12/22/24
August 25, 2009
Soccer Player Gives Opponent a Flying Kick to the Face: During a soccer match in Bolivia this weekend, Club Blooming player Sergio Jauregui gave Oriente Petrolero player Leonardo Medina a flying kick to the face that left Medina unconscious, authorities pursing criminal charges and sports fans scrambling to find the video. Medina had been sent off moments earlier for elbowing Jauregui in the head. A few weeks earlier, a Blooming fan stormed the pitch and attacked a River Plate player with a knife during a match.
Is it just me, or do incidents like this and the recent string of basketbrawls have anyone else feeling "out of bounds" violence is on the rise in some sports?
posted by Spitztengle at 02:17 AM on August 26, 2009
If you only started watching sports in 2004, I can understand how you might think that.
posted by charlatan at 02:36 AM on August 26, 2009
What recent string of "basketbrawls"?
posted by inigo2 at 08:35 AM on August 26, 2009
My sentiments exactly, inigo. The last real "basketbrawl" that I can recall is the Malice in the Palace incident that involved the Pistons and Pacers but that was back on November 19, 2004. The sport incidents that's been going on have been with soccer more than any other sport. Players getting stabbed by fans? I have never seen that happen in basketball or in any other American sport.
posted by BornIcon at 10:19 AM on August 26, 2009
Well, Monica Seles was stabbed by a fan (albeit a crazed Steffi Graf fan) back in 1993, though that was in Germany, I believe.
The closest thing I can think of in American sports (aside from the Malice in the Palace, which was started more by Ron Artest than the fan...the fan threw a beer, but Artest was the one who attacked first) in recent times was when Tom Gamboa (Royals' first base coach) got attacked by two drunken fans at US Cellular Field a few years back.
It used to be the worst crimes committed by fans running on the field were committed by "Morgana, The Kissing Bandit". Not so anymore.
posted by TheQatarian at 11:08 AM on August 26, 2009
(aside from the Malice in the Palace, which was started more by Ron Artest than the fan...the fan threw a beer, but Artest was the one who attacked first)
It was the fan who attacked first, if the fan never threw the beer on Artest, the Malice in the Palace would've never gotten to that magnitude, IMO.
posted by BornIcon at 11:51 AM on August 26, 2009
Sometimes with disastrous consequences.
posted by JJ at 12:01 PM on August 26, 2009
JJ, the last of your links which shows the player that trips the fan and gets the red card is ridiculous. I agree with what one of the posters wrote, "..so the ref would rather the police just chase him round the pitch for 20 mins?"
posted by BornIcon at 12:11 PM on August 26, 2009
You know it's a bad ref call when one of the first players to rush over and argue the red card is from the other team. :)
posted by hincandenza at 12:31 PM on August 26, 2009
What recent string of "basketbrawls"?
This is one of about three very recent ones in international play.
posted by Spitztengle at 04:19 PM on August 26, 2009
Good lord, that flying kick is hollywood worthy. He drops like a sack of potatoes.
posted by dfleming at 08:41 PM on August 26, 2009
The guy who got kicked delivered a brutal elbow. Sometimes, I'm ok with a little retribution.
And I don't think there is more violence in sports. I think there's a greater ability to see it. I wouldn't have even heard of this a decade ago.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:27 PM on August 26, 2009
Absolute nonsense. I don't see a flying kick to the face... It was more the very upper chest region...;)
"Hey, you got your MMA in my soccer!"
"Hey, you got your soccer in my MMA!"
I agree with Weedy. I don't think it's on the rise. We just have YouTube which means we can see it now.
And if you look at what baseball was like in the early days, you can't say it's "on the rise". More "back from its extended vacation."
posted by Drood at 11:32 PM on August 26, 2009
Just in; the flying kick got him nailed with the banhammer for one year, no appeals.
posted by irunfromclones at 07:00 PM on September 02, 2009
Pity, because a few seconds later he would have been safe aboard the inflatable alien spacecraft.