Violence in Dodger Stadium, and commenting on it, certainly has caused a stir. If you want to see what sort of stir, look at the item from this blog and the 15 comments (and counting) I have been able to post.

(Rather than edit those with obscenities, I don’t run them.)

A few Dodgers fans actually have risen to the defense of current security levels there. Amazing.

T.J. Simers, the Los Angeles Times columnist, has called out the Dodgers for doing, basically nothing. Though the impact of his column is blunted by his need to go for a couple of laughs. (Either you’re ticked, or you not.)

Meantime, in Abu Dhabi, in what many back home believe to be a dangerous and scary place, I will cover a soccer match Tuesday night involving a local team and one from Saudi Arabia. And you know how that will turn out?

It will be peaceful. Completely peaceful.

It will be animated, bank on that. UAE teams love to compete against Saudi teams. The Saudis are sorta the big kids on the soccer block, and teams from around here get genuine pleasure from beating them. Not that it happens all that often.

I expect a crowd of at least 5,000, 99 percent of them men in khandouras, the majority of them between the ages of 15 and 30 — or right in the middle of the “could be dangerous” demographic back in the States. Or Dodger Stadium.

It is possible to go to significant events, like an Asian Champions League game between two strong clubs from neighboring nations, and not have someone end up in a hospital. In fact, “went to a game, nobody got mugged” happens all the time here.

It could in part be about alcohol. No alcohol will be served at Al Nahyan Stadium tonight. It is forbidden in stadiums in this devoutly Muslim country.

But this is a country where you don’t attack fans for the other side. You just don’t. You might jeer them. You might have competing chants led by guys on bullhorns … but nobody, nobody, goes to a match expecting/hoping to be sucker-punching someone wearing the other side’s colors before the night is over.

It can be done. Stadiums can be made safe. Back in the States, it isn’t possible to import the mores of the Gulf. But alcohol can be banned or severely limited. A higher level of security can be set up. (Because even though matches here are peaceful, the police presence is significant.)

It can be done. If you want to make it so.