I’m a Boston sports fan, so I’ve seen – and sometimes engaged in – some unruly fan behavior over the years when my teams lose. I won’t wax poetic about how frustrated I was when the Patriots Lost Super Bowl LII, or when the Bruins got bounced in the first round in 2023.
(Pauses to scream in frustration from the memories).
Fans of any franchise can probably relate. When your favorite team loses, it can be wildly frustrating, regardless of the stakes of the game.
HOUSTON, TEXAS – MAY 28: Lance McCullers Jr. #43 of the Houston Astros pitches during the first inning against the Athletics at Daikin Park on May 28, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
But there’s a line you should never – EVER – cross, no matter how upset you may get, and all it takes is being a decent human to honor that boundary. Because when you do, you can cause immense stress to athletes.
OutKick’s Mark Harris wrote earlier this month about how Houston Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. received death threats not aimed at him, but at his children. That’s the line you don’t cross: sports are not life or death matters, and you can’t do that to a family.
What’s worse is that McCullers revealed he had to get 24-hour security to ensure that the threats became nothing more than words. That’s right, fans acted so wickedly that an athlete had to hire his own mini regiment to keep his kids safe.
“So just as a father, I think there have been many, many threats over the years aimed at me mostly, and I think actually one or two people from other issues around baseball actually had to go to jail for things like that. But I think bringing kids into the equation, threatening to find them or next time they see us in public, they’re going to stab my kids to death, things like that, it’s tough to hear as a dad.”
No kidding.
Why do people feel a need to do this? I get that humanity has the capacity for evil big and small, but can we get a grip?
Where’s the decency? Where’s the self-control? Where’s the filter in the brain of these people?
Apparently nowhere to be found.
Sports matter, but not that much. Whoever did this and made McCullers and his family feel that unsafe should be ashamed of themselves.
