It would seem that at last nights Caps game a Rangers fan, or so we would assume I do not know why a Caps fan would do this, brought a laser pointer to MSG and shone said laser pointer in Jose’s eyes before the start of one of the periods. Youtube video of the event can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3aWucrOtIM (little warning: audio is abnormally ear-splitting loud so I would recommend turning the volume on your computer down before clicking)
Now this happened recently at a Canucks game in which a Canucks fan did the same thing to the opposing goalie that night. This is never okay; In fact I don’t care what team it is, what goalie, what player, what fan, I don’t care if they’re a fan of my team doing it to the opposing goalie it is in no way alright. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE.
You obviously don’t flash laser pointers in anyones eyes because it will mess them up which is obviously the point of flashing it in a goalies eyes but it could mess them up maybe pretty badly, that’s why it say “DO NOT POINT IN EYES” on the package. Just to give you an idea how badly I got this information from www.laserpointersafety.com
- The power density from a 1 milliwatt laser, focused to a point, is brighter than the equivalent area of the sun’s surface.
- This can cause a detectable change (injury) to the retina, if the laser stays in one spot for a few seconds
- In extreme cases, central vision could be almost fully lost, and the person becomes blind in that eye.
It’s literally all fun and game until someone loses eyesight. That last fact, the complete lose of eyesight is of course in extreme cases and in the US and most countries only a 5 milliwatt is the highest you can get but this can still cause blind spots in the eye because obviously if only a 1 milliwatt laser is as brighter than the equivalent of the SUN than a 5 miliwatt is even worse.
A lifetime ban from the arena is light punishment in my books but it’s about as far as the arena can go, maybe depending on where it happened they could file some sort of charges with the police; in some areas it is a misdemeanor to point a laser into someones eyes. You can find out more about your area on www.laserpointersafety.com
In a perfect world they would take the perpetrator down on the ice after the game and let the team whose goalie they shoot a laser pointer at do with them what they wished and we could all see what kind of big man or woman they were then. Of course, and perhaps unfortunately, this is considered assault.
Now I know it’s really easy to sneak something like a laser pointer, most look like a regular old pen, into an arena so there isn’t much the arena can do short of patting down people, which I’m sure some arenas do already. Just keep a look out when they check bags and the security people keep an eye out during games. And for fellow fans to report it if they see it. Even if it’s a person who roots for your team just report it. In fact this, very useful, website www.laserpointersafety.com tells you how to file an incident report.
So if fans have any respect for this beautiful sport and their team everybody will keep the antics in their heads and leave the distracting devices at home. And, if they have any respect for the way their face is arranged they won’t try that crap sitting by me.
