The Houston Texans’ quarterback, Matt Schaub, has started the NFL season on a terrible note by setting the NFL record for most consecutive games with a pick-six with four in a row. The fans of the Texans were rightfully very frustrated with their team’s quarterback, but that was no excuse for what happened on Sunday at Reliant Stadium.
This past Sunday, the Texans took on the Rams at home in Houston. Schaub went down with what looked like a very bad ankle injury, and at that moment, the home-town Texans fans cheered in excitement that Schaub was injured.
We constantly see so many incredible examples of the beautiful moments sports can provide, but with those bright moments, we unfortunately bare witness to some dark ones as well. This was certainly one of the darker moments in sports.
A very loud majority of sports fans tend to get into a mindset that their teams and the players for those teams are somehow their property and therefore owe them something. What some fans seem to forget is that those players are people, just like you and me. Steelers’ quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, backed Matt Schaub saying, “Booing when somebody gets hurt, it was just sickening….when step outside we’re human beings just like everybody else. We’ve got feelings, we’ve got family.”
The player who hit Schaub, Rams’ defensive end Chris Long, took to Twitter to respond to the event. “If you were at Reliant stadium and cheered Matt’s injury, you are a poor representation of your fan base and a bad example to young fans.”
The consensus is basically this: what happened on Sunday at Reliant Stadium was completely disgusting and unacceptable. It’s a shame that this darker side of sports keeps popping up in places, because what is it teaching the fans and players and coaches of the future? Schaub hopes to have a speedy recovery and return to play for his teammates and his organization. Whether he’s going to be open to keeping the fans in mind remains to be seen.