Ohio State beat Oregon to win the collegiate football championship, the first one under the new playoff system.
Question: Why in America do fans of the winners of big games riot, setting fires, breaking things, threatening cops? In other countries, sports violence is a problem, but my impression is that it’s usually losers and fans who feel cheated who start tearing up things.
To switch to the NFL, I don’t think Detroit fans rioted when the penalty flags against Dallas were picked up, and no one rioted in Dallas when an apparent catch was ruled incomplete in the game won by Green Bay [hooray!]. And there were no riots in Oregon. But the victorious Ohio State fans felt so happy that they set 89 fires.
From Police Use Tear Gas, Pepper Spray On Ohio State Campus « CBS Cleveland:
Fans took to the streets after Ohio State’s football championship early Tuesday, yelling and screaming in delight, setting nearly 90 fires and in the case of a few, tearing down an Ohio Stadium goal post.
Police made a handful of arrests after using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse crowds of Ohio State students and other fans following the Buckeyes’ win.
Officers on foot, on horses and in cruisers patrolled the main drag through campus after midnight Tuesday, when revelers spilled out of bars near the campus to celebrate the university’s 42-20 win over the University of Oregon in Dallas.
Thousands converged on the Ohio State football stadium, where police turned most of them away. Most headed back to the bar area, where cruisers lined the street and officers limited pedestrian and vehicular traffic. . . .
Gunfire in the campus area after the game was reported by police dispatchers, with no reports of injuries, according to the Columbus Dispatch.No problems were reported in Oregon.
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