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By Jim Caltagirone
For the Mirror
Despite the establishment of aggressive new policies and assessment of significant monetary fines, it may be only a matter of time before multiple casualties and the indiscriminate destruction of property come to define one of America's grandest institutions.
The institution is college football.
After a series of improbable and momentous victories by home teams this season, the storming of the field by thousands of fans has threatened public safety and jeopardized the state of athletic facilities.
The rash of incidents includes nationally-televised crowd rushes after the University of Tennessee defeated third-ranked Alabama and Notre Dame routed fourth-ranked Clemson.
Even more stunning than the final scores is the fact that the crush of humanity hurtling over the railings has not resulted in a tragedy.
Storming the field is certainly not a new phenomenon.
Chris Chambliss and Reggie Jackson were mobbed after the Yankees clinched the 1976 American League Championship Series and 1977 World Series, respectively.
It happened when the Pirates' Bill Mazeroski hit his famous home run to beat the Yankees in the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field.
The Boston Garden was the site of many postseason court rushes. Examples at the college and professional levels could fill volumes.
It is much harder for fans to leap over the plexiglass shielding at ice hockey rinks, and maybe there's something to that.
Preventing the trampling and suffocation of fans is the primary motivation for attempting to enforce policies that prohibit storming the field in college football.
Rarely does anyone speak about the potential for violent confrontations between the fans and the opposing players, coaches and staff.
A "fingers-crossed" situation arises every time a crowd pours onto the field at a college football game.
In announcing fines against the South Carolina and Vanderbilt for violation of the Southeastern Conference's "access to competition area" policy following football games on Nov. 19, league officials noted institutional penalties range from $50,000 for a first offense to fines of up to $100,000 for a second offense and up to $250,000 for a third and subsequent offenses.
The 18-year-old SEC policy pertains to violations in all sports sponsored by the conference.
Among the other Power 5 conferences surveyed on the topic by the Associated Press, Big 12 schools are only fined if a clear path does not exist for teams to exit the field and enter their locker rooms.
The Pac-12 levies a $25,000 fine for the first offense of field or court storming and increases the fine to $50,000 and $100,000 for subsequent violations.
The Atlantic Coast Conference does not have a policy on field storming, and the Big Ten Conference did not respond to the AP.
I get it. Fans want to actively participate in the celebration of a big win.
But the audience doesn't pour onto a stage in Las Vegas after the headliner's curtain call. Theater patrons are not invited to take a bow alongside the cast of a Broadway show.
Obviously, adrenaline, emotion and the adoption of mob mentality drive the impulse to flee the relative safety of the stands for the inevitable chaos on the playing field.
Some form of intervention, other than fines against the colleges and universities, must be employed to quell these impulses.
At present, the fans face few consequences for their actions.
Permanent netting effectively prevents line-drive foul balls from entering the stands at MLB ballparks.
Maybe it's time to implement the same solution as a means for keeping college football fans where they belong -- at their seats.
Jim Caltagirone resides in Altoona. He is a regular contributor to Voice of the Fan.