Cancellation of Dakar Rally a serious reminder

Next time you're standing outside a stadium and grumbling because the security lines aren't moving and it's freezing or it's raining or it's too hot or it's too close to game time, think about the Dakar Rally.

You know, the race where drivers go speeding across the Sahara Desert on motorcycles and bulked-up cars and trucks in the ultimate off-road adventure.

The one that was called off Friday because of terror threats.

Six years after Sept. 11, it's easy to forget exactly why pat-downs and bag checks are needed to go watch a game. We all can be thankful that, so far, the worst security breaches are usually those drunken fans who think it's funny to run on the field.

Make no mistake, though, sporting events remain an attractive target.

"The risks will always be there," said Lou Marciani, director of the Center for Spectator Sports Security Management at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Calling the Dakar Rally risky is like calling Bill Belichick paranoid.

Competitors -- many of them amateurs -- race across sand, rocks, mud and pretty much every terrain imaginable, and they have to dodge everything from land mines to armed bandits in their two-week sprint from Europe to western Africa. Much of the route is desolate -- Margaret Thatcher's son got lost for a week back in 1982 after his car broke down -- and about two dozen competitors have died since the race began in 1978.

There have been terrorist threats against the rally before, and organizers responded by changing the route or even scrapping certain legs.

This year, though, the risk was simply too great.

There were "direct threats" from al-Qaida-linked militants, Patrice Clerc, who heads the company that organizes the rally, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

"We don't have the right to play games with safety," Clerc said.

The most serious known threat here at home was a "dirty bomb" plot that mentioned several NFL stadiums last season. It turned out to be a hoax, a skinny Wisconsin grocery clerk's idea of a joke.

That doesn't mean we can or should be any less vigilant than we were in 2001.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has long said arenas and stadiums are potential targets for terrorists, and no wonder. Sporting events draw thousands of people -- inside and out -- and plenty of media coverage. Attacking a ballpark, arena or stadium not only means the potential for casualties but immediate attention.

It also would be a huge psychological blow. Sports are America's refuge, the place we count on going to forget our problems. In the dark days after Sept. 11, it was NFL and major-league baseball games that helped lift our spirits.

So we gladly opened our bags after Sept. 11 and patiently stood in security lines. There were no complaints when that brand-new umbrella was confiscated, and we willingly left backpacks and big purses at home. Leagues and teams spent millions to protect fans, players and stadiums. Not only did the Center for Spectator Sports Security Management open, it now offers a master's degree.

All of this, we said, was for our own good.

But as months passed, goodwill began to fade. When the NFL mandated leaguewide pat-downs, some fans in San Francisco and Tampa Bay filed lawsuits. The Chicago Park District, which owns Soldier Field, tried to sue, too, and initially refused to pay for the pat-downs.

The NFL won out, and getting frisked on the way into the stadium is as much a part of the experience as bad techno music and long lines for the bathroom at halftime.

"Very simply, we want to make sure that they feel they're coming to a secure event," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "That's not the only measure that's in place. The security of our game has remained a very high priority. We've continued to be very vigilant."

As have baseball and the NBA and NASCAR and colleges.

Much like air travelers, fans have come to accept and expect these tighter security measures.

That doesn't mean they like them, though. Go to any event where there's a line for security, and there will be griping. Restrictions of any kind will bring complaints from somebody. And heaven help the security guard who makes you give up that umbrella now.

But just because something bad hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not still a very real possibility. The Dakar Rally is a reminder of that.