On Thursday, the CDC announced that fully vaccinated individuals could begin going to outdoor and indoor gatherings of any size without needing to wear a mask, as the biggest step yet towards an indication of a more full return to normalcy as vaccination rates expand nationwide. In the sports world, this means more fans in stands, which has been a welcome sight, especially for the athletes who have not enjoyed playing in front of empty arenas and stadiums for the past year-plus.
In baseball, many stadiums are at or nearing full capacity, and while that brings the joy of the full ballpark experience back to baseball it also means, well the full ballpark experience good and bad. On the negative side of fans being back is that fans of opposing teams are back to jawing with each other and starting fights, which we saw in some matinee action on Thursday at Coors Field during Padres-Rockies. The Rockies have been one of baseball’s worst teams to start the season, but picked up a 3-2 win over San Diego on Thursday.
The conversation about the game was not about the Rockies beating the Padres, but what happened in the stands when a Padres fan very calmly strolled up to a Rockies fan and knocked him out cold with one punch, sparking a brawl as other Rockies fans descended on the man in the Padres brown jersey.
https://twitter.com/Bradleyemery2/status/1392888517634691077
The side angle really shows the viciousness of the right cross.
San Diego fasho winning World Series. pic.twitter.com/G5ojD3QsFz
— 🇲🇽 (@MexicoMerio) May 13, 2021
We have absolutely no context for what led to this, but clearly there had been some jawing and as the guy in the Padres jersey comes rolling up on the Rockies fan, he pops up expecting some more, up close talk. Unfortunately for that gentleman, the Padres fan was not here for talk and was about that action, boss, absolutely cooking the Rockies fan with the best right hook at a baseball stadium since Rougned Odor gave Jose Bautista one in Texas.
The Rockies fan goes out like a light and then it becomes all out chaos in the stands as fans jump to his aid, albeit too late for him as he got rocked by one punch. This is a reminder that if you’re jawing with another fan, you can never be sure that they aren’t there looking for an excuse to knock you out, especially after a year inside. As for what happened with the fans in question, Denver police say no charges were filed by the fan that got punched and no arrests were made.
The person who threw the first punch, was contacted by police. However, the person struck did not want to press charges. No one was arrested.
— Denver Police Dept. (@DenverPolice) May 13, 2021
