The Constitution Gives You The Right To Flip Off Rival Fans

A huge court ruling has gone completely under the radar. It's not a steroids witch hunt, or a BCS antitrust suit, but something far more important to the day-to-day lives of sports fans: protecting your First Amendment right to bear middle fingers at a football game.

Jason Ensign is the worst kind of fan: the one willing to start shit, but not take his medicine. In 2009, Ensign wore his Chiefs gear to a Chargers/Chiefs game in San Diego, but also left the game early once his team was getting sufficiently pounded. On his way out, he offered a one-fingered salute to Charger fans, which led to a scuffle with security guards.

Ensign was charged with battery, but the judge ruled that "he was invoking his free speech right with his middle finger and had a right to defend himself from the private security officers who tackled him."

Damn activist judges. First it's middle fingers and "Beat L.A." chants that are protected, but it's a slippery slope to poisoning trees and letting a man marry a horse. Freedom isn't free.

Long Arm of the Law Stops at "The Finger" [NBC San Diego]