By Reid Collins on 1.30.04 @ 12:04AM
A hockey puck of an owner earns a major sticking penalty.
Given the price of tickets to professional sporting events, it
should come as no surprise, in fact no news, that an owner is
accused of assaulting a fan. It is a common occurrence at the box
office. But this was a real assault, physical contact. And the news
is that the National Hockey League and the owner involved proclaim
that fining the owner and banning him from his team's games for a
week is somehow stark and unusual and therefor to be lauded as
setting a higher standard than we commoners are required to
meet.
The case in brief. Ted Leonsis, principal owner of the
Washington Capitals Hockey team, was heckled by a 20-year-old fan
at a game in Washington, D.C., Sunday night. The fan held up a sign
across the ice from Leonsis that read "Caps Hockey; AOL Stock --
See a Pattern?" Leonsis's fortune stems largely from his AOL
holdings. The Caps, the diminutive for the Capitals, are scraping
bottom in the League standings. AOL is not faring too well, either.
The young fan also admits to yelling taunts directed at
Leonsis.
After the game, a 4-1 Caps loss, Leonsis attacked the taunting
youth identified as Jason Hammer, a college student. Accounts vary
as to the type of assault, but agree there was a laying on of
hands. Hammer does not allege serious injury, downplays the
incident, got an apologetic call from Leonsis the next day along
with an invitation to join the owner in his box next game. Invite
accepted. Game over? Not quite.
NHL Security investigated the confrontation and the NHL
Commissioner Gary Bettman issued a statement in which he fined
Leonsis $100,000 and banned him from attending his team's events
for a week. All well and good. But in explaining the discipline,
Bettman says, "we hold all members of the NHL family to a higher
standard than the general public." Leonsis goes along with his
elevated status, saying in his acceptance-of-penalty statement,
"I...understand that regardless of the circumstances, I must be
held to a higher standard than the general public."
Lawyers (Hammer says his father is one) must shudder at this. No
one in the "general public" is held to a lesser standard. No one
may seize upon verbal provocation as an excuse for assault. The
common law principal has been embedded in a nursery rhyme.
"Sticks and stones may break my bones ..." In short, had
such a fray occurred in the street, a bar, or at a baseball game,
one of the participants would have been subject to arrest -- the
one who responded to verbal abuse with physical action.
Admittedly, enforcing physical restraint at a hockey game may
seem to many as reaching for a higher standard, but such
aggrandizement is simply unwarranted. A hundred grand fine seems
like a lot of money, but we are talking big money here. The Hammers
reportedly buy four seats to all the Capitals home games. At 85
bucks a ticket, that is $13,940 dollars a year!
Young Hammer says he isn't hurt, has no intention of a lawsuit,
wants to put this incident behind him, and will accept the Leonsis
invitation to join him in the owner's box, when the owner is
allowed to return. There is a higher standard in this story.
topics:
Law
