Dodger stadium security: too little, too late? – Part 1
Perhaps no one will forget the unruly event that took place in the last San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers match and that is why special security arrangements are being made this time around. Baseball is a family sport and incidents like these
taint it. People fear for their physical health when they come to watch a match, but that is not what baseball is for.
It is a sport meant to entertain people, not scare them to the point where they start wondering whether the person sitting next to them is going to attack them or not. If men don’t feel safe coming to watch a game, then how do could we expect them to bring
their wives or children to the game?
The Giants will make sure that World Series level security is employed for their next game against the Dodgers so that violent incidents like the one on Opening day can be avoided. Bryan Stow, a paramedic from San Francisco was physically abused at Dodger
stadium by two unidentified persons.
He was left in such a state that the hospital had to put him under a medically induced coma so that the swelling in his head could be stopped before it did any permanent damage to him. Stow is still in a coma and the doctors have told the media that it would
take quite some time for Stow to be in a state where they could feel safe enough to take him out of his coma. The recovery would come after that, which could take quite a bit of time.
Jorge Costa, the teams Senior Vice President for stadium operation said that the security has been beefed up by 15 to 20 percent, which is larger and much more than what would be present at a typical home game. There are rumours that after a meeting it was
decided that an even bigger force would be employed, almost 30 to 40 percent more security personnel as compared to a normal home game.
Even though according to Costa all necessary measures have been taken to avoid incidents like those in the past, he said, "We've done our due diligence. We've put the resources together. We've got the plan."
The sad question that arises from hearing about all of this is that why a Dodger fan or any other opposing fan can’t co-exist with a Giants fan? Baseball is not a game that came into being just recently, as it has been present for centuries. If the fans
before us could be civilised during the game then why can’t we? Don’t we supposedly have more sense and sensibility than our predecessors?
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