New law will protect Bobby Knight from fans
by Rawly Bransom, Sports Editor

   Sports fanatics should be careful. All those little peculiarities that make it so much fun to be an insane fan may have to end.
   A new law enacted Sept. 1 makes it a class B misdemeanor for nonparticipants to assault anyone who is officially participating in an interscholastic, intercollegiate or other organized amateur or professional athletic competition.
   By participants, the law means athletes, coaches, referees, umpires, linesmen, instructors, administrators or staff members.
   Unfortunately, people who like to throw beers at the umpires during the Ranger games can now receive a heftier fine than previously if the umpire actually is hit.
   Of course, this law can be overridden by any assault that would normally be considered a class A misdemeanor or any felony offense.
   It is also not as stiff of a punishment as assaulting an elderly person or a handicapped person, which is a class A misdemeanor.
   Athletes are usually a little more durable then either class, so that might explain the reasoning there.
   Still this is a law that was a long time coming.
   How many fans, players and students have to be hurt during a Texas Tech football game or basketball game before someone stops them.
   First, it was flying tortillas hitting people.
   Then the weapon was upgraded to flying goal posts.
   In actuality, players, coaches and refs could be in a target zone.
   If a fan, or anyone for that matter, decides to take action against any of them, he has a pretty good idea where to find them.
   It would be like shooting fish in a tank.
   We hear more and more about crazy fans harassing those they should just be watching.
   Last year, a fan punched a coach. However, team members attacked the fan, restraining him from further attacking their coach. I am not saying that these people are less capable of defending themselves than the rest of us.
   I am also not saying that the people who are on the field performing are any better than the rest of us watching in the stands.
   Simply put, with so many people surrounding them, with tempers flaring and with adrenaline pumping in the fans' veins, these people could be at a more serious risk than the rest of us.
   This is not a sane world anymore. We live in a society where children shoot up schools because of teasing from another student.
   Is it that much of a leap to imagine those same people harassing and attacking a high school baseball player while he is at bat?
   Still, I would like to see other specialty groups who are assaulted gain new and stronger protections.
   But after all, in Texas, football-if not all sports-reigns supreme, so I am not shocked or upset to see the Legislature take steps to protect them.