I'm not much of Mitch Albom fan, but good for him. Whether one agrees with him or not, it's something we all take for granted and it deserves discussion.
The video featured two attractive women.
It was shot by an onlooker.
It hit YouTube by storm.
You're no doubt thinking "sex," but let me assure you the women kept their clothes on. Unfortunately, that was the only ladylike thing about them.
On the video, they appeared intoxicated, swore like sailors, got in fights, then screamed, shoved and cursed until security finally took them away, one in handcuffs.
This was not a women's penitentiary. It was a Lions game. You can argue that watching the Lions might make anyone go ballistic. But I'm guessing these women, like many football fans, had another reason for their belligerence:
They were hammered before the game began.
And you could shoot this video every Sunday.
Look, it's bad enough that most NFL games begin at 1 p.m. and that people are buying beers before kickoff. But thanks to tailgating, many fans are blotto before they hand over their tickets. One day, we'll explain to Martians our tradition of arriving hours before a football game, sitting in cold parking lots in fold-up beach chairs, swigging beers and grilling fatty foods between bumpers of pickups (at which point the Martians will bolt to their spaceships).
...
I blame the tailgaters, but I also blame the teams -- pro and college. By encouraging a seven-hour drinking experience, football now sees its stadiums marred with behavior like this past week's wildly popular YouTube moment (billed as "Two Drunk Girls Kicked out of Vikings vs Lions Game").
3 comments:
This video went nationwide. Just add it to the list of negative items about Detroit. But like you said, it could be any sports event, any Sunday. My question: why does alcohol have to be served at sporting events?
I've got no problem with it being served but it says something about our culture when so many people think that tailgating or watching a game without alcohol would be boring and maybe not worth doing without alcohol. That's something I'd like to see change. Some people will always feel that way but this view is very common and our culture colludes with it.
The amount of cash spent on advertising beer during sporting events, especially football games is outrageous. The alcohol industry practically owns sports.TV shapes our culture. People use these sporting events as an excuse to get wasted. I have no problem with it either and I don't think that there is anything wrong with spending seven hours eating crap and drinking before the game. Just please don't spill on me, puke on me, try to fight with me or drive your car and we will be all right. There was an ESPN article last week about dealing with college football drunkenness
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