missing the point. I was in SF a couple months ago and I saw very few people wearing Giants hats, shirts, or black and orange pinstripe pants. I was in a bar and a Giants game was on. NO ONE WAS WATCHING THE GAME. NO ONE. You are fair weather fans who come out and riot when you win something. San Francisco is not a “baseball city”… it is a City that can’t win with class, and that destroys itself in times of victory. But you were close!

Sadly there are many cities all over the world nowadays that can’t win with class. You see it in college towns, pro sports cities, and international soccer havens on a way-too-often basis. The way-too-often basis is reached when it happens once. That is way too often.

Journalists out there, even if they cover the city where the riot took place, need to do a better job of reporting and skip out on the excuse making. Residents should do the same, and not let their blind desire to burn things mix with their love of baseball, football, or basketball. We, as sports fans, need to simply chill the %#&@ out. This is getting past embarrassment levels… it’s verging on the ridiculous, reckless, and dangerous.

Enough is enough. Stop ruining sports for the rest of us. It’s not fun, funny, or anything good. It’s a waste of time, resources, and perfectly good sporting events. Are there bigger issues out there? Of course, so let’s knock this one out and move on. We can be the change we need to see. Or we can let all sporting events turn into madhouses where riots and bonfires could break out at any time. Sounds like a great time.