“She said we weren’t real Alabama fans because it didn’t bother us that they lost. And then she started shooting. It was over a football game. I’m never going to forget because she died in my arms.” Adrian Briskey shot and killed Michelle Shepherd right in her sister’s arms after Alabama’s 35-28 defeat to Auburn.
Since the beginning of time, the stands of sports arenas have been infamous for disagreements and violence, usually because they’re like war-zones with two very distinct, competing sides. However, in this particular case, a spectator was killed by her own ally simple because she didn’t mourn a loss enough.
The University of Minnesota held a study where they tested the blood of 362 adults leaving baseball and football games. Approximately 40% of the test subjects had severe levels of alcohol in their system and 8% were legally drunk. These findings are prominent in nearly any professional or college sporting event, and Adrian Briskey would in fact have been part of the 8%.
This was a college game; many attendees were still not old enough to drink. Yet the murderer in this case was already highly intoxicated. A mixture of alcohol and anger led to the death of Michelle Shepherd. This story went relatively under the radar due to how common violence is at sporting events. It seems as if nothing is being done about it.
The NCAA and other sporting corporations cannot let this become the norm and must take certain precautions to stop this from becoming common at sporting events. The sale of alcoholic beverages at college games is already being banned, as the general audience is not yet mature enough to handle the alcohol correctly.
In professional sporting events, however, alcohol should be sold, but if a fan in the stands is getting too out of control, we should have more security guards in place to control them and, if necessary, escort the disturbance out of the arena.
There are numerous websites like sheknowsparenting.com, midwestsportsfans.com, and many others that offer lists and advice on taking children to sporting events. Parents are now so afraid of their children witnessing the drunken madness and violence that comes naturally in sports: they live in fear and hide their child from what should be a family affair.
