Classless in Kansas City

[El Supremo]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Members of the Kansas City Chiefs spoke out angrily Sunday against thousands of fans who cheered when quarterback Matt Cassel left a 9-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens with a head injury.

Cassel has been the focus of frustrated fans for the past couple of years, many of them booing him when he appeared during a celebrity softball game this summer. Someone even had hired a plane to fly over Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday with a banner that called for Cassel to be benched.

The angst reached a tipping point when Cassel, who committed three turnovers against Baltimore, was hammered by the Ravens' Haloti Ngata while completing a pass in the fourth quarter.

Cassel remained on his back for several minutes while fans began to cheer. He eventually got to his feet with some help and walked off the field under his own power. He was later diagnosed with a concussion, a source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter....

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8477747/eric-winston-scolds-kansas-city-chiefs-fans-cheering-matt-cassel-injury

[MuseRider]

1. Public dialog has gotten nasty

and way out of hand.

[Auggie]

2. I like Winston's response:

"It's 100 percent sickening," Chiefs tackle Eric Winston said. "I've never, ever -- and I've been in some rough times on some rough teams -- I've never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than at that moment right there. I get emotional about it because these guys, they work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasn't done anything to you people.

"Hey, if he's not the best quarterback, he's not the best quarterback, and that's OK, but he's a person," Winston continued ... "And he got knocked out in a game and we've got 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out."

[TZ]

3. I thought nothing would be worse

than hearing Phans cheer after Jayson Werth broke his wrist sickeningly at Nats Park (was there, ugh). But this is MUCH worse. The HOME FANS doing this to their own QB? Disgusting.

[CheapShotArtist]

4. It appears

the culture of being a fan has taken a turn in the wrong direction, and it happened long ago. Part of it was fantasy football, and much of it is the anonymity provided by online messaging boards. People have come to feel as if the teams owe them wins, rather than realizing that fans are there to watch the game and nothing more, not to play the role as GM or coach. As much as I love the Raiders, it's not a matter of life and death whether they win or lose. I personally will still be poor regardless of whether they win a Super Bowl or not.

[El Supremo]

5. I agree with your premise, but certainly not your conclusion.

The owners do owe their customers a good product. And blaming it on fantasy football???

[JonLP24]

6. I think the explanation is much simpler

Fans get frustrated w/ the starting QB and want to see a change, coach doesn't make a change, starting QB gets injured.

I recall Cardinals' fans cheering when Kent Graham got injured in a home game against NY Giants in 1997, before fantasy football or online message boards was as common. I'm sure it's happened plenty of times before that as well.