Football Fans Gone WildThose of us worried that disgraceful conduct at football games is unique to Jets fans can take heart in Bryant Gumbel's fine television report demonstrating that coarse, obnoxious, drunken and sometimes violent behavior by fans permeates throughout the NFL. In one sickening example, a man drove home drunk from a Dolphins game and crashed into a car, killing a young father and his two year old daughter.
Not everyone - indeed not most - who attend football games fall into this category, and obnoxious drunks can also be spotted at baseball, basketball and hockey games (though I haven't seen too many at the U.S. Open). But football games seem to bring out a particularly bad element of people who take being a drunk more seriously than the game that is being played. Many spend hours drinking during pre-game tailgate parties, and then spend much of the game waiting on line to buy more beer.
One thing that I found nonsensical was the notion presented by the NFL that they cannot stop people from getting drunk at tailgate parties. If private ticket sales are (baselessly) banned on stadium grounds, why can't possession of alcohol in stadium parking lots be prohibited? Of course, just as people find a way to buy and sell tickets, some will find a way to drink. But a ban will surely reduce the amount of alcohol consumed prior to the game, and serve as a disincentive for those who are bigger fans of drinking than football from coming to games altogether.
posted on 1/25/2008
