It Only Takes One Rotten Fan To Spoil A Stadium

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Unfortunately these days, some people have forgotten the simple social graces and how to act civilly to one another.  Or worse, their parents never taught them (as we say in the south) how to act.  Many excuse poor behavior with a dismissal that goes something like “it happens everywhere, so what do you expect?”  Worst of all are the ones who actually think it is okay to be a boorish ass to someone because they made the unfortunate poor choice of attending another school and then had the audacity to show up in an opponent’s stadium to root for their team.

This letter was posted on both The Wolfpacker and Pack Pride fan forums recently, and it seems like we hear something this every year:

“To the young men in section 25 row AA at tonight’s game, I only have this to say. I have never at any football game I have ever been to seen a group of young act like such A-holes. Especially the curly headed one, and the one wearing the visor. I was the more portly guy wearing the NC State colored red shirt and the white Clemson hat. I have lived in the Raleigh area for over 10 years and attended many NC State games in the past and have never witnessed such rudeness as I witnessed tonight in your behavior toward the young men that were from USC sitting nearby. Actually in the many years I have gone to college football games, I have never witnessed any thing like I witnessed tonight.

In the past my experience with NC State fans has been extremely pleasant , I root for NC State so long as it doesn’t hurt Clemson, so I do not write this nor admonish NC State fans in general. But these young men were flipping the the young men from USC off, cussing them out, and trying to pick a fight with them, because they just happened to be sitting there. Boys you need to grow up, and quit making your (NC State) fan base look bad. I hope in the future the regular State fans in that section will speak up. I will be sitting in these same seats for the Clemson vs. NC State game and I will warn you now. You act like that to me or my wife, and I will get the police and have you kicked out or arrested. Because I’m sure most policemen will believe a 40 year old sober man, before they believe a 20 year old drunk boy with alcohol on his breath, and a drink that reaks of booze.”

I know that this has meaning to maybe one out of every thousand fans that go to a football or basketball game.  But to the few bad apples, this is for you:

Truth is, obnoxious  fan behavior does happen everywhere these days, but that’s no excuse and it doesn’t make it right for it to happen at an NC State home game.  State’s fans have the rightful heritage of being passionate and making their home arena and stadium a tough place to play for an opponent.  Unfortunately, people seem to think it cool to take that rooting interest into the stands and to make a visitor’s experience to Carter-Finley or to the RBC Center a house of horrors. And that’s wrong.  As my parents used to tell me quite often when I was growing up ‘just because someone else does something doesn’t mean it’s right for you to do it too.”  They were right.  If other school’s fans want to greet you with jackassery, that’s no excuse for you to act that way at home.

Neither is drinking an excuse.  If you can’t handle your liquor, put the bottle down, son.

We should make CFS an enjoyable place for fans of all colors to come and see their favorite team play.  Hopefully, they will go home and say that “well, we got the heck beaten out of us, but we had fun tailgating and the State fans treated us well.”  When they do that, it propogates a positive overall image of our university.  After all, if you are sitting next to a guy wearing a hat for the other team, to him, you are NC State. You might not like that, but it’s just the way that it is.  So do us all a favor and act like an adult.  Don’t make the school you say you love look horrible to other people.  If you did that to your wife or girlfriend, they wouldn’t be your wife or girlfriend long.

“To the young men in section 25 row AA at tonights game, I only have this to say. I have never at any football game I have ever been to seen a group of young act like such A-holes. Especially the curly headed one, and the one wearing the visor. I was the more portly guy wearing the NC State colored red shirt and the white Clemson hat. I have lived in the Raleigh area for over 10 years and attended many NC State games in the past and have never witnessed such rudeness as I witnessed tonight in your behavior toward the young men that were from USC sitting nearby. Actually in the many years I have gone to college football games, I have never witnessed any thing like I witnessed tonight.

In the past my experience with NC State fans has been extremely pleasant , I root for NC State so long as it doesn’t hurt Clemson, so I do not write this nor admonish NC State fans in general. But these young men were flipping the the young men from USC off, cussing them out, and trying to pick a fight with them, because they just happened to be sitting there. Boys you need to grow up, and quit making your (NC State) fan base look bad. I hope in the future the regular State fans in that section will speak up. I will be sitting in these same seats for the Clemson vs. NC State game and I will warn you now. You act like that to me or my wife, and I will get the police and have you kicked out or arrested. Because I’m sure most policemen will believe a 40 year old sober man, before they believe a 20 year old drunk boy with alcohol on his breath, and a drink that reaks of booze.”

