Tales Too Strange To Be Fiction

If you thought America was increasingly over-litigious, check out this excerpt from an AP story from Spain:

About 30 fans plan to sue a referee for awarding a last-minute penalty against their team in a Spanish league match.

The fans hold Pedro Tristante Oliva and the Spanish soccer federation responsible for the "penalty mistake" in which Real Madrid was awarded a penalty kick against Valencia. They are asking for one euro per person in damages, or $1.29 each.

"We want the error to be publicly acknowledged and compensation paid as professional negligence has been committed," Andres Sanchis, the lawyer representing the fans, said in the sports daily As on Wednesday.

This is outrageous! What if the plaintiffs prevail in this matter? What if other fans, from other sports, quit yelling "Kill the ref!" and start yelling "Sue the Ref!"

I mean, if you do the math on this, even at $1.29 a mistake, all professional sports will be bankrupt by the time the summer Olympics roll around.

Then what would we have? No professional sports? People playing sports just for the pure enjoyment of it? An Olympics without professionals? No millionaire athletes? No Yankees? No Steinbrenner?

Wait.

I just changed my position on this one.

Never mind.