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CNN Live At Daybreak

Talking Sports: Fan's Rights

Aired October 11, 2002 - 06:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Even with their team down in the series, St. Louis Cardinal fans are some of the most loyal in pro sports. But what happens when the crowd turns on the home team or player? Seems to happen more frequently these days, most recently with the Cleveland Browns.
And that leads us to our new Friday morning radio guests, Danny and Rebecca, "The Danny and Rebecca Show" from WQAL in Cleveland -- welcome.

DANNY CZEKALINSKI, "THE DANNY AND REBECCA SHOW," WQAL: Happy birthday, Carol. The Golden Flashes of Kent State are honored by your presence.

COSTELLO: Oh thank you so much. Ooh, they made me a big headed thing just like Chad's big headed thing. Thanks, guys, I appreciate that. And of course talking about the Kent State Flashes, Kent State's my alma mater.

Joining us, too, to talk about fans, though, in Cleveland, here in our studio, as always, Chris Cotter from The Zone here in Atlanta.

Thank you all for joining us.

First of all, Danny and Rebecca, tell us about this Tim Couch situation, because from what we understand, Tim Couch was doing poorly last Sunday, the fans booed him and then he got a concussion and they cheered.

REBECCA WILDE, "THE DANNY AND REBECCA SHOW," WQAL: It was horrible.

CZEKALINSKI: Oh you wanted (ph) to see him get it (ph), everybody's jumping to that conclusion. Everybody is I guess enamored by the backup. But again, the backup quarterback is always the most popular guy on the team. So everybody wanted Holcomb in there. So when Holcomb was putting his helmet on and running on the field, people were cheering that, not the fact that Tim Couch was injured.

COSTELLO: Well certainly Tim Couch thought they were cheering because he was injured because he had some -- he had some words for the fans after the game.

WILDE: Oh absolutely. And we did talk about this on the air the other day, and one caller did say her husband admitted he was happy that Tim Couch went down. COSTELLO: Yes, we're having trouble with your audio. So just so our viewers can understand, Tim Couch said that he thought it was terrible, of course he used other words, but he thought it was terrible that the fans cheered when he had that concussion. He actually had tears in his eyes.

Chris Cotter, this just isn't right.

CHRIS COTTER, 790 THE ZONE: Well he also said that the fans have no right to boo him because he's giving his heart and soul to this team and to this city. Well the fans, not only do they have a right to boo him, it's their prerogative to boo him. I mean they have to boo him because sports is all about passion. And the fans, in order for them to tear the goalpost down when the team wins, they need to be down at the bottom when the team is doing poorly and they need to be able to boo and feel that right.

COSTELLO: I can understand the booing but not the cheering when someone is hurt.

COTTER: Well, but then again, I mean in my opinion, as long as fans aren't throwing batteries, as long as they aren't physically harming somebody, a fan has every right to show their passion in whatever form they need to verbally or whatever form they need to...

COSTELLO: OK, talking about throwing bottles, that has happened in Cleveland stadium too. Remember last year...

COTTER: That has happened at Cleveland before.

COSTELLO: ... when the bottle rained down? In fact, I think we have video of this.

Hey, are you guys from WQAL still with us?

WILDE: We...

CZEKALINSKI: Yes, we're still here. And it's kind of ironic, though, that I mean every time there's something that's horrible that happens they always put that up there and it kind of puts Cleveland in a bad light. Again, I don't think that people should be cheering an injury. I don't think that was the case.

Fans do have, and I side with Chris on this, when you pay that -- you buy that ticket, you have a right to cheer, you have a right to boo. And I guess by now Tim Couch in a way kind of alienated the Cleveland fans by saying, this wasn't brought up either, he said you know what, I'm going to look at every game now as a road game. I'm more comfortable on the road. I don't know if that was smart to do, because if you alienate the fans and you want to get the fans on your side, that's not the way to do it.

COSTELLO: Yes, that's true, the fan -- there's been a big backlash against Tim Couch now.