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48 Responses to It Only Takes One Rotten Fan To Spoil A Stadium

  1. travelwolf 09/10/2009 at 1:46 AM #

    unfortunately, some fans haven’t realized that college sports is only entertainment – certainly not worth being an A-hole about. may i suggest that next game, take a video of the ‘fans’, post it on youtube, and allow SFN to link to it. that might change someone’s behavior. then again, it might just encourage it more.

  2. Pano Fasoulas 09/10/2009 at 5:54 AM #

    This really disappoints me. My chief complaint about Maryland is that their fans don’t say “Go Terps”. They say “You suck.” I’m very sorry that we have State “fans” who think this is appropriate. Cheer for your team and not against the opponents and their fans.

  3. Howler 09/10/2009 at 7:14 AM #

    Great Post. The last game I attended at Chapel Hill (and I do mean “the last”), I sat with my wife and young daughter as the UNC student section, not just a few individuals, cheered in unison “F*** State” repeatedly. We left. I believe our current crop of students has much more decorum, class and civility than what you will find at other nearby universities. Whatever the record, I am proud to be a State grad.

  4. waxhaw 09/10/2009 at 7:18 AM #

    Yelling at or being rude to the opposing fans does absolutely nothing to help us win. Focus your energy on yelling for the team.

    If you are an opposing fan in the home section, you absolutely should keep your pie hole shut. You are asking for trouble if you jump up and down, clap and yell with opposing fans around you. While I wouldn’t condone what might happen, you would deserve it.

  5. Howler 09/10/2009 at 7:36 AM #

    The funny thing is, some of the best experiences I have ever had watching football has been at away games. It can be fun when you are seated next to a fan of the opposing team who doesn’t go beyond good-natured ribbing and who is knowledgeable about his team, pointing out his team’s players, what they have done during the season, etc. I hope most visitors to Carter Finley have that sort of experience.

  6. Pano Fasoulas 09/10/2009 at 7:49 AM #

    “1. First, I sincerely doubt that any Clempson fan gives a rip about what happens to a South Carolina fan. That flys in the face of any credibility so I question it altogether.”

    Highstick. I know this guy. We were sitting in different sections, so I didn’t witness the event. I assure you he dislikes S. Carolina. But, I also assure you he didn’t make this up. He spent the entire evening at the tailgate after the game talking about it.

  7. packplantpath 09/10/2009 at 8:33 AM #

    “I believe our current crop of students has much more decorum, class and civility than what you will find at other nearby universities. Whatever the record, I am proud to be a State grad.”

    Unfortunately, no. A few years back, maybe 2006? It was a Fla. State game on I think a Thursday night. Every time the Fla. State band played their song, the student section sang in unison and in tune to the song “F*&k the noles”. I was sitting dead center the student section, and it was loud. I admit to finding mildly amusing the things a college student will come up with and yet finding it highly inappropriate at the same time. I think this was an ESPN game and I was only hoping it sounded more like the standard OOOOOh OOOOh OOOOh version on TV……

  8. Sw0rdf1sh 09/10/2009 at 8:51 AM #

    I only yell at Refs. Hell they get paid to take it and often deserve it.

  9. ryebread 09/10/2009 at 9:17 AM #

    This kind of mess has greatly reduced my enjoyment of attending sporting events in person. If it’s not the drunk jerks yelling something obnoxious and obscene, it’s the older fans yelling at people to sit down. Both are about equally annoying.

  10. Noah 09/10/2009 at 9:42 AM #

    Frankly, I’m pretty surprised that a large contingent of State fans have never ventured over to F-Bomb Alley and the fairgrounds lot to do a little policing of their own.

    Seriously, you’re pissed about not being able to tailgate as long as you want and the bad publicity? Look no further.

    After every single home game, you can go to the message board of our opponent and you’ll see a dozen posts by people who made the mistake of parking over there and had to endure all kinds of crap.

