What the Vancouver Riots and Kyle Williams Have in Common

Some of you may remember that when the Vancouver Canucks lost in the Stanley Cup finals to the Boston Bruins, Vancouver fans rioted, which led to at least 140 injuries, 4 stabbings, 117 arrests ("2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot"), and providing further evidence that some fans (which of course is short for "fanatic") take sports way too seriously.

Six months later the San Francisco Forty-Niners lost in the NFC Championship game to the New York Giants, largely because of the two fumbles of one player -- Kyle Williams. Williams accepted his share of responsibility for the Niner's loss and reportedly remarked that although he knew it wasn't the end of the world, right now it sure felt like it. It would be nice to think that would be the end of the story. Unfortunately, it isn't. Williams evidently received death threats from Niner fans for fumbling the game away. While, like all Niner fans, I was disappointed that the Niners lost, clearly there are some of us who, just like the Vancouver fans six months before, take professional football much too seriously.