As we return to the new normal following more than a year of isolation and other weirdness due to COVID-19, some people appear to be having issues reacclimatizing to polite society. Sports fans in particular seem to be having a tough time with it, as evidenced by a number of ugly incidents over the past months involving unruly and unsafe behavior.
Which brings us to the state of Colorado, where the Rockies are predictably struggling after trading away perennial MVP candidate Nolan Arenado for peanuts, the Nuggets just got swept by the Phoenix Suns, the Avalanche bowed out ignominiously to the Vegas Knights after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, and the fans are now getting in fights and subsequently having their asses kicked … badly.
On the heels of some ugly fan behavior in the stands in Denver when the U.S. and Mexico faced off in a Nations League final, a video of a Denver Nuggets fan sucker-punching a Phoenix Suns supporter and then getting beaten to a pulp went viral over the weekend.
To make matters worse for the destroyed Denver fan, the Suns’ supporter’s proclamation that Phoenix would win their second-round playoff series in four games was dead-on, as the Nuggets were eliminated last night.
We’ve also seen similar recent incidents involving fans of the Rockies …
and the Avalanche.
The Avs were also eliminated from the postseason over the weekend, and the Rockies are 25-41 this season (one of the worst records in Major League Baseball), so it makes sense that Colorado sports fans are a little touchy about their teams. But getting in fights (and losing them) just makes the teams they support seem like even bigger losers than they already are.
“What I have seen by being a fan and in the community, this isn’t any reflection of the true fan base of Denver sports,” Nuggets fan Ty Beaty told Fox Denver.
Hopefully that’s actually the case once the Broncos start playing games this fall, or we’re going to see a ton of nosebleeds in the stands at Empower Field at Mile High that have nothing to do with the altitude.
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