    Last year, I saw posts by people who had their cars vandalized, who had their kids screamed at, one guy was walking with his wife and someone threw a bottle at him…all kinds of horrible stuff. And I’ve been reading that stuff for years. When we beat Syracuse in 1998, their fans all said they never wanted to play in Raleigh again…not because of the losses (though I’d like to believe that played a part), but because of the behavior of too many of our fans.

    You can believe it or not, but it’s hard to believe that this is a conspiracy of lies that EVERYONE is a part of. The worst part of it is that State fans often talk about their favorite road experiences and they tell stories about going to Lincoln or Columbus and how great the opposing fans were. I know a guy who has PSLs to the Panthers games and he ended up being good friends with some people from Green Bay that he met when he went up for the playoff game back in 1996. They ended up coming down a year or two later when GB played in Charlotte and they’ve stayed in touch over the years.

    Why people feel it necessary to emulate Raiders fans or Philly fans, I’ll never know.

  11. primacyone 09/10/2009 at 9:57 AM #

    “61Packer Says:
    primacyone, do you suggest we also give your proposed Murray State treatment to UNC tailgaters when they come to town on November 28?    ”

    WWPRD

    What Would Phillip Rivers Do?

    You can talk a little smack and have fun doing it without embarassing yourself or the Univeristy or your MOTHER and still make the opposing fans feel welcome and view you in a respectful manner. I mean really, what is so wrong with that? What is wrong with UNC fans or any other’s showing us some respect because of the way we treat people.

  12. PackToTheFuture 09/10/2009 at 10:04 AM #

    I saw an NC State fan berate a UNX fan one year that may have been 8 years old, maybe 10. I also saw a Virginia fan get his car keyed one year. I appreciate the Clemson/State fan for bringing this up. As a proud grad, I don’t want the perception of my institution to be reduced because of a few idiots who may or may not even be associated with NC State. We all need to speak up when we witness this behavior.

  13. ryebread 09/10/2009 at 11:48 AM #

    Noah: You’re right about frat alley in the fairgrounds lots. I was reminded of this again over the last couple of years when I’ve parked further out and then walked in this way.

    I went through there at one game with my girlfriend and her sister (neither of whom had previously attended a NC State game) and they were turned off before they even got into the game. It was the start of a bad day and neither of them will return to another State football game. I was ashamed of my alma mater and it just reinforced the stereotypes that we’re a school filled with nothing but ignorant, stupid and racist students.

    This happened at another game that I went to with a former alum that graduated at the same time that I did. He did his undergraduate degree at NC State in engineering and later his MBA at UNC. In between he’s lived several different places and currently lives outside of Raleigh. We made the mistake of doing that same walk with roughly the same result. The fact that he’s black made it even worse. He shrugged it off, but it was pathetic and embarrassing.

    If the frats want to carry on in this fashion and the school is going to do nothing about it, then they should be isolated in the vet school lot and heavily patrolled. This won’t happen though. The easy way out is just to punish everyone by policies such as shortening tailgating.

  14. Alpha Wolf 09/10/2009 at 11:54 AM #

    “I saw an NC State fan berate a UNX fan one year that may have been 8 years old, maybe 10”

    My neighbor’s kid, Zachary, is about 11 years old and is a huge UNC fan. We don’t talk all that much but he and I have some friendly jabber once in a while. I don’t really give him the business much more than ask him if he has any red t-shirts. It’s just not sporting to pick on kids, and besides, they are kids for crissakes.

  15. packof81 09/10/2009 at 11:55 AM #

    I do not approve of obscene gestures or screaming profanity at games. Hooting, hollering and even taunts of clever invective are OK with me, so long as it’s not a cussing tirade.

    Why do people cuss, carry on and make asses of themselves? Usually, it’s because they are drunk and/or don’t think there will be any consequences.

    I saw a guy get the bum’s rush at a hockey game for incessantly screaming profanities. Why don’t they do this at Carter Finley?

  16. waxhaw 09/10/2009 at 2:59 PM #

    I don’t think the fraternities are the only ones to blame.

  17. Noah 09/10/2009 at 3:35 PM #

    Alcohol just makes you more of who you are. If you’re a friendly guy, you’re going to be the drunk that hugs everyone and tells them that you love them. If you’re an ***hole, you’re going to be the drunk that wants to fight everyone.

    So, I’m assuming the people on F-Bomb alley (and I agree that frats should take all the blame for those douchebags) are just pricks who have had the misfortune of finding one another and magnifying their douchbaggery.

