Let's say no to violence.

Riots!  Riots!  Riots!

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sick of hearing about riots.

I say this for two reasons.  First because one of Chicago’s own baseball teams was recently affected by the notorious, sadly prospering, riots that can’t seem to lose, or even diminish, their gust.  On Wednesday April 29^th, The White Sox were forced to play their game against the Baltimore Orioles closed to the public due to the unsolicited chaos and fear the riots have provoked.  My second reason is to encourage Chicagoans to make a statement-a statement saying no to riots.

There’s been much talk regarding the riots, ‘talk’ referring to the rumors that put not only me but Chicago residents overall at risk.  And the rumor is that this ‘prosperity’ of riots is a matter of their prospective expansion, ‘expansion’ referring to the possibility that what is taking place in Baltimore will both further fester and then further develop within cities outside of Baltimore, including Chicago.

The White Sox incident stands as a solid example of the harm implemented via rioting.  It illustrates the urgency of what’s been and what could be lost in the life of professional sports: fans.  People fail to recognize how significant the vitality of fans may be… for both the players and the fans themselves. 

There has been enough scientific and psychological proof making evident that audiences play a crucial role in performance.  For my fellow White Sox fans, they lost 8-2, and if any of you are half the White Sox devotee that I am, that doesn’t do anything more than fuel my unanswered “what if?” queries. 

Fans denote far more than just packed and loudly cheering crowds; they are the reasons for walk-up music, the big screen entertainment, the food and beverage services, and much more.  What if the lack of fan-induced rituals of entertainment was substantial enough to influence the White Sox performance in a negative way?  Better yet, what if there had been an end to these riots, the game took place open to the public, and the White Sox won?  Often noted as one of the strangest games in MLB history, is it that irrational to think that this strangeness imposed too immense of a psychological impact on the players?

Maybe so-but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

Say, hypothetically, that was the case and the White Sox would have won if the game had been open to the public.  As if fans don’t already feel a sense of pride in being ardent attendees at games, this would trigger an even greater sense of not just pride but responsibility--‘Responsibility’ in that they need never to get Chicago involved in such riots, for they are the promotion of the closed professional sports games that inhibit the fans that increase beloved sports teams’ chances of winning.

That being said, it is not just professional sports that stand as reason enough to avoid rioting, but the sole fact that Chicago has been given a poor reputation, and it’s time to fix that. 

In 2014, Chicago was ranked the murder capital of the world; considering this, many people find that incidents such as the LaQuan McDonald and Rekia Boyd case will give similar enough rise to trigger the same acts of rioting.  Though, it’s not the circumstance itself that saddens me most, but that there holds common, fervent belief that if ever extended to Chicago, the ‘chaos’ of rioting would explode to a level no one in history has ever witnessed.  This drives Chicago’s perception not only as a violent city, but the most violent among all cities.

I like to believe there’s truth in those cliché, overly professed sayings reiterating ideas such as those emphasizing the value of learning from one’s mistakes, the importance of failing, the notion that a sinner can be twice the man/woman than the rest because they’ve seen what they’ve been and know what they want to be.  The power behind the need for change can be almost unbreakable.

And if what these proverbs have to say is in fact true, Chicago is more in the position than ever to repair their malicious status.  Evading riots is a positive initial step; that way, instead of being a city that’s not only likely to experience comparable tensions tempting desires for rioting but a the city that takes rioting to an unbearable degree, Chicago can be the city that’s not only experiencing these violent temptations but the city that handle them with poise and escape them with ease.

Whatever may be driving the need to riot is not what I’m arguing.  I’m merely arguing that those favoring the reasons behind rioting may very well have judicious opinions worth giving attention, but there are more, safer ways to execute change.

We’ve been a city people viewed in a negative light; we’ve been there, done that.

Let’s be better.  Let’s say no to riots.  Better yet, let’s say no to violence-to do right by the Chicago family’s players, performers, fans, officials, and fellow residents.