Sports I lustraded

A very funny and interesting blog A Small Victory claims evil sports fans are not born but rather made after years of senseless rivalry.

She starts out "I've discovered that a sports rivalry can be more divisive than any left/right politics" and I would definitely agree with that.

She then goes on to explain that for most of her life she has cheered for teams that never win. She was a Jets fan before they abandoned everyone and moved to a different city and is still upset about some Mets game in 1986. She is also a big Islander fan and it seems they don't win very often at all. She talks of all the mean things and "crap" she has taken from other sports fans over the years because of undying loyalty to these losing teams.

She admits all that punishment has finally driven her over the edge into fanaticism.

"I've been a good sport. But those days are gone and you've all played a part in it. So now I've joined the dark side and become on of them; the sports fan that you hate. The one who gloats when your team sucks. The one who lords it over you when your team is so error prone they make the Bad News Bears look like a gold glove all star team. The one who cuts pictures of your favorite players out of the newspaper and mails them to you, defaced and disgraced. I am a bitter, war-torn sports fan and even though I will never, ever be the one who wears face paint or starts a stupid chant, I will be the one grinning like an evil bastard at you when your team goes down hard. I hate myself for it sometimes, but it can't be helped. I'm not spoiled. I'm just filled with a bitter poison that's been fed to me from years of rivarly abuse."

At least she recognizes this attitude as an evil poison and points out how silly and barbaric these rivalries can become.

We already have politics, race, religion, sex, clothing, hair, music and a million other things to fight over, do we really need any more reasons to separate ourselves into these little competitive groups that harass, insult and demean each other in the name of fun and good times? It's not my kind of fun and never a good time. Unfortunately sports fans are driven over the edge of fanaticism into the dark side everyday and the cycle continues.

It's a cycle that must be broken, just like the cycle of alcoholism or child abuse. We must let fanatics know their behavior is destructive and unacceptable and help them to find more important things to spend their time worrying about. It's not alright to constantly harass people because their team is doing badly or keep up the stupid humiliating jokes and slights. It's not their fault the quarterback didn't throw the ball right. But most sports fans have the same problem: they love to dish it out but can rarely take it with the same sense of humor when their team starts sucking.

At least this girl knows she has a problem. I wonder if there is a 12 step program for fanatical sports fans?

More news on Dustin Camp, the "I'm a ninja in my Caddy" jock who murdered punk Brian Deneke in 1997 and received 10 years probation. It seems he got away with murder but violated his probation by having a beer bash with his friends. Amarillo Globe-News.

Whoops. It seems even his dad almost faced charges for lying to the police. Was dad at this jock beer bust too? Seems he knew enough about what was going on to insist his child had no beer and did not try and evade police. The cops say his brother lied to them and refused to identify Camp when asked to. I guess when you get away with murder you feel like you can get away with anything, especially if you are the towns favorite jock.
(update: Dad got off when they decided not to prosecute and the brother did a year probation for the party and lying to police. Does this family have a super guardian angel or what?)

After deciding Camp violated 5 of his probation terms he was finally sentenced to 8 years in prison. Not for murder, but for drinking beer with underage kids and lying to police. Guess even the jocks can't get away with lying to the police too many times.

"I think we are just a little sick of the finger being pointed at everyone but Dustin Camp," said Assistant 47th District Attorney John Coyle. "The time has come to accept responsibility, and the time has come for this court to enforce the judgment of the jury." reported the Amarillo Globe. Well, finally the voice of reason.

Or is it? The father of a defense witness, Mr. Richard Hamm tells the Globe he disagrees and thinks Camp got the wrong end of the stick: "I'm really disappointed in Judge (Abe) Lopez," Hamm said. "He spit on his finger and held it up to the political wind." He goes on to say that Camp was bright, intelligent and good-hearted. "There were tragic consequences, and now the tragedy has come to roost on him. Dustin Camp can't be a threat to society," Hamm said. "When he comes out of prison in eight years, he may well be. Judge Lopez may have a hand in that."

Can't be a threat to society and it's all the judges fault? He kills other kids because they look differently than he and his friends and then throws parties for underage drinkers in violation of his probation and lies to the police after attempting to elude them. If that's not a threat I don't know what is. Shall I venture to guess on which side of the sports fanaticism fence Mr. Hamm sits?

While I agree prison is not the best punishment for many people and it does tend to create criminals when impressionable young people are incarcerated, what are you to do with someone who so obviously believes himself to be above the law?

Well, it seems you put them on the fast track to early release. The Brian Deneke memorial website reports that:"Dustin Camp has been placed in the review process for early release (parole). We did not expect this to happen for at least another year. Apparently he becomes eligible for parole on June 7, 2002. His file was placed in the review process December 11, 2001-only three months after he was sentenced to eight years."

But that's all the info I have so far. Stay tuned to see what happened to Mr. Camp in the end. Did he get prison or did someone once again slip him the "jock get out of jail free" card? Is there a killer jock party going on right now at his house?