Before I let you guys from WQAL go, because we're having trouble with your audio, unfortunately, Tim Couch will play this weekend. How will the fans react?

WILDE: I think if he does well they're going to love him.

CZEKALINSKI: Well, and the thing is the irony here is that Kelly Holcomb is actually out and he's injured so Josh Booty is the backup. So if Couch goes down,...

WILDE: Oh no.

CZEKALINSKI: ... they're going to have to make the Booty call.

COSTELLO: Oh my goodness. OK, we're going to have to let you guys go because we're having audio problems and we had...

COTTER: The Booty call.

COSTELLO: Yes, we had to get away from that Booty call thing.

COTTER: Yes, hopefully not.

COSTELLO: Anyway, Chris, let's talk some more about fan's rights because you saw people throwing things onto the field last year. There have been several incidents with other teams this year of poor sportsmanship by fans.

COTTER: Oh sure. Well hey, in Atlanta last year fans were booing Chris Chandler who was the starting quarterback and they wanted to see Michael Vick who was the rookie and that everyone's been talking about. So Chandler actually did get hurt and there was actually a fight in the stands. Chandler's family and people in the stands got into a big brouhaha about it and it was really ugly.

Cheering an injury, yes, I agree with the -- you know the folks from Cleveland, cheering an injury is absolutely not what you should do. I'm sure they were cheering for the backup Kelly Holcomb to come in there and they were cheering the situation that now they were getting the backup in.

COSTELLO: What do you think about the psychology of the sport perhaps, and I'm just digging deep here and maybe I'm digging too deep, I mean is there some psychology behind the passion of a football fan to make the fan act in a way that's violent, frankly?

COTTER: Well I think you saw in golf, for example, when the Ryder Cup was here in the United States the last time a couple of years ago, fans actually started to -- started to push the envelope a little bit with golf. I mean golf and tennis, obviously you have a little bit of a different feel than in football and baseball, your rights as a fan are a little bit different. You can be escorted out of a golf event if you're -- if you're loud and obnoxious. So yes, I think each sport has its own little set of rules that people abide by.

But you know when you look at football, I mean football is a loud, boisterous sport, and I mean it requires that from the fans. And Tim Couch needs to understand, as a professional athlete, he relies -- he is relying on the fans. Therefore that whole, as I talk about that spectrum of emotion, whether it's from being elated in tearing down the goalpost, as they did in Ames, Iowa. You know when Iowa State beat Nebraska for the first time since the War of 1812 a couple of weeks ago, right, the fans tore down the goalpost because they had been booing and they had been so upset and they had been at the very bottom of this, you know, malaise for so long that that elevation is what enabled them to be able to do that and to continue to buy those season tickets. I mean that's what it's all about.

COSTELLO: Well, but I can understand that, but perhaps some rules should be tightened when it comes to fans truly getting out of hand. Maybe they should pay in a big way and that the powers that be shouldn't let -- shouldn't allow them to get away with something like fighting in the stands or throwing bottles on the field.

COTTER: Well that's -- in Veteran Stadium in Philadelphia, and I am so sorry for you Philadelphia fans, I hate to keep bringing it up, but you have a jail in your stadium. And there's a reason why you do and that's because they throw batteries, they boo Santa on Christmas, they boo kids when they can't find eggs on Easter, I mean it's -- that stadium is just renowned and notorious. So...

COSTELLO: So the answer is a jail cell in every stadium.

COTTER: And a judge. And you know I mean that's what it takes in Philadelphia and maybe that's what it's going to take in every state.

COSTELLO: Maybe so.

COTTER: And throwing beer bottles like we saw at Cleveland, that was absolutely ridiculous. You got to do something with that.

COSTELLO: That's true. Well we'll see how Tim Couch is embraced by fans on Sunday.

Thank you, Chris Cotter, for joining us, as usual, on Friday.

COTTER: If he wins, he'll be embraced.

COSTELLO: That's right.

COTTER: If he loses, he will not be, that's the key.

