It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses It

Game of catch turns ugly
April 16, 2008

LINCOLN — A simple backyard “bat-and-catch” baseball game between a father and son quickly developed into a serious case of “hardball” with a neighboring father-son tandem on Tuesday afternoon.

Turns out, Anthony J. Delsignore brought the wrong equipment to the “contest” and lost. Shortly before 5:45 p.m., police arrested Delsignore, 47, of 14 David Drive, on a charge of felony assault with a dangerous weapon, that being a 38-caliber handgun.

This is not funny. Not even a little. But it does illustrate how competition can be an ugly and even dangerous thing. I don't know if there are sports psychologists out there, but if there are I propose a research project: do people who are drawn to competitive sports share certain personality traits? If so, what are they?

It's not just suburban soccer moms or dads hyped up on testosterone either; we see the ugly side of competition at the national level too. European soccer riots, the SWAT team on the field at Fenway, and NBA stars who vent their frustrations bodily on fans are not, unfortunately, unheard of. Taken together these incidents make me wonder if organized sports provide a safe way to compete, or if they stoke the fires of aggression (in players and fans alike) to an unhealthy and unacceptable level.

Those situations when things do spiral out of control are never anything to be proud of. Whether you're a player, a coach, a fan, or a parent (and whether you like it or not) you are modeling behavior for someone. Do keep that in mind the next time you feel the urge to flatten a rival and maybe we can take some of the ugly out of sports.

~R