Yes, People Are Getting Caught on Camera Making Bad Choices in Stadiums. But That Doesn’t Mean You Should Be Worse on the Internet

For many Americans, sports fandom is almost akin to a religious experience, with all the attendant emotions that go along with it. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the camaraderie of being among other adults who left the house in full face paint.

So that’s why it’s also no surprise that sports venues are also a microcosm of some of the best and worst of human behavior. You’ll cheer for heroic shows of support for injured players, laugh over adorable baby races on the field, cry over a favorite player’s retirement, and occasionally, react with shock and even horror when someone does something really bad on the Jumbotron (or just a bystander with a camera) happens to catch it. 

Such was the case recently at the US Open, when a millionaire CEO snatched a match-worn hat from player Kamil Majchrzak out of the hands of a boy who was waiting patiently for an autograph. As the boy protested, the man quickly handed it to his wife and ran away. (He has since apologized.)

A week later, at a Phillies game, a woman angrily confronted a man who had given a home run ball to his son that she believed should have been hers. “You took it from me! It was in my hand!” she said while grabbing his arm, according to videos captured by fans. He took the ball from his child’s glove and handed it to her, later saying he was “just trying to set an example of how to de-escalate a situation in front of my son.” 

You know what else the dad said? “Please don’t do anything to that lady. Leave it alone … God, I don’t want people breaking in their house and stuff like that. The internet already messed her up pretty good.’’ 

Though it seems almost as crazy as fighting over a game ball that he would have to make that statement, it’s unfortunately become almost a sport of its own for the internet to go berserk at the first sign of people behaving badly on video. From the people (both apparently married to other people) caught canoodling on camera at a Coldplay concert to “Phillies Karen,” people have gone into overdrive not just to identify these hapless antiheroes, but to review-bomb their companies, reveal their home addresses and other personal details and pile on gleefully with memes.

While everyone is having fun online, one very important detail gets lost: These are actual people whose lives are being destroyed for doing something that was, yes, ill-advised or even idiotic, but ultimately, extremely human. (Oh wait, maybe that’s two important details: You people are often getting the facts wrong. So some poor woman with a similar haircut to “Phillies Karen” has been harassed to the point of having to publicly state on Facebook that she’s a Red Sox fan to get people to leave her alone.) 

It feels so abstract when seen through your phone at the same size as a fan edit from The Summer I Turned Pretty and a video of a lady trying on buttery-soft sweats from Amazon. You might not think twice about joining the conversation, since it feels like just another form of bite-sized entertainment — comment, laugh and move on to the next thing. But for someone on the receiving end of that kind of global pile-on, it can be disorienting or even traumatizing to be criticized on that scale. And here’s the thing: Since we’re pretty much always on camera, it’s not impossible that you or someone you love could be the next viral moron moment.

On a heartwarming final note, Majchrzak and the Phillies each made it right for the young fan who got their merch pinched, meeting with them after the fact to give them swag and hopefully encourage positive fandom in the future. So what’s the takeaway? Well, first, if you see a kid going for a game ball, maybe just stay seated. And if you happen to catch one of those clips in your feed, raise your eyebrows and just keep scrolling.