English football hooligans are infamous around the world, leaving a bad reputation on the field of competitive sports. In contrast, although football is one of the most violent contact sports, fan conflicts rarely spiral out of control, and the number of malicious incidents is not high.
Before today's game, the conflict between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers had reached an unprecedented level. The continuous stream of tweets had intensified the animosity, like an exposed gas station where a single spark was enough to ignite a full-blown confrontation.
In one instant, the Cardinals fans' reason snapped. Racist comments were thrown out and then erupted uncontrollably. Then, the 49ers fans' dam of reason also completely broke. Pushing and shoving, their anger and fury gradually spiraled out of control. It was impossible to trace who had started the fight. By the time they realized what was happening, Danny Reece, Jeff Locke, Cliff Hart, and others had already rolled up their sleeves and raised their fists, joining the melee. The scene turned into an absolute disaster.
This was an away game. They knew they were outnumbered, and they knew they were at a disadvantage. To support the team, they had to remain rational and stick together, avoiding any off-field chaos as much as possible and leaving all the problems to be solved on the field with their skills. But there's a limit to what you can endure. Then, in the blink of an eye, things became a mess, like a tornado had passed through.
Nate wanted to control the situation. The consequences immediately came to mind. If they were all detained, the team's away game today would undoubtedly be much harder, which was definitely not what anyone wanted to see. But looking at the chaos in front of him, he didn't know where to start. Surprisingly, even though they were outnumbered, the 49ers were gaining the upper hand. Their overwhelming momentum was pushing back the Cardinals, making the other Cardinals fans on the sidelines afraid to make a move. This prevented the scene from turning into a mindless, chaotic brawl. Otherwise, accidental injuries and stampedes would have been inevitable. Could this be called losing the battle but not the war? Or not?
The problem now was how to stop this melee before it got even more out of control. Just then, Nate heard an urgent shout: "Emergency! Emergency! Emergency!" The sound came rushing from a distance, like an ambulance. Nate's eyes lit up. Before he could even respond, Noah Parker's voice exploded like a thunderclap. "Emergency!"
In an instant, Nate and Noah exchanged a glance. Then both of them shouted at the same time and called to the other teammates who hadn't joined the fight to join in. "Emergency!" The shouts gradually merged into one, sounding like an alarm in the chaos. It attracted the attention of the people around them. They saw a wheelchair, a rushing wheelchair, with a very weak person on it. The situation seemed extremely urgent and demanded immediate action. In a flash, people didn't realize that the wheelchair was heading towards the stadium entrance, not away from the stadium to seek help. They instinctively backed away, making a path to avoid delaying the "patient." The most concise and clear call, "911," had the most powerful deterrent effect, and even the tense atmosphere of the imminent conflict dissipated a little.
A few fans who had been in a standoff like battling rams and hadn't actually started fighting stepped aside. Their attention shifted, and the tense atmosphere eased. But there were still some fans who were completely consumed by the fight, their eyes bloodshot. They didn't even notice their surroundings and continued to charge and hit each other, looking like they were ready to fight to the death.
In the end, the chaotic scene was slightly brought under control. Jonathan stopped and yelled at the opposing fans, "Take it to the field! This isn't a boxing ring! You all need to snap out of it! Damn it!" Then he yelled at his own fans, "What are you waiting for? We're here to win the game, not to fight!"
While he was roaring, police officers who were in charge of maintaining order outside the stadium arrived at the scene. The fans on both sides finally calmed down and voluntarily stepped forward to pull the fighting fans apart and quickly retreated. A vague boundary appeared in the middle, but it seemed like it could be crossed at any moment. The police seized the opportunity to quickly intervene and separate the excited fans, completely drawing a line. However, the emotions of the fans on both sides couldn't be calmed down immediately. They continued to curse and yell at each other, waving their fists and feet excitedly. The thick smell of gunpowder spread from outside the stadium to the inside.
