Fanatics Pose A Real Threat To Athletes

The first impulse is to laugh and regard the incident as the harmless action of a mind missing a few spark plugs. So when a woman intruded upon the Cowboys’ practice field last week and approached Troy Aikman, most people thought of it as frivolous fun.

The poor thing obviously was a bit daft to hike over a chain-link fence and think that Aikman, in the midst of a workout, would halt and listen to her delusions. But it made sense to her. She kept coming and trotted briskly toward the quarterback.

A kook was on the loose and fixated beyond the parameters of normal behavior to engage an athletic celebrity. For what purpose? Therein lay extreme unease.

Aikman instinctively felt it. He backtracked, eyes wide in alarm. She frightened him.

The episode ended peacefully. Babbling and distraught, the woman was arrested and charged with criminal trespass. The workout at Valley Ranch resumed. No harm done.

Yet, there is a dark side to such an experience. The potential to prove dangerous for someone mentally disturbed to this extent is only a short step over a thin line. Thus laughter is hardly an appropriate reaction.

“The reason for that,” says Dr. Robert Berg, “is it’s easier to laugh than confront our underlying fear. There isn’t a great deal of difference here than with the screwball who knifed Monica Seles.”

Tennis player stabbed. Movie stars and TV talk show host David Letterman stalked. Toronto second baseman Roberto Alomar threatened. Beatles icon John Lennon killed. Political assassinations attempted or completed.

To Berg, psychologist and Professor of Counselor Education at the University of North Texas for 27 years, these incidents are linked to an ominous trend. There is no protection from unreality that prompts an unbalanced mind to commit a destructive act.

“They are out of touch with reality as you and I know it,” says Berg. “It’s hard to understand what is going on in their heads.”

Fortunately, a small element is capable of pursuing delusions to an extreme degree. Berg estimated their number at 1 percent of the population. He derived no comfort from the small sample.

“They’re still walking the street. The price tag on freedom is vulnerability,” he said.

“They’re looking for help,” he said, and noted that familiar TV figures often are chosen as a source of comfort. “There’s the woman who stalked Letterman. He’s on TV all the time. So is Troy. Who will they chose if not them?

“What motivates them on an unconscious level is seeking to heal themselves. They just don’t do it in an appropriate way.”

Nor are the approaches to celebrities motivated by innocent impulse. Inner demons rage beneath the surface.

“The underlying pathology is seething, deep-seated anger,” Berg said. “Much of it comes out of mistreatment in early years. The dark side is that they’re capable of any kind of bizarre act. The fear to the celebrity is that what might be an annoyance at first might the next time might be a knife or gun.”

And it may be a woman at the other end. Berg sees increasing involvement by the modern-day woman. Males have been historically free to act out their aggression fighting and brawling, packing guns and going off to war. Women were programmed to be dependent.

“Now it’s more appropriate for women to be assertive,” he said.

The desperation of a fanatic also drives those who haunt the celebrity. They wish to explain their tortured logic.

“They think,” said Berg, “if I give you my message, you will understand and see the right and good of it.”

No one deserves to be fearful of his life as some have come to be after scary encounters such as Aikman knew. What looked funny to you was no laughing matter to him.