COSTELLO: Yes, I'm sure he'll be roundly booed.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 11, 2002 - 06:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Even with their team down in the series, St. Louis Cardinal fans are some of the most loyal in pro sports. But what happens when the crowd turns on the home team or player? Seems to happen more frequently these days, most recently with the Cleveland Browns.
And that leads us to our new Friday morning radio guests, Danny and Rebecca, "The Danny and Rebecca Show" from WQAL in Cleveland -- welcome.

DANNY CZEKALINSKI, "THE DANNY AND REBECCA SHOW," WQAL: Happy birthday, Carol. The Golden Flashes of Kent State are honored by your presence.

COSTELLO: Oh thank you so much. Ooh, they made me a big headed thing just like Chad's big headed thing. Thanks, guys, I appreciate that. And of course talking about the Kent State Flashes, Kent State's my alma mater.

Joining us, too, to talk about fans, though, in Cleveland, here in our studio, as always, Chris Cotter from The Zone here in Atlanta.

Thank you all for joining us.

First of all, Danny and Rebecca, tell us about this Tim Couch situation, because from what we understand, Tim Couch was doing poorly last Sunday, the fans booed him and then he got a concussion and they cheered.

REBECCA WILDE, "THE DANNY AND REBECCA SHOW," WQAL: It was horrible.

CZEKALINSKI: Oh you wanted (ph) to see him get it (ph), everybody's jumping to that conclusion. Everybody is I guess enamored by the backup. But again, the backup quarterback is always the most popular guy on the team. So everybody wanted Holcomb in there. So when Holcomb was putting his helmet on and running on the field, people were cheering that, not the fact that Tim Couch was injured.

COSTELLO: Well certainly Tim Couch thought they were cheering because he was injured because he had some -- he had some words for the fans after the game.

WILDE: Oh absolutely. And we did talk about this on the air the other day, and one caller did say her husband admitted he was happy that Tim Couch went down. COSTELLO: Yes, we're having trouble with your audio. So just so our viewers can understand, Tim Couch said that he thought it was terrible, of course he used other words, but he thought it was terrible that the fans cheered when he had that concussion. He actually had tears in his eyes.

Chris Cotter, this just isn't right.

CHRIS COTTER, 790 THE ZONE: Well he also said that the fans have no right to boo him because he's giving his heart and soul to this team and to this city. Well the fans, not only do they have a right to boo him, it's their prerogative to boo him. I mean they have to boo him because sports is all about passion. And the fans, in order for them to tear the goalpost down when the team wins, they need to be down at the bottom when the team is doing poorly and they need to be able to boo and feel that right.

COSTELLO: I can understand the booing but not the cheering when someone is hurt.

COTTER: Well, but then again, I mean in my opinion, as long as fans aren't throwing batteries, as long as they aren't physically harming somebody, a fan has every right to show their passion in whatever form they need to verbally or whatever form they need to...

COSTELLO: OK, talking about throwing bottles, that has happened in Cleveland stadium too. Remember last year...

COTTER: That has happened at Cleveland before.

COSTELLO: ... when the bottle rained down? In fact, I think we have video of this.

Hey, are you guys from WQAL still with us?

WILDE: We...

CZEKALINSKI: Yes, we're still here. And it's kind of ironic, though, that I mean every time there's something that's horrible that happens they always put that up there and it kind of puts Cleveland in a bad light. Again, I don't think that people should be cheering an injury. I don't think that was the case.

Fans do have, and I side with Chris on this, when you pay that -- you buy that ticket, you have a right to cheer, you have a right to boo. And I guess by now Tim Couch in a way kind of alienated the Cleveland fans by saying, this wasn't brought up either, he said you know what, I'm going to look at every game now as a road game. I'm more comfortable on the road. I don't know if that was smart to do, because if you alienate the fans and you want to get the fans on your side, that's not the way to do it.

COSTELLO: Yes, that's true, the fan -- there's been a big backlash against Tim Couch now.

