Anyone recall the details of the goalpost story...

[kmac14]

from years ago when a fan was electrocuted walking down Route 1. Did that incident occur after a Monday Night game and was it the reason the Patriots were omitted from Monday night broadcasts for so long???

 

[Freakshow]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I think it was after they beat the Bengals in '85 to earn a wild card berth. It was a Sunday game though.

 

[Pats726]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

yes...I was at that game...last one of 85 needed a win to get INTO the playoffs...no one killed...just zapped...as they carried the goal post down Rt 1 and it hit wires...a few people ended up in the hospital I believe..but the Monday night thing had MORE to do with out of conrol fans AT the game..which was the case..heavy drinking..no security etc etc..and I heard it was quite bad...but one had nothing to do with the other...

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

yes...I was at that game...last one of 85 needed a win to get INTO the playoffs...no one killed...just zapped...as they carried the goal post down Rt 1 and it hit wires...a few people ended up in the hospital I believe..but the Monday night thing had MORE to do with out of conrol fans AT the game..which was the case..heavy drinking..no security etc etc..and I heard it was quite bad...but one had nothing to do with the other...

I thought the lack of monday night games was because we sucked.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

yes...I was at that game...last one of 85 needed a win to get INTO the playoffs...no one killed...just zapped...as they carried the goal post down Rt 1 and it hit wires...a few people ended up in the hospital I believe..but the Monday night thing had MORE to do with out of conrol fans AT the game..which was the case..heavy drinking..no security etc etc..and I heard it was quite bad...but one had nothing to do with the other...

Good posting.

The MNF ban started around 1980, I believe. I don't think the Pats hosted another MNF game until the Bills game in 1995. The atmosphere in the '80s at Pats games was indeed not suited for children. Attending a game nowadays is a 180 degree turn for the better as Kraft really cleaned up the experience.

Regards,
Chris

 

[BrianPat]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I knew two people that were electrocuted, one lost his left hand and the other has a scar running down the length of his arm and is missing two fingers. No one was killed, but people suffered some serious injuries ! They sued and won bigtime !

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I knew two people that were electrocuted, one lost his left hand and the other has a scar running down the length of his arm and is missing two fingers. No one was killed, but people suffered some serious injuries ! They sued and won bigtime !

Sued who?
I hope the pats were not responsible for some dumb fans.

 

[BrianPat]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

Sued who?
I hope the pats were not responsible for some dumb fans.

Yes, they were sued for allowing the fans out of the stadium with the goal posts. That's how I remember it, it's been years since I've spoken to either one. One got over a million dollars !

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

Yes, they were sued for allowing the fans out of the stadium with the goal posts. That's how I remember it, it's been years since I've spoken to either one. One got over a million dollars !

Wow that is harsh not sure how you stop thousands of people from doing soemthing. Although you don't see people rush the field anymore so I guess they figured out how.

 

[fgssand]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

yes...I was at that game...last one of 85 needed a win to get INTO the playoffs...no one killed...just zapped...as they carried the goal post down Rt 1 and it hit wires...a few people ended up in the hospital I believe..but the Monday night thing had MORE to do with out of conrol fans AT the game..which was the case..heavy drinking..no security etc etc..and I heard it was quite bad...but one had nothing to do with the other...

I was there as well and it was a terrific football game. One of the top moments in Patriot history - PRE-Kraft. I think there were only about three moments prior to Kraft taking over......A) '63 Patriots - Champions without a Crown, beat Buffalo but were killed by S.Diego B) '76 Pats - Oakland disaster. C) '85 Superbowl run...winning those three games were truly fantastic - Raymond Berry could have asked this team to run through a brick wall and they would have done so, no questions asked.

That Cinnci game was truly awesome because it set the stage for the Superbowl run.....it came on the heels of yet another failure down in Miami the previous week, when if they had won, they would have wrapped up the division. So along came a hot Cinnci and no one really expected a win - we never used to win in those days. I recall a great run by Robert Weathers to seal the victory. All hell broke lose at the end when a playoff starved bunch of fans celebrated. It was not mean or vicious or out of control, just an unfortunate incident with the goal post. How security could let people walk out with a goal post defies explanation.

Andre Tippet & John Hannah were at their best, Steve Nelson & Steve Grogan were the heart and soul of the team. They had consummate pro Stanley Morgan playing lights out and also a young and immature WR, Irving Fryar (he returned punts that year). Raymond Claiborn & Roland James were decent that year as anchors of an overachieving defensive backfield that also had Ronnie Lippett and Fred Marion. I recall a ton of timely picks.

Anyway, that is my little trip down memory lane - back to work.

 

[Hardboiled]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I was there too. I loved that team. I think I bought tickets that day. Billy Sullivan either visited the goal post guys in the hospital or gave some statement of support and was critized for it afterwards. He was praising the fans, but was knocked for it. I didn't know the guys got money, but when asked why they did it, they said they were walking with the goalposts and no one stopped them so they kept going.

All their fault in my world, but my world isn't the real world.

I belive it was a Jets game that got us off MNF, but didn't the town of Foxboro have something to do with it???

I remember a story about a guy having a heart attack and someone drunk urianating on him.

 

[Pats726]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

IThat Cinnci game was truly awesome because it set the stage for the Superbowl run.....it came on the heels of yet another failure down in Miami the previous week, when if they had won, they would have wrapped up the division. So along came a hot Cinnci and no one really expected a win - we never used to win in those days. I recall a great run by Robert Weathers to seal the victory. All hell broke lose at the end when a playoff starved bunch of fans celebrated. It was not mean or vicious or out of control, just