jerks
Lots of talk lately about fan rowdiness at Bengals games. The easiest solution is to ban beer sales, but that'll never happen given the NFL's billon-dollar deal with Coors. What it comes down to is simple civility, i.e. being considerate to others. We don't do considerate in this country anymore. Nowhere is that more obvious than at a sporting event, where the Up Yours mentality rages. I'm going to slop beer on you, I'm going to tear down these goalposts, I'm going to stand the whole game, I'm going to drop F-bombs in front of your 8-year-old. I paid for the seat. It's my right.
The big problem w/fans now is they feel they're part of the game. They're not. Buying a ticket allows you to spectate, not participate. You're no more a part of the action than the time clock. The Bengals wouldnt need a phone line for all this nonsense if fans just behaved like human beings.
One of the more ridiculous things I hear fans say is they're "defending our turf,'' as if it's London in 1940. No, you're not. You're rooting for a collection of individuals who live here 6 months of the year and wouldnt know the mayor if he handed them the keys to a Benz. So please, if you go to games, cheer like crazy, but respect the folks around you. It's just football.
Bengals 20, Steelers 13. Live sober.
posted by Paul Daugherty at 7:43 AM
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Post a Comment*Paul - Came from Omaha for the game Sunday and founds to be rowdy, but respectful all around - even to Browns fans. I took my son to the Bengals/Chiefs game at Arrowhead last year and was appalled at how we were treated...spit on, threats, nasty language. I was amazed. But we received the opposite treatment in Jacksonville. All were good natured and pleasant to us. Shows that there are buffoons everywhere.
LOVED the enthusiasm of the Bengals crowd...
Paul,
Very well said. I have a jackass who sits directly behind me who loves to use the word "suck." I also have a fourteen year old son, Colin, who attends every home game with me. Last year, I turned around and asked the gentleman to curtail his use of profanity. That was not easy to do for me. He responded by using the word "suck" about twenty times in rapid fire succession. This idiot is a Steeler fan with a girlfriend who drinks to excess and is pure trailer trash. Why he bought a PSL is beyond human comprehension.
I have programmed my cell to 381-JERK if the need should arise this season.
What you say is so much on the money. It is a simple matter of civility. Place yourself in the other guy's shoes. Is what you're doing morally defensible or not? It's not hard to figure out. I'm not sure how things got so out of hand because nothing like this happened when I was fourteen, except once in Pittsburgh when a wino kept falling asleep on my lap circa 1971.
Chip Lapp
Kenwood OH
Outstanding comments. This is what this forum can be when intelligent people with reasonable thoughts take part. Thanks very much. Keep 'em coming.
It could be worse.
In Italy, they've held soccer matches in empty stadiums as punishment for fans engaging in racist chants.
You know, people love to say that stuff like this "never happened when they were kids" but I distinctly remember that it did. You know what I'm talking about, riverfront stadium, 7th inning, any Reds game, top six tickets.
in the past 3 seasons, i've been to only two bengals games. admittedly, that's probably 90% due to the fact that i couldn't get tickets if i tried. but still, sitting at home and watching the game on the TV makes it just as easy to spectate (if not better- HDTV is amazing), without the obnoxious 40-year-old pudgy guy losing his voice from yelling obscenities, spitting everywhere, smelling like beer, and acting like a moron.
Paul,
I wonder if Cincinnati is worse than other places? After 10+ years without seeing an NFL game live, I got to two last year, the Bengals in Chicago and the playoff game in Denver that should have been ours but turned out to be New England's (not that I'm bitter or anything). In Chicago, the Bears' fans were not very happy, but they were generally well-behaved--except for the mother of the 10-year-old with the cross around her neck who insisted on giving the finger to the officials for the entire 4th quarter (I'm sure it was just the beer...). In Denver, the New England fans in our section took some heckling, but they were the ones doing the foolish taunting and starting fights in the restrooms. Beer is one of the big problems, but so, too, is the price of the ticket, which leads, I think, to a sense of entitlement--at $65 or $115, the spectator demands leeway that he might not expect at $15.
Perhaps it's because I live in New England, far from Cincy, but seeing the Bengals live in the Windy City was far better than seeing them in some smoky bar or at home on any size TV. But at $65, I'm not sure I'll be doing it again any time soon.
Kurk Dorsey
Newmarket NH
As a father, i don't mind my son seeing the drunk yahoos of the world, if anything, to have something to point to and say "See, you don't want to be like that."
Kids aren't stupid, they know how dumb it looks to get drunk and yell profanities at a football game. My job as a father is to teach my son about the realities of the world.
What I don't want to teach him is that those people are allowed to prevent people like us from enjoying sporting events.
I don't go to the games anymore for just that reason...and I can get free tickets from vendors. People think they are part of the game because they bought a ticket.
I go to Bristol for the night race each August and I take my family along... even though the crowd has had all day to get drunk there is very little bad behavior.
Guess we should start wearing headphones at football games.
Foul language, drunken brawls - have been encouraged by the NFL and TV as markers of fan support. ESPN rate cities by fan support. If any of you have experienced the dog pound in Cleveland - will understand Sam Wyche comment " we are not Cleveland". The NFL wants - TV wants it - players do not care - they want the money. YOU pay for it. Remember Pro Sports Unions in the USA is made up Weathy Individuals being protected from other Weathy Indiviaduals while the being supported by the middle class and the poor. When ESPN does another rating of fans - tell them to f---k o-- a-- h--- and you may make the top city in the country - just keep making out those checks
Paul, I disagree with some comments you've made. For instance, standing up the whole game isn't a crime. It should be encouraged, as should fans making noise. "Restore the Roar in PBS" means fans need to be loud. Loud INTELLIGENT fans can swing the advantage in the home teams favor very easily. Its simple, yell your head off when the Bengals are on defense and shut up when they are playing offense.
As a college student at The University of Notre Dame, I love the atmosphere we have in the stadium. I wish pro games had that same feel, where people are genuinely interested in the game and want their team to win... so much so that they loose their voices cheering for the team.
That does not, however, excuse profanity and drunken slobs ruining the game for everyone else. Those people are the ones the jerk line was made for, not the people who have the passion to stand and cheer the whole game...
We have lost our minds. I have to say I agree with have of you and disagree with half of you. Druken slobs spilling things on you and teenagers picking fights are not exceptable things just not at PBS but anywhere. The language censorship is another thing. Some of you have complained about profanity and even the work "suck"....are you kidding me? Look profanity is an amazing way we, as humans, can express ourselves. Anger frustration, excitement, and the list goes on. What is that hurting seriously? Are any of you having a moral stroke after hearing this. Then some of you worry about your children. I understand that but only to an extent. From ages 5 to 15 you tell your children that "bad" language is not right. It's inappropriate, nasty, morally wrong blah blah blah. But the serious reality is that kid will be saying all of those things before you know it. He will hear it at PBS, TV, friends and even if you don't admit it you too. When he hits the high school hallways and the college campus it will be a part of his vocab. So stop the whining about profanity. It is a part of the way we express ourselves. Other than that here is to great memories from the Bengals for years to come. Cheers.
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