Yes, I have been to both an Eagles game and a Jets game and their fans are arguably the worst in football. I don't see how that might excuse the behavior of the LSU fans in NO. Not being the absolute worst is nothing to brag about.
Their is an enormous difference between supporting one's favorite team and denigrating the opponent. The latter is NOT a prerequisite to the former. Cursing and religious bigotry from a middle aged man in front of an eight year old girl says a lot about the man but none of it is commendable and none of it demonstrates his support for his team. I'm pretty sure that the LSU coaching staff wouldn't care for that kind of support.
I am beginning to suspect that the current wave of unsportsmanlike conduct on the field (T.O., etc) may be the cause of a good deal of the bad behavior among fans (or maybe vice versa?). I also think this development may be a generational thing. When I went to several Alabama-LSY games in the 70s and 80s, the fans of both teams always got along great and there was a kind of mutual respect between the fans. Back then, the real problem was between Alabama and Tennessee fans.
Finally, I will definitely stay out of the "kitchen" of LSU football games. Not because I can't take the "heat". I've been married for 23 years and am immune to cursing. Not because of the bigotry. I grew up in Alabama and saw (and was guilty of) my share of that (although not in the last 20 years). But because life is just too short to put up with that crap.
When Lou Holtz was NDs coach, and they had a rivalry with Miami, the boosters sold at the bookstore (and everywhere else) tshirts with the leprechaun facing off against that bird that is Miami's mascot with big bold words - CATHOLICS VS CONVICTS and the date of the game.
It doesnt matter what city or what setting youre in, that type of behavior is appalling. During the Week around Christmas, my friends parents who are close to their 70s, came here from Florida to visit. On that Saturday night around 9 pm, my friend and his dad went to a local bar to shoot a few games and drink a few beers. Long story short, my friend asked a couple of guys to watch their language because his wife was there and was hit in the face with a pool cue, nearly killed, recieved 30 something stitches, and spent 4 days in the hospital. Of course the guy that hit him ran as soon as the deed was done, and nobody there knew who he was or had ever seen him before.
Posts: 222 | Location: South Bend, IN | Registered: October 14, 2006
Originally posted by lkbigfish: When Lou Holtz was NDs coach, and they had a rivalry with Miami, the boosters sold at the bookstore (and everywhere else) tshirts with the leprechaun facing off against that bird that is Miami's mascot with big bold words - CATHOLICS VS CONVICTS and the date of the game.
It doesnt matter what city or what setting youre in, that type of behavior is appalling. During the Week around Christmas, my friends parents who are close to their 70s, came here from Florida to visit. On that Saturday night around 9 pm, my friend and his dad went to a local bar to shoot a few games and drink a few beers. Long story short, my friend asked a couple of guys to watch their language because his wife was there and was hit in the face with a pool cue, nearly killed, recieved 30 something stitches, and spent 4 days in the hospital. Of course the guy that hit him ran as soon as the deed was done, and nobody there knew who he was or had ever seen him before.
How you can equate a bar room brawl to someone cursing at a football game is beyond me. Also, the second you enter a bar, you have to realize it's not a Sunday bake sale, cursing and drinking are to be expected. It's not rocket science.
I'm sorry for your friends face, but my advice would be to stay out of bars.
Reminds me of when I was in the Marching Band at LSU. We were in Alabama for the annual LSU/BAMA game. We were standing outside our buses when some of the BAMA fans felt the need to bombard us and our buses with beer bottles, JD bottles and pretty much anything else you can imagine. Turned out to be a group of frat boys. There was probably 10 of them and they turned tall when about 50 of us descended upon them. Crap like that happens all over. I also remember being cursed at and having stuff thrown at me in Shreveport at the Independence Bowl by Notra Dame fans. They were pretty fired up also.
Chip
"Never wrestle a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it."
Posts: 798 | Location: Pineville, LA | Registered: May 09, 2002
I'm glad to read examples of this type of behavior elsewhere, not just at WVU (well, maybe "glad" isn't the word). It seems like, after every home football game, our papers are full of some example of out-of-control Mountaineer fans: couch fires in the streets, and bottles thrown at firefighters who tried to put them out; a fifty-gallon trash can thrown from the upper deck of the stadium that hit one of Miami's assistant coaches; WVU fans lining the short distance from the stadium to Ruby Memorial Hospital, rocking an ambulance carrying an injured Miami player. And the abuses against Pitt's players and fans alone would fill volumes. Things got so bad in the late '90's that the university, for years, stopped scheduling late starts--a student section that had been drinking all day was just too much to handle. It's almost the stuff of urban legend. And great fun when I was in my twenties (wrong on so many levels, I know).
You'd like to think that adults could behave themselves and act responsibly, but that's often not how it works out. That said, maybe a football game isn't the best place for impressionable children. Besides the bad behavior of some fans, there's the game itself to consider: huge athletic specimens beating the **** out of each other for three hours. Not exactly wholesome entertainment. Would you take your child or grandchild to see a bear-baiting? Not everything is for or about children.
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The world Julian wanted to preserve and restore is gone...the barbarians are at the gate. Yet when they breach the wall, they will find nothing of value to seize, only empty relics. The spirit of what we were has fled.
-Gore Vidal, "Julian"
Posts: 522 | Location: St. Albans, WV | Registered: February 03, 2004
It's not like football is exactly a game for pacifists. Ever seen a soccer game in England or Italy and a game broke out. Those guys never get out of control...naw, never.
Oh, and lets not forget hocky. All those nice nothern fans are totally well behaved also.
No, rudeness and violence should not be an acceptable norm for polite society. But once you enter the modern day sports arena, you had better be prepared for a little of it to spill out into the stands.
“Sports plays a societal role in engendering jingoist and chauvinist attitudes. They're designed to organize a community to be committed to their gladiators.”
