WP: Beer, Boorishness in Stands Spoil Games for Some Fans

[jwebst1]

This article is written by someone who a) has a personal vendetta against drinking doesn't understand that football has always incorporated a tailgaiting/drinking culture and c) Fedex is one of the tamest venues in all of sports.

Give me a break. If you don't like drunkenness, don't go to a game. It's second only to bars in terms of public intoxication.

I love to drink and shotgun beers and everything else, but put yourself into some of these people's shoes... when you are 35 and take your 5-yr old kid to the game, do you want someone spilling beer on their head? If I had a kid right now, I would think twice about taking him to FedEx Field.

[TD Riggo]

This isn't just a problem at NFL games, or even sporting events alone. It's a problem society-wide. My wife and I and 6 of our friends went to a stand-up comedy soncert two nights ago at the Hard Rock. They have an open bar throughout the show in the back of the auditorium. Three people in the row behind us became progressively louder throughout the show and even started to say the punchlines to some of the jokes before the comedian did (he is a very popular comedian and told some of his familiar stories toward the end). They also started spilling beer all over themselves and the people around them. The staff did nothing, and an evening for about 40 people was ruined by three louts who became more obnoxious when people politley asked them to be quiet.

It's the reason I seldom go to movies or any public events any more because there are just too many jerks who always seem to spoil what would be a nice day for everyone.

[RDSKNfaithfull]

Ban alcohol from the games. Period. I think it's crazy that alcohol is okay in this society but marijuana isn't, but that's a different thread altogether.

I went to the Redskins/Bears game in Soldier Field in Dec 2003. I almost got my ass kicked by a mob of drunk a-holes because of my Redskins beanie. That was it - I was minding my own business.

What it boils down to is whether people heckle the opposing fans in good spirit or in mean spirit. It seems to me that the mean spirited hecklers don't really respect the game of football, they just want to feel dominant over another person.

You can drink a beer and the next day go to work. Weed makes you lazy and unmotivated period.

[RDSKNfaithfull]

I love to drink and shotgun beers and everything else, but put yourself into some of these people's shoes... when you are 35 and take your 5-yr old kid to the game, do you want someone spilling beer on their head? If I had a kid right now, I would think twice about taking him to FedEx Field.

Just take him to the Club level and you will have no problems

[PatFischer37]

I am a club level owner and not what is generalized on this board as a wine and cheeser. I make a good living and I want good seats. Sorry for being successful I guess. I tailgate with friends have some food and beer. Will have a few $8 beers at the game. But people shouldnt have to listen to drunken ******** on every play yell obsencities to who ever is within an earshot. I usually take my 6 year old daughter as I am doing my part on trying to raise good skins fans, but having to witness idiots up in the stands acting like bufoons is not enjoyable.

I had one guy who was with a bunch of raider fans yelling (every play) at someone in front of me who had a cowboy hat on...he didnt even care about the game, he was just starting with the cowboy fan. Whats up with that?

Again, let the filters do their job. Thanks. --Henry

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

This isn't just a problem at NFL games, or even sporting events alone. It's a problem society-wide. My wife and I and 6 of our friends went to a stand-up comedy soncert two nights ago at the Hard Rock. They have an open bar throughout the show in the back of the auditorium. Three people in the row behind us became progressively louder throughout the show and even started to say the punchlines to some of the jokes before the comedian did (he is a very popular comedian and told some of his familiar stories toward the end). They also started spilling beer all over themselves and the people around them. The staff did nothing, and an evening for about 40 people was ruined by three louts who became more obnoxious when people politley asked them to be quiet.

It's the reason I seldom go to movies or any public events any more because there are just too many jerks who always seem to spoil what would be a nice day for everyone.

You are right.

My girlfriend and I went to what one whould think would be the tamest of all events last summer - a Gordon Lightfoot concert at Wolf Trap. By and large, it was what you would have expected. Yuppies and old hippies sitting in the grass.

But there was a group of 10 people about fifteen feet behind us who must have gone through several cases of beer. They were screaming and swearing like it was a Motley Crue concert. I really didn't understand it.

Football and beer do seem to go together arm and arm. I rarely watch a game without drinking two or three beers. But I don't understand why people find it necessary to get so drunk that they have to fight (I've been hit at games), throw up (I've had to leave my seats at games due to the smell), or pass out (sat next to an unconscious guy at a game once).

[RDSKNfaithfull]

I am a club level owner and not what is generalized on this board as a wine and cheeser. I make a good living and I want good seats. Sorry for being successful I guess. I tailgate with friends have some food and beer. Will have a few $8 beers at the game. But people shouldnt have to listen to drunken a*sh*les on every play yell obsencities to who ever is within an earshot. I usually take my 6 year old daughter as I am doing my part on trying to raise good skins fans, but having to witness idiots up in the stands acting like bufoons is not enjoyable.

