Demonstrating that alcohol and a team loss can be a dangerous combination, some baseball fans have once again proven their irresponsibility when it comes to alcohol consumption.

On April 15 and 19, fans endangered the lives of players, umpires and other fans when they rushed onto U.S. Cellular Field or lunged an object at players in Chicago and Oakland. Three men rushed the field at a game in Chicago and a fourth fan attacked an umpire. Four days later, a fan in Oakland threw a cell phone at Texas outfielder Carl Everett, hitting him in the back of the head, during the Rangers' loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Everett plans to press charges and rightly so. He should not have to suffer abuse at the hands of fans. Even though he makes millions of dollars, he's protected by the same laws as we are.

Fans have become increasingly less responsible and action needs to be taken to ensure the safety of everyone at the games. Alcohol has been the main cause of fans rushing the field and attempting to injure players, as some often consume a large amount, leading them to act irresponsibly.

Perhaps alcohol vendors should limit the sale of alcohol earlier. Doing so could help prevent fans from consuming more than their limit and possibly attempting to hurt players by rushing the field or throwing objects. Consuming too much alcohol has been known to prevent people from using their brains to rationalize decisions.

For those fans who do continue to rush baseball fields or attempt to injure players, umpires and other fans, stiffer fines should be enforced to discourage them. U.S. Cellular Field was designed to put fans closer to the field, so perhaps security should be beefed up to help keep fans off the field.

While some athletes do mutually disrespect fans (Ron Artest displaying a choice finger to fans, Everett's constant bad-