What do you know about this famous case?

Today I found the Official Website of the Brian Deneke Memorial Committee, a group committed to keeping the memory of this non sports loving teenager alive. He was brutally killed with a Cadillac during an old fashioned rumble by a Texas high school football star who only got probation for his crime. In a state that kills more murderers than anyone, the bungled trial and laughable sentence outraged many and fueled the fires against the jock attitude and how we as a society let them literally get away with murder because they can throw a ball well. This site makes sure we never forget what happened that fateful winter night.

After a long battle between the jocks and the punks in Amarillo in 1997, Brian was run down during a large fight by a football player who said his car slid because it was icy. This story held until the girl in the car with him told of the horrible way this sports "hero" intentionally ran down another person after saying "I'm a ninja in my Caddy" and then joked "I'll bet he liked that" as he drove everyone home. Confessions were never presented at trial and allegations of special treatment still abound today while he walks free to enjoy the rest of his life.

But hate and dwelling on the past will get us no where and this site has the right idea in trying to find something positive in something so terrible as the death of this young man and the injustice served up by the courts and our sports-centric society in it's wake.

Brian did not die because he deserved to. Brian did not die because he asked to. Brian died because he was different. He was a nonconformist. He was an Individualist. He was a free spirit. Brian was also a thoughtful and caring young man, a good son, a good friend. His life was full of promise. His murder deprived this community of someone who had already begun to make a difference to it and no doubt would have made an even greater difference in the future. Brian Deneke is gone. His death has left a divided city, a shocked city, a hurt city in its wake. It has also left us a memory of who Brian was and what he stood for. That memory can serve either a negative purpose or a positive one.

Visit Brian's site today and help make a positive future for all our children by lustrating the evil from modern youth sports.

EA sports and the NFL have signed a 5 year exclusive deal making Madden football the only NFL game with any of the league players, stadiums, coaches or anything else for that matter. Read about it at Game SpotBig Deal: EA and NFL ink exclusive licensing agreement

Even the sports guys don't think this is a good thing and neither do I.

It's just another example of how far sports fanatisicm will go. These companies are so confident in their brand and it's loyal customers that they can just form monopolies and destroy any chance of real competition. It's bad business and it's bad sportsmanship. The sad fact is that they are probably right, NFL fans will buy whatever game is offered as long as it says NFL and has Mr. Madden saying stupid things every ten seconds.

What ever happened to good old fashioned competition?

There is actually a webring for sites about how how some people feel about sports. Sports Suck!

While it only has six member sites, I'm sure this is not the only collection of sports hating sites I will run across!

It seems I'm not alone in my call for action to lustrate the evil from modern sports. Their is an organization called the League of Fans that hopes to do this as well.

"League of Fans is motivated by people, just like you, who wish to turn their grievances with the sports industry into action for reform. We work to increase awareness of the sports industry's relationship to society, influence a broad range of issues in sports at all levels and encourage the cooperative capacities that make the 'sports powers-that-be' capable of helping, not just dominating, our society and culture. "

They are all about action too. With links to petitions and articles exposing the bad side of sports, this place has a lot of great advice and I'm sure to be quoting them quite often.

I encourage everyone to check them out now.

"Dustin headed straight for a guy who was standing on one of the medians in the parking lot. The guy had his back toward us. Right before we hit him, he turned and saw Dustin's car coming. We were going fast. Dustin was driving right at the guy. When we hit him, his torso came up on the hood toward us. Then he slid under the car. We hit the median he was standing on and I felt a big bump. I just prayed the bump was the median and not him.' "

If you heard this testimony in a case about the murder of a teenager during a fight between skinheads and jocks, would you send the offender to jail? This testimony comes from the girl in the car with the killer who says it was icy and he didn't mean it; his brakes just didn't work. The Houston Press reports in 'Fire and Ice' that the good citizens of Amarillo in the "killem all in the chair and let God sort em out" state of Texas didn't think jail was fitting. They gave this dangerous boy 10 years probation instead because he promised to be good.

Weeks later it was reported that the boy had actually confessed to the killing but the tape never went to court. Potter County District Attorney Rebecca King explains "It was a self-serving statement, in that instance, there was nothing new that aided the prosecution or the defense." So they didn't think to mention any confessions to the jury. It wasn't important.

Why would they do this? Prosecuters withholding confessions that would have sealed their case? Wouldn't the public be outraged if some vicious skinhead kills a jock and no one does anything about it? Shouldn't someone stop these freak counter culture maniacs before they get out of control and hurt our good little boys and girls?

Well, no actually. There is no threat to the good children who play sports so we can forgive and forget this once. You see, the boy who brought a car to a stick fight was the star football player at the local high school. Perhaps that's why he got probation in a state famous for frying convicted killers who lie.

Guess they don't fry famous white football players though.