  18. bradleyb123 09/10/2009 at 4:23 PM #

    ^^^ “I only yell at Refs. Hell they get paid to take it and often deserve it.”

    They certainly deserved it last Thursday night!

    One of my best experiences as a visitor was when we went to Va Tech (and won) several years ago. Even though we came away with the victory, I didn’t have any bad experiences with fans. An older fan even congratulated us on the win as we exited the stadium.

    I know bad fans are everywhere, but I’ve seen a fair number of them right here in Carter-Finley (and I mean State fans).

    Something else I despise that we do is when we “own” the national anthem. We yell “red” in unison with the “red” in “rockets red glare”, and then instead of “home of the brave”, we yell “WOLFPACK!!!” in place of “brave”.

    I’m a little surprised, actually, that TOB hasn’t spoken out about this and asked us not to do it, out of respect. That song doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to our country.

  19. packalum44 09/10/2009 at 10:35 PM #

    Guys that didn’t get bids to join fraternities….take it easy on the Greeks!!! JK but seriously, to blame the fraternities is ignorant. The Greeks are the most sophisticated students at the university.

    Its no secret NC State has a large contingent of “redneck” fans and students. It is what it is. I don’t think NC State is any worse than other “football” schools.

  20. ryebread 09/11/2009 at 9:05 AM #

    packalum44: Sorry, but this has nothing to do with my perception of Greek life or the interactions that I had with those in frats and sororities when I was at NC State. I actually had numerous friends who were Greek and was offered a slot in at least two different frats. Heck, back when I was in school the Greek community actually had some successful charity fund raisers that were also rocking parties (before the school shut them down).

    This has everything to do with boorish behavior that happens around the Greek crowds at the fairgrounds parking lot. How do I know it’s Greek? Because they put up the signs with letters in the middle of the tailgate.

    Let’s put it this way. Grab one of your black friends and walk down frat row (I’d suggest walking near Farmhouse) in the Fairgrounds lot. If you think the behavior you’ll encounter is acceptable, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

    If nothing else, the drunken hordes don’t speak well for the university and the Greek community is a magnet for this type of activity. Put them in the vet school lot, give the better parking to older and guest visitors and everyone wins.

  21. primacyone 09/11/2009 at 10:20 AM #

    What happened to the old days of the Greek system at NCSU? I was a greek (late 80’s) and game days were big and almost formal events at the house. We rented busses to go to CF so we would not Drink and Drive and we were dropped off fairly close to the gate in that bus parking lot on the South side of the stadium. We wore ties and our dates wore dresses to most games and did so in a most repsectful manner for the University and the football team. We always had 4 guys stay sober to keep everyone else in check and to help with anyone that over endulged in the alchol. We tried to set the example of good and respectful behavior. When did all of that change? When did the greeks get moved to the fairgrounds lot? What happened?

  22. BoKnowsNCS71 09/11/2009 at 1:00 PM #

    Amen Basspacker — I was in the same Section 14 and shared my concerns with Purcells. I just forwarded your comments to Shannon Yates – the guy he passed it on to for long term resolution. It was the not until 12:55 in the second quarter that I was able to see and enjoy the game.

  23. Noah 09/11/2009 at 1:14 PM #

    FWIW, no one despises the entire “greek” culture more than I do. But the problems that I’ve seen didn’t have anything to do with the frats. That’s not to say that the frats didn’t do anything…I just didn’t see it. So I don’t think you can lay the blame ENTIRELY on them.

    I think the problem is that section seems to be completely without any oversight or police presence. The behavior of the people over there has probably driven away folks who can behave themselves, so the ***holes are left to their own devices.

    If someone put me in charge of fixing tailgating, I’d do a concentrated crack down on that whole area and simply enforce the rules. If you’re drinking from an open container, you’re getting a ticket. If you’re drinking on state property, you’re going to be told to leave. If you’re littering, you’re getting a ticket. If you’re drunk, you’ll be cited for public intoxication. If you’re hassling people, you’ll be told to leave.

    No new rules…just a COMPLETE iron-fisted enforcement of the old ones. If you are incapable of eating a chicken dinner and then going to a football game without breaking the law, that’s YOUR problem.

    Do that for a couple of weeks and you’ll drive the douchebags away.

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