Letter to the Editor 2/3

To the Editor, The extent to which ‘Super Bowl mania’ overtakes this region is a consistent… To the Editor, The extent to which ‘Super Bowl mania’ overtakes this region is a consistent source of amazement and disappointment to me. On the morning after ‘the big game,’ I wonder how many of us will note with disgust and outrage the casualties and damage done to the South Side and Oakland, which were trashed and burned by unruly and drunken revelers who felt empowered to act out as a frightening mob. Why aren’t those who foment mayhem sentenced to years in jail? If such sentences were dispensed, would post-football game thuggery and hooliganism still be a problem? Why does society react instead with, ‘Oh, things simply got a bit out of hand.’ Why do we fail to make the connection that, when a region is obsessed with a game whose focus is violence, and the obsession is encouraged by elected officials who play along and receive hundreds of millions of dollars of public funding to build stadiums and arenas, that the fans will resort to violence in recognition of their football idols’ performance? Can this be a sport which we encourage our impressionable children to adore? -Oren M. Spiegler, Upper St. Clair resident