Insecurity Detail: Is Anything Safe From Mayhem Any Longer?

[UPDATE: Climate demonstrators interrupt women’s semi final match at U.S. Open tennis on Thursday. It takes slow-reacting security 50 minutes to finally remove the radicals from Arthur Ashe Stadium.]

It’s not like baseball hasn’t seen fans on the field before— sometimes thousands of them. Remember when Hank Aaron hit home run No. 715? He was chased around the base paths by fans in Atlanta who’d somehow gotten past security. One of whom, Craig Sager, went on to have a lengthy sports broadcasting career.

Yankee Stadium crowds often mobbed the field in the 1970s, forcing players like Reggie Jackson to fight their way to the clubhouse to save their skins and, maybe, their caps. MLB has managed to discover security in the years since then, the protective netting surrounding the field providing a barrier to overly refreshed fans from taking an idiotic lap around the field.

That’s why the sight of, not one, but two fans being allowed to get to Atlanta’s superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. in centre field in Denver was so shocking. The first fan had time to awkwardly hug Acuña before, belatedly, a few porky security dudes finally hustled out to help. In doing so, Acuña, the runaway favourite for NL MVP— was knocked to the ground.

As more Rockies security emerged, a second fan joined in the untidy melée. After a brief scuffle the fans were bodily carried from the field. Only at the very end of this did any of Acuña’s teammates come out to help. The pair of intruders were arrested and charged.

An unhurt Acuña played down the incident afterward, talking about the men just being fans, a little over-excited etc. Maybe. But in a time where security is breaking down in stores, government buildings and schools, laughing off the episode is folly. In that context, the invasion of the field represented a massive security fail on behalf of MLB, the Rockies and the game-day staff.

First, players are told that in these situations they are to head immediately to the dugout. Acuña did not, waiting for the intruders. Second, the security staff were critically slow. The fan had ample time to create a worse confrontation before the other staff— and the second intruder— arrived on scene. Third, Acuña’s teammates were strangely reticent to come to his aid. Fourth, the areas of entry to the field were not properly supervised. Fifth, the umpires should have cleared the field. Instead the Braves pitcher was allowed to continue his warmup on the mound. 

Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.

Again these scenes have happened before, shrugged off as a lark by a drunk fan. Why the big fuss? The answer is context. In a time when MLB is trying to get fans as close their heroes as possible (see the Blue Jays new bullpens) the league has now shown it can’t control an emergency. Other leagues have had varying degrees of success. The NHL has very few intrusions on-ice anymore since high glass and netting made invasions nearly impossible.

But players in all sports still must pass through gauntlets of fans wanting a touch of the hand or a souvenir. In this regard golf and tennis are whistling past the graveyard as fans can stand in arm’s length of a golfer or interface with tennis stars at courtside. Just attend a PGA Tour event— most are like frat parties— and you’ll know how hard it would be to contain trouble if it got any momentum. 

In the bigger picture, Canadians and Americans have come to accept that the people who are entrusted to keep the criminal element in their place are not doing their job. Like the Rockies staff they show up late— if they show up at all. And the perps are quickly back on the street due to new bail laws and hyper-liberal judges and crown attorneys. (Except if you’re a truck driver.) 

Every major Canadian city— and a few secondary places as well— is now a squat zone for the homeless, the addicted and the politically insane. Here’s Ottawa: . Here’s Calgary: Here’s Toronto: They’re not exceptions.  There are now no-go sections of these formerly safe places where unspeakable acts are performed on a sidewalk or in a park, menacing people in their everyday activities. Children must pass by the human detritus of needles and junk. Authority seems non-existent. 

Large American cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York (among many) are also being preyed upon by organized gangs who swarm stores, gutting even high-end outlets like Nordstroms, Saks and Gucci in a blur of action, departing the scene in every direction. At times they use stolen cars to break through security. Many of these stores are closing their inner-city outlets.

Who are these thugs? Some are lifetime criminals, some are illegal immigrants, some are junkies, some are joyriders, out for a lark. Absent proper housing and mental healthcare they spill out in the streets knowing that laws about shoplifting have been forgotten (thanks to municipal councils replete with bleeding hearts). In the midst of this, the VPOTUS urged citizens to pay the bail of those who burned American cities for six months after George Floyd. That’s a deterrent, huh?

Knowing that the legal system is debased by Woke prosecutors and clown politicians such as AOC (“They’re just putting bread on the table”) they act with impunity. As often as not those protecting stores are charged for injuring the criminals. Managers tell staff to instead turn the other cheek to rampant theft.

For the most part the fanciful liberals who support ultra-permissive politicians have been immune from the impact of electing fools and revolutionaries. But now, the mayor of NYC is crying the blues because the illegals he thought should be kept in border states are now roaming his streets, flooding social services and jails. Ditto mayors in many other Democrat-run cities who see the migrant bussed to their streets.

In Canada, the current Liberal government has set a target of 40 million people in this country by 2026. Where are these new people to live? Where are they to work in cities with insane housing supply? Who will pay for their healthcare when personal physicians are as rare as Toronto Stanley Cup triumphs since 1967? Trudeau has no answers, just word salads blaming Stephen Harper.

It’s gotten so people now look at the attack on Ronald Acuña in a baseball park and say, “More of the same.” The breaking point is near. Should anyone choose not to do something about it. 

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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx