3 Insane Examples Of Bullying/Stealing From Kids At Sports Events – How To Stop Them!

The US Open Millionaire CEO Incident

About four weeks earlier, a similar incident happened at the U.S. Open tennis tournament. After an upset win by Polish tennis player Kamil Majchrzak, the player signed autographs for fans. As he handed his hat to a boy in the stands, a Polish millionaire CEO snatched the hat from the boy. Majchrzak didn’t notice at the time, but would later hear about the incident. With the help of the internet, the Polish star was able to locate the boy and make things right. The CEO never did. Here is video of the incident courtesy of local television channel ABC7’s YouTube channel.

Deranged Philly Fanatic

At a Philadelphia Phillies game in Miami, a father nabbed a Harrison Bader home run ball and promptly gave it to his son. Seconds later, the Phils fans were accosted by another Phillies fan who was a split-second too slow. The woman startled the father and seemed so deranged that the man felt it best to take the ball back from his son and give it to the lady.

The family was there to celebrate the boy’s birthday, which was two days away. This story also came to a happy ending, as the Marlins organization saw what happened and sent a representative down with a goodie bag full of swag. The boy would later get to meet members of the Phillies, where he received more souvenirs. Here is footage courtesy of New York Post Sports’ YouTube channel.

How Does The Bullying End?

All three of those examples happened in the last few weeks. How can this type of bullying behavior finally be stamped out? –In a word, consequences. This type of entitled behavior will only end when there are consequences for the bully. In many cases, this is starting to happen. Sporting events are so well-covered these days that most of the time, when this behavior happens during a game, it is caught on camera or seen by announcers. This behavior needs to go up on the Jumbotron, and everyone in the stadium needs to let that fan know that they screwed up. Peer pressure is a great motivator for change, and so is embarrassment.

Stadiums need to start policing this behavior better, and that often may start with the fans. Fans need to make sure that ushers are hearing about these incidents, and ushers need to be able to take action. Stadiums need to post rules, making it clear that bullying children can get you removed, fined, or even banned from the stadium, even if you are a season ticket holder.

End Of My Sports Bullying Rant

There are a lot of ways to force an end to this kind of behavior. It all starts with the people around the bully. Fans need to suggest politely that the bully return the souvenir. Fans who capture the footage on their phones need to show it to an usher. Fans can loudly tell their friends that they captured it all on their phone, and they are going to share it all over the internet. The more fans that let the bully know that they screwed up, the better the chance that the bully will just save themselves the drama and return the souvenir.

Stadiums need to adopt policies like those mentioned above. It takes all the risk off the fans around the bully. They don’t have to confront anyone, just simply turn the man or woman in to an usher. No one in their right mind is going to risk losing season ticket access, paying a large fine, being escorted out of the game, or even being banned for life over a sweatband, hat, or $7 baseball. If it is a significant enough act, perhaps law enforcement may need to get involved.

Finally, I appreciate how the internet community has started skewering these people. I am not normally a fan of cancel culture, but this type of behavior cannot be normalized. If a person is going to commit an act like this in public, they should expect to be ridiculed for it. Steal from a child and become persona non grata in your community. You got your sweaty headband, now crawl back under your rock and disappear.