Jan 25, 2018 4 min read

There’s a scene in the classic film “Blazing Saddles” in which Mongo, a brawny enforcer dispatched by the bad guys to rout the new sheriff of Rock Ridge, comes into town and, among other things, punches a horse, knocking it out cold. It was funny because something like that – punching a horse – would never happen in real life … unless you’re at an NFL game in Philadelphia … two weeks in a row.

Yes, as hard is it might be to believe, a pair of Philadelphia Eagles fans, in consecutive weeks, took swings at police horses outside Lincoln Financial Field.

According to TMZ Sports, the first incident occurred two weekends ago when 22-year-old Taylor Hendricks was kicked out of the venue during the Eagles’ playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons for being drunk and not having a ticket. Police said when Hendricks got outside the stadium, he punched a police horse repeatedly in the face, then attacked the mounted police officer. He was arrested on charges that included aggravated assault and illegally taunting a police horse.

Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime fracas, but no! This past weekend, when the Eagles won their NFC Championship Game battle against the Minnesota Vikings, another fan decided to take a few swings at a police equine.

TMZ Sports reported state police were breaking up some type of pregame melee outside the stadium when 19-year-old Andrew Tornetta, a Temple University student, refused to comply with orders to depart the scene. At that point, police said, he punched a police horse twice, punched a human officer in the face and tried, unsuccessfully, to flee. He faces charges that include aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

Philly might have the market cornered on horse punchers, but vile, violent behavior is all too common at sporting events in this country, and it seems as if the worst examples of it occur at NFL games.

We regularly hear about visiting fans being harassed at stadiums, or even falling victim to violence at the hands of the home folks. And lest we get all high and mighty, that type of behavior does occur at the home of our Steelers, Heinz Field.

Youth, testosterone and alcohol is a powerful mix and leads to a lot of the bad behavior at our stadiums, but there are plenty of folks who should be old enough to know better, and to comport themselves better, who take part in the foolishness.

Those who behave poorly or violently have to shoulder much of the blame for their actions, but the league and its franchises are not blameless.

The parking lots at NFL stadiums typically open four or five hours before the games, giving fans a lot of time to down all manner of adult beverages before the games even start. Once inside the stadiums, they can guzzle even more. The NFL teams could perhaps improve the behavior of fans by opening the lots just early enough to allow everyone to get inside for the games, but of course that would cause them to lose some fans, and money. They also could stop selling beer earlier during games than they do now, but that also would mean lost revenue. In a perfect world, they’d stop selling alcohol entirely, because it clearly plays a central role in the boorish behavior in the stands, but when teams can charge $8 or $9 for a small beer, that’s never going to happen.

At the very least, teams need to do a better job of policing fan activity both outside the stadiums and in the stands. Those who can’t comport themselves like decent human beings should be booted out, criminally charged and refused entry to future games.

However, there’s probably nothing that can be done to make the folks in Philadelphia behave properly. These are, after all, the people who cheered an opposing player’s potentially paralyzing injury and even booed Santa Claus.