At the time of writing, Jesse Ryder is fighting for his life after a completely cowardly and baseless attack by a group of terrible individuals. It is a dark day in international cricket, and it is not the first. One of the alleged and completely senseless reasons behind this is that it was possibly a "Jesse Hate Fight", which brings up the crux of this matter.
How far is too far? When does being a sports fan cross the line to sheer madness? It baffles me that somebody could possible justify a hate fight over a sport. I would call myself a cricket fan, that doesn't mean I would ever make it a personal issue regarding international cricketers and I am sure the vast majority fall into this category. It is the minority we have to address here, this is where we draw the line between fan and fanatic.
Violence in cricket isn't anything new, we saw the tragic murder of coach Bob Woolmer in 2007 and the Sri Lankan team bus attacked in Pakistan in 2009, remembering that the entire team barely escaped with their lives. We constantly see in India street riots, the burning of effigies, players' homes attacked. What did any of that ever achieve? What drives people to resort to such lunacy over what is after all only a game?