Leave the Miscues Alone

For what it's worth, as long as sports are being contested, as long as men and women compete to their fullest ability, mistakes will be made. Some will be worse than others, but making a blunder here and there will always present itself. This year, it seems like the mistakes being made out on the football field are trumping who actually wins the games.

Football in both the NFL and the college ranks have seen many last-minute spoofs, whether it be a missed field goal or be a botched punt. Both of those happened this past weekend on Championship Sunday and fans of the teams who those unfortunate events happened to are taking their losses a bit too seriously.

Fans of the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers are experincing this firsthand after fellow Iowa native Billy Cundiff missed a last-second field goal and 49er kick return specialist botched not one, but two punts late in the New York Giants upset over San Francisco.

Both mistakes proved to be costly, and for what it's worth, if there was a finger to be pointed at, it would be at them. Let's just leave it at that.

However, fans don't want to.

I guess it is written somewhere that fans somehow have the right to threaten these athletes with snide remarks and even death threats. That is a deplorable thing for a human to wish on another, and I can't even imagine what Cundiff and Williams have received in the past 36 hours.

Fans, I know you're angry over the outcome. I was on Sunday night, too. However, I kept my emotions in check (alcohol helped with that, too) and kept my thoughts to myself, even though I will never wish death among another human being. Fans, a) think before you write/speak, b) it's just a game. Leave it alone. Life goes on.

If fans can get that angry over the outcome of a game, they are not a fan. They shouldn't be able to wear their team's color in spirit or attend a game at the stadium. In the Bay Area, there have even incidents of fans stabbing one another in the parking lot after the games in Oakland.

Emotions can get the best of us at times, and I understand that. But, as the ESPN Monday Night Football crew says before each game: C'mon, man! Enjoy the games, don't make it serious. Sports are supposed to be an outlet, not an obsession.