Alcohol at sporting events is not a human right

The decision was called “a disaster,” was universally ridiculed and nearly had the World Cup canceled. It should also have opened a legitimate discussion.

When, how, where and why did it become an absolute that high-end sporting venues be places where people go to get totaled?

Qatar’s eleventh-hour ban on $19 watered-down stadium beers at World Cup matches was a little backhanded, given that major breweries already had committed millions in advertising because of a wink-wink promise that in-stadium drinking would be OK. But the outrage about the move is what was most concerning.

Take Qatar out of it. Focus on, say, Broad Street and Zinkoff Blvd. Wonder why so many fans

spend hours before an Eagles game getting drunk, then head into the Linc where they squeeze in 11 deep at various beer stands. Clearly, not everyone goes to a sporting event to drink. But too many simply would create a riot should a majorleague venue be absent beer taps.

Not that Qatar doesn’t have despicable laws against humanity that must be brought to light. But choosing not to sell beer at a soccer match is volumes behind the lack of other freedoms on that creepy country’s list of repugnant regulations. And to somehow elevate being drunk in a stadium to a human right is an affront to real human rights.

•••

Surge ticket pricing … I don’t get it.

•••

There should be nothing so pure in sports as the uniform of the game official. Whether it be yellow, or striped, or gray or — as long had been the baseball custom — blue, the outfit should be absent of any sign of an outside influence. The officials support nobody. No. Body.

Yet because baseball apparently

wasn’t gaining enough revenue from $40 parking lot fees, it had recently rented advertising space on its umpires’ costumes. Not only that, the graffiti would be for a cryptocurrency exchange — in other words, a place where a customer would make a bet on a concept. Keyword: Bet.

So there the umpires were all of last season with their uniforms vandalized by ads for “FTX.” Few protested at the time, but FTX recently collapsed and investors lost billions of dollars.

Major league sports would not exist without advertising. It’s why Connie Mack Stadium had a Coca-Cola sign on the leftfield roof. But tossing umpires into the mix is a gamble. And that’s supposed to be illegal in baseball.

•••

I don’t get why otherwise good baseball fans boo every pickoff move.

•••

It’s widely feared that Bryce Harper’s Tommy John surgery will have a damaging effect on fan feel-goods following the Phillies’ surprise NL championship season.

But don’t sweat that. Those feel-goods were firehosed when the Phillies wasted two leads in the World Series, lost back-toback home games, struck

out more times than any team in series history, were no-hit, and yanked their well-rested ace pitcher out of a game after throwing a 97 mph pitch on the way to losing an elimination game.

• Team president Dave Dombrowski recently advanced some cockamamie analytic that Rhys Hoskins has been improving as a defensive player. That was more proof that baseball analytics are convenient, cryptocurrencystyle come-ons designed to mesmerize fools.

• If there was one thing — just one — that the Phillies needed to do in the offseason, it would have been to bring back reliever Sam Coonrod. Good thing they got that done.

• • •

Is there anything less interesting than the foreword in a book?

• • •

Sixers fans recently took delight in watching a player who rarely shoots, often misses layups and makes too much money.

And while being made to watch P.J. Tucker play, they booed Ben Simmons, too.

Tucker, the $33 million free agent, has made one shot in his last five games while playing a whopping 164 minutes. One.

Coach Doc Rivers can tout Tucker’s ability to interpret a scouting report

and to lead by example as values. But if he thinks he can win in the spring with 20% of his starting lineup unwilling to fully participate at the offensive end, the Wells Fargo Center crowd the other night should have reminded him how Simmons’ Sixers career worked out.

•••

There is a reason former Flyer Chris Therien’s book, “Road to Redemption,” coauthored by award-winning hockey writer Wayne Fish, zoomed onto some best-selling charts: It is not just another athleteturns-his-life-around tale. Never shy, Therien goes into shocking detail about his drinking problem on game nights. And the man didn’t like Ken Hitchcock a whole lot, just leave it at that. Good Christmas gift idea.

• Always true to his South Jersey roots, Flyers defenseman Tony DeAngelo will be presented the Native Son award at the 118th Philadelphia Sports Writers Association dinner Jan. 23 in Cherry Hill, N.J. The Phillies will be recognized as the Team of the Year. Go to phillysportswriters.com for ticket information.

•••