I had one guy who was with a bunch of raider fans yelling (every play) at someone in front of me who had a cowboy hat on...he didnt even care about the game, he was just starting with the cowboy fan. Whats up with that?

You shouldn't worry about others. You are raising your kids, not the drunk fans at the game Your daughter will see far worse in this big bad world its your job to teach them that is not a way for YOUR CHILDREN to act.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I am a club level owner and not what is generalized on this board as a wine and cheeser. I make a good living and I want good seats. Sorry for being successful I guess. I tailgate with friends have some food and beer. Will have a few $8 beers at the game. But people shouldnt have to listen to drunken a*sh*les on every play yell obsencities to who ever is within an earshot. I usually take my 6 year old daughter as I am doing my part on trying to raise good skins fans, but having to witness idiots up in the stands acting like bufoons is not enjoyable.

I had one guy who was with a bunch of raider fans yelling (every play) at someone in front of me who had a cowboy hat on...he didnt even care about the game, he was just starting with the cowboy fan. Whats up with that?

I'm worse than you. I will only go to sporting events if I have free tickets in the club or suite level. (Aside from baseball games, where I will happily pay $8 or $10 for cheap seats).

Mainly, I've gotten tired of spending $45 or $50 a pop on tickets just to have someone spill a beer on me.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

You shouldn't worry about others. You are raising your kids, not the drunk fans at the game Your daughter will see far worse in this big bad world its your job to teach them that is not a way for YOUR CHILDREN to act.

But why should he spend hundreds of dollars to have someone ruin his day.

That's the problem with drunk fans; you cannot ignore them. When you get beer spilled on you and obscenities screamed at you and puke oozing towards you, it becomes YOUR problem.

I say all this as a short man who had a 6'3, 300-pound redneck fall on top of him at a John Mellencamp concert once. It was like being trapped under a polar bear.

[FLRedskins]

ironic, but I'm too drunk to read that whole article

drunken wild fans, my kind of people :helmet:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[skinstzar]

At the 49ers game I watched a guy leaving the stadium with his buddy holding him up. He had pissed and shat on himself. He also had a mass amount of vomit on his nice replica LA jersey. Because people like this can't police themselves, everyone else has to suffer. Dan Snyder is not going to punish the individual because he won't allocate the money for the neccessary resources. He is not going to punish the whole crowd just because of a few. He sees 5 of th 7 dollars you pay for a beer. It is what it is, it will get worse before it gets better.

[RDSKNfaithfull]

But why should he spend hundreds of dollars to have someone ruin his day.

That's the problem with drunk fans; you cannot ignore them. When you get beer spilled on you and obscenities screamed at you and puke oozing towards you' date=' it becomes YOUR problem.

I say all this as a short man who had a 6'3, 300-pound redneck fall on top of him at a John Mellencamp concert once. It was like being trapped under a polar bear.[/quote']

Every time you have been to a game a fan has spilled a drink on you and puked in your section? I agree if you want ushers to escort people who can't stand up and are throwing up out of the stadium but 89,000 fans are drinking and not getting out of hand. As for foul launguage you are going to a violent game where all the players on the Jumbo tron are lipping #### that ####

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Every time you have been to a game a fan has spilled a drink on you and puked in your section? I agree if you want ushers to escort people who can't stand up and are throwing up out of the stadium but 89,000 fans are drinking and not getting out of hand. As for foul launguage you are going to a violent game where all the players on the Jumbo tron are lipping #### that ####

It hasn't happened at every game, but it's happened enough. And I've certainly seen many many many completely drunk people at every game I've attended.

Here is the real question: Why get drunk at a football game? If you are going to get drunk, why spend hundreds of dollars to do it?

You can buy an incredibly good bottle of scotch for the money spent at a Redskins game.

[National Defense]

this is getting silly--sorry that some of you are not comfortable with the uncivilized uncultured world of the unwashed masses. good luck building your protective bubble.

[Ball Coach]

I'm always amused at how people will rush to excuse this type of behavior. Going to a home game does not give anybody the right to get drunk, curse, or make it uncomfortable for others.

If some of the things being done/said in the staduim were to happen outside the stadium, they would most likely be arrested for public drunkeness.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

this is getting silly--sorry that some of you are not comfortable with the uncivilized uncultured world of the unwashed masses. good luck building your protective bubble.

I grew up in a steel town. I was going to bookie joints with my grandpa to place bets when I was five. I am the living embodiment of the unwashed masses.

I still don't see why I have to deal with dunken, profane people at an event I spent several hundred dollars to attend.

No one has yet to answer my question: Why do you have to get drunk to enjoy a football game?