After some mediation and control, the police still arrested eight fans, six of whom were Cardinals fans and only two of whom were 49ers fans. Their emotions were completely out of control. Even when facing the police, they continued to curse at each other with indescribably foul language, and their entanglement of punches and kicks was unstoppable. In the end, the police had no choice but to use force to detain them. In the final moments, the emotions of Danny Reece and the others finally subsided, and they obediently followed the instructions, thus avoiding the fate of being arrested and not missing this crucial battle.
The scene was temporarily under control, but the clash of eyes and words was still ongoing. It didn't subside after the punches were thrown; it only continued to escalate. This confrontation was moving to a whole new level. This was a war. This was a fight to the death!
…
The enraged and excited fans entered the University of Arizona Stadium one after another and took their seats. In this stadium with a capacity of 63,000, the home attendance today reached about 95%, a new season high. This meant that there were only about 5% of seats left for away fans, about 3,500 seats, which were cramped and crowded in a corner of the southeast side of the stadium. More than 4,000 other 49ers fans couldn't get into the stadium, but they didn't leave. Instead, they sat cross-legged in front of the big screen outside the stadium, watching the game from a distance and listening to the commotion and noise inside the stadium. They were supporting the team in their own way, becoming the biggest support for the team to win the game.
At this moment, inside the University of Phoenix Stadium, a vast and surging dark red smoke was boiling. The small white waves were just a tiny cluster, shivering pitifully, as if they could be swallowed by the stormy waves at any moment, shattering into pieces and disappearing without a trace.
With five minutes left until the game started, the strong smell of gunpowder reached its peak. The home crowd started to cheer in unison. The cheers went from a small, unclear sound wave to a deafening wave that swept through the entire stadium, finally becoming a huge tsunami of noise. Everyone was screaming in unison: "Interception! Interception! Interception!"
This simple cheer was like a handful of salt being rubbed into the wounds of the 49ers fans. It was rubbed for a long, long time, and they watched as their unhealed wounds started to bleed again, and the raw flesh started to show. In the face of such a sharp and piercing taunt, the 49ers fans launched a powerful counterattack, shouting hoarsely, "We are! Warriors!" But they quickly realized that their cheer was completely suppressed by the opponent's clean and powerful cheer. So, they changed their strategy. "Bambi! Bambi! Bambi!" The entire stadium rolled like an erupting volcano. "Interception! Interception! Interception!" "Bambi! Bambi! Bambi!" "Interception! Interception! Interception!"
But 3,500 fans were insignificant against nearly 60,000 fans, like an ant trying to shake an elephant. They were not on the same level at all. The more they shouted, the bigger the disparity became. The power difference between the home team and the away team reached an unprecedented level at this moment!
The war had begun! But the 49ers had no intention of giving up. Everyone was shouting hoarsely, squeezing out the last bit of energy from their bodies, relentlessly fighting against the "elephant." Even if there was a bottomless chasm in front of them, they would never give up. Then, a thunderous cheer came from outside the stadium. "Bambi!" That was the sound of the 49ers' outside support. It was deep and powerful, wave after wave, merging with the sound inside the stadium to create the most beautiful and moving cheer in the world. "Bambi! Bambi! Bambi!"
The massive cheer echoed inside and outside the stadium. The players standing in the tunnel naturally heard it. All eyes turned to Lu Ke. He was their captain, and he was growing into their leader. His seemingly weak shoulders were unintentionally bearing the weight of the entire team. "Bambi, are you nervous?" Those cheers were a motivation, but also a pressure. It came from both the home and away teams. It seemed like all eyes were on Lu Ke alone. Logan, as a bystander, couldn't help but get sweaty palms. He still couldn't resist bumping Lu Ke's shoulder and asking with concern.
Lu Ke didn't answer. He just held up his helmet and hit it twice with his right fist, making a dull thud. Then, Lu Ke looked around at his teammates standing shoulder to shoulder with him and roared wildly, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" His roar was like a wolf's howl, which caused the entire wolf pack to howl, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" All of them, with their heads held high and their chests puffed out, charged toward the field!
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