Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 22, 1993                   TAG: 9306220140
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FRED BAYLES AP NATIONAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT'S NOT JUST A GAME TO SOME

Reminders of this have come fast and furious recently as championship victories have led to riots in such diverse cities as Montreal, Dallas and, on Sunday night, Chicago.

"It could be seen as a way of allowing fans to vent the frustrations of everyday life," said Richard Lapchick, director of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sports in Society. "The irony is that sports is an escape from everyday life, from the problems and violence of society."

The latest celebration to turn ugly followed the Chicago Bulls' third consecutive National Basketball Association championship.

Two shooting deaths were linked to the cel0brations, and nearly 700 people were arrested on charges including disorderly conduct and vandalism.

It was the third time in as many years that a Chicago NBA title has resulted in violence.

But such sports-inspired destruction and carnage is not unique to Chicago.

Earlier this month, hockey fans joined crowds outside Montreal's Forum for a rampage following the Canadiens' Stanley Cup victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Stores were trashed, along with police cars, buses and subway cars. Some 115 people were arrested and 168 were injured, including 49 police officers.

In February, a rally celebrating the Dallas Cowboys' Super Bowl victory left 18 injured and 26 under arrest. Groups of youths among the crowd of 400,000 attacked bystanders.

The 1980s were marked by similar disturbances in Detroit and San Francisco. While troubling, such incidents are not new.

Fighting and vandalism associated with sports were common in the 19th century. Authorities in this country and Canada even banned boxing in many places because of violence that followed the bouts.

The University of Missouri's Charles Korr, an expert on the social history of sports, recalls living near Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia and watching angry baseball fans reacting violently to an umpire's disputed call.

"The biggest thing that's new is the ability to instantaneously see the riot taking place in Montreal," Korr said. "People see that, and in their minds they say, `We got to show them we are as happy as the people in Montreal about our victory.' "

Soccer hooliganism is rampant in Europe, where Dutch fans have tossed bombs at each other. Korr said British police now use a sophisticated network of informers and computerized projections to determine where best to marshal their forces each week.

"If you walk to a first division match, you'll see the police lining the streets, at other matches you'll see nobody," Korr said.

What motivates fans to violence? Lapchick believes being part of a crowd gives some a license to misbehave.

"It's a situation where people act in ways they wouldn't on a day-to-day basis," he said. "They think that they can do on this particular night something they can't do on another night."

Bruce Kidd, a sports historian and political scientist at the University of Toronto, calls it a situation of "permissive misrule."

"It's a moment of social leveling," he said. "People say, `If our guys won everything, then maybe for a moment we can act like kings and do anything we want.' "

Korr believes there is a misplaced sense of connection that gives fans such a strong emotional response to a victory.

"There is a sense that we can identify with a team in a way we no longer do with any other civic enterprise," he said. "It used to be your church, your parish, your community. What can you show that you belong to anymore, except a sports team?"