Before I let you guys from WQAL go, because we're having trouble with your audio, unfortunately, Tim Couch will play this weekend. How will the fans react?

WILDE: I think if he does well they're going to love him.

CZEKALINSKI: Well, and the thing is the irony here is that Kelly Holcomb is actually out and he's injured so Josh Booty is the backup. So if Couch goes down,...

WILDE: Oh no.

CZEKALINSKI: ... they're going to have to make the Booty call.

COSTELLO: Oh my goodness. OK, we're going to have to let you guys go because we're having audio problems and we had...

COTTER: The Booty call.

COSTELLO: Yes, we had to get away from that Booty call thing.

COTTER: Yes, hopefully not.

COSTELLO: Anyway, Chris, let's talk some more about fan's rights because you saw people throwing things onto the field last year. There have been several incidents with other teams this year of poor sportsmanship by fans.

COTTER: Oh sure. Well hey, in Atlanta last year fans were booing Chris Chandler who was the starting quarterback and they wanted to see Michael Vick who was the rookie and that everyone's been talking about. So Chandler actually did get hurt and there was actually a fight in the stands. Chandler's family and people in the stands got into a big brouhaha about it and it was really ugly.

Cheering an injury, yes, I agree with the -- you know the folks from Cleveland, cheering an injury is absolutely not what you should do. I'm sure they were cheering for the backup Kelly Holcomb to come in there and they were cheering the situation that now they were getting the backup in.

COSTELLO: What do you think about the psychology of the sport perhaps, and I'm just digging deep here and maybe I'm digging too deep, I mean is there some psychology behind the passion of a football fan to make the fan act in a way that's violent, frankly?

COTTER: Well I think you saw in golf, for example, when the Ryder Cup was here in the United States the last time a couple of years ago, fans actually started to -- started to push the envelope a little bit with golf. I mean golf and tennis, obviously you have a little bit of a different feel than in football and baseball, your rights as a fan are a little bit different. You can be escorted out of a golf event if you're -- if you're loud and obnoxious. So yes, I think each sport has its own little set of rules that people abide by.

But you know when you look at football, I mean football is a loud, boisterous sport, and I mean it requires that from the fans. And Tim Couch needs to understand, as a professional athlete, he relies -- he is relying on the fans. Therefore that whole, as I talk about that spectrum of emotion, whether it's from being elated in tearing down the goalpost, as they did in Ames, Iowa. You know when Iowa State beat Nebraska for the first time since the War of 1812 a couple of weeks ago, right, the fans tore down the goalpost because they had been booing and they had been so upset and they had been at the very bottom of this, you know, malaise for so long that that elevation is what enabled them to be able to do that and to continue to buy those season tickets. I mean that's what it's all about.

COSTELLO: Well, but I can understand that, but perhaps some rules should be tightened when it comes to fans truly getting out of hand. Maybe they should pay in a big way and that the powers that be shouldn't let -- shouldn't allow them to get away with something like fighting in the stands or throwing bottles on the field.

COTTER: Well that's -- in Veteran Stadium in Philadelphia, and I am so sorry for you Philadelphia fans, I hate to keep bringing it up, but you have a jail in your stadium. And there's a reason why you do and that's because they throw batteries, they boo Santa on Christmas, they boo kids when they can't find eggs on Easter, I mean it's -- that stadium is just renowned and notorious. So...

COSTELLO: So the answer is a jail cell in every stadium.

COTTER: And a judge. And you know I mean that's what it takes in Philadelphia and maybe that's what it's going to take in every state.

COSTELLO: Maybe so.

COTTER: And throwing beer bottles like we saw at Cleveland, that was absolutely ridiculous. You got to do something with that.

COSTELLO: That's true. Well we'll see how Tim Couch is embraced by fans on Sunday.

Thank you, Chris Cotter, for joining us, as usual, on Friday.

COTTER: If he wins, he'll be embraced.

COSTELLO: That's right.

COTTER: If he loses, he will not be, that's the key.

COSTELLO: Yes, I'm sure he'll be roundly booed.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com