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| The NFL frowns upon this kind of behavior for some reason. |
My friend Jeff and I once attended
a Browns exhibition game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, that charming old
wreck of a field famous for its rabid fans. We sat in the bleachers behind the
east end zone, a section affectionately known as the Dawg Pound, from where the
rowdiest members of Cleveland's fanbase would hurl dog bones, snowballs and
harsh language at opposing players.
My impressionable teenage self took
in the unruly activities of my older neighbors with juvie-hall glee.
Half-crocked fellows wearing Bernie Kosar jerseys passed around illicitly
smuggled cans of beer. One guy openly smoked a joint, a sight heretofore seen
only in ABC Afternoon Specials about the evils of marijuana as a gateway drug.
Men spat, men swore, men gave out high-fives to guys walking by only to pull
them into the crowd for unwanted noogies.
It was awesome, or so I thought
back then.
Unfortunately for people who treat
NFL games like an underpants-on-the-head style frat party, the NFL doesn't
think bad behavior is too cool, and is
cracking down like never before to put a stop to it.
This year, the league is requiring any fan who gets ejected from a game to take a
four-hour online course on alcohol abuse, anger management and crude behavior before
being allowed to return to the stadium.. Failure to comply could result
in arrest if the offender is found on stadium property. Not only must booted patrons
take the course, they get to pay up $100
for the privilege of being psychoanalyzed for telling the guy in the
Steelers jersey that his mother exchanges sexual favors for bus tokens.
The policy, an
extension of the conduct code implemented by the NFL in 2008 to quell
disorderly behavior, has its share of critics. Some wonder how teams will keep
track of ejected fans from week to week. Others complain about giving power to
an usher or security guard in deciding if the guy passed out in his seat stays
or goes.
These are fair questions that
should be addressed, but not at the expense of ignoring the problem. In Cleveland and other cities
throughout the league, stories of rampant fan stupidity are far from uncommon. From
your ordinary drunken loutishness to truly scary stuff like the two men who were shot at a 49ers-Raiders preseason game last August.
The NFL's conduct quiz asks
questions like this: "True or false: Behaving badly towards other
fans, such as fighting, swearing or threatening them, is OK as long as they
deserve it." If you can't answer
"false" to such a simple query, maybe you don't belong at a game. This
is kindergarten-level common decency here. Fighting, aggressive taunting and
over-the-top drunken behavior should all be zero-tolerance offenses, while fans
standing at games (a common complaint at Cleveland Browns Stadium) should get a
much longer leash.
The league wants its fans to feel
safe in light of the growing perception that football games are a perilous
place to take children. The Cleveland
Follow that simple piece of advice, and there will be nothing for fans to
worry about. Otherwise, they may find themselves on the outside looking in, and
rightly so.