[RDSKNfaithfull]

I'm always amused at how people will rush to excuse this type of behavior. Going to a home game does not give anybody the right to get drunk, curse, or make it uncomfortable for others.

If some of the things being done/said in the staduim were to happen outside the stadium, they would most likely be arrested for public drunkeness.

Maybe that is what makes it so special??????

[MSJHWT]

Funny, I've never had a problem in my section, we've always had a couple rival fans but for the most part they don't talk ****, they just cheer for thier team when they have a good play. Yesterday there wasn't much of that going on until the winning FG and sack. Is there profanity? Yeah, but not so much more than you'd get anywhere else out in public, you just get it heavily when we have a bad play, very seldom when we're winning lol.

However, there IS an alcohol problem at the stadium. I'm 20, I'll be 21 in Jan, but there is no I.D. checking at FedEx. ALL of the games this year, I've been offered a drink by a vendor, or a guy walking around with beer. I've laughed and told them I'm not 21, four times I've gotten answers to the effect that it didn't matter, and they'd sell to me anyway. And I thought if you looked under 30 you were to be checked.

As for fan behevior; my brother was sitting in 438, though, there were 3 fights in rows 3-4 above and below him. Both were 1-on-1 Radiers v Redskins, and the Raiders fans all got ejected. But honestly I've never had a problem while in the stadium except once some drunk asshat burnt me on accident with his cig. To me the part of going to the stadium which is making me not want to go anymore is tailgaters. Sorry to all of you who love tailgating, but to me tailgating is one thing (ie taking up one spot and eating out of your tailgate), taking up 4 parking spots with your one car is quite another. Yesterday I got to the stadium at 10:45, to have enough time to park, go in and get my girlfriend a Moss jersey and then watch warmups. I got sent down a row with appox 30 open spots next to cars, all either with a car 1/2 in them, people in them, or things left there. When I got to the end of the row the car in front of me put on his reverse lights; it was a dead end, seems event staff had ment for me and the 5 cars it sent with me to park somewhere down here. After sitting there in place for 20 mins trying to see if we could backup and having them sending more and more cars down, I finally pulled into a spot between to cars and having the ass end of my car hanging out. I had about 6 in to open my door and squeeze myself out of the car. This is why so many people can't get passes, and why it's becoming such a hassle for me to go to games. Can you say it was the fault of the parking staff for sending me down there? Yes and no, they saw open spots so they said go down, but they should know by now that they're all taken by tailgaters. Sorry to all you who love to tailgate, but it's the reason coming for me is becoming less and less fun each week.

[Ball Coach]

Maybe that is what makes it so special??????

I assume that is the reason, but that shouldn't justify the behavior.

[PatFischer37]

You shouldn't worry about others. You are raising your kids, not the drunk fans at the game Your daughter will see far worse in this big bad world its your job to teach them that is not a way for YOUR CHILDREN to act.

Obviously you have no kids or cannot convince some drunken female that has a still has a pulse to grant you an heir to your obvious enormous fortune.

[jcblanco22]

You are right.

My girlfriend and I went to what one whould think would be the tamest of all events last summer - a Gordon Lightfoot concert at Wolf Trap. By and large' date=' it was what you would have expected. Yuppies and old hippies sitting in the grass.

But there was a group of 10 people about fifteen feet behind us who must have gone through several cases of beer. They were screaming and swearing like it was a Motley Crue concert. I really didn't understand it.[/b']

Football and beer do seem to go together arm and arm. I rarely watch a game without drinking two or three beers. But I don't understand why people find it necessary to get so drunk that they have to fight (I've been hit at games), throw up (I've had to leave my seats at games due to the smell), or pass out (sat next to an unconscious guy at a game once).

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Lombardi, that visual is priceless, sounds like something out of a SNL or MAD TV skit.

[dadyjr]

300 pound chick crushed you at a Cougar Menstral Cramp concert??

NO WAY!!!

:laugh:

[RDSKNfaithfull]

Obviously you have no kids or cannot convince some drunken female that has a still has a pulse to grant you an heir to your obvious enormous fortune.

I have a two year old daughter no need to take shots :laugh: Way to show your character though

[PleaseBlitz]

I'm always amused at how people will rush to excuse this type of behavior. Going to a home game does not give anybody the right to get drunk, curse, or make it uncomfortable for others.

No, the Bill of Rights does.

If you dont like the environment of a professional football game, then go get tix for the ballet.

And who is spending hundreds of dollars inside the stadium? Thats what tailgating is for. Plus, its pretty easy to sneak 6 beers in instead of spending the $50. Sorry Mr Snyder.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Maybe that is what makes it so special??????

So...the very thing that makes a football game special is the fact that you can behave like a sailor on leave in Thailand.

I always thought it was seeing an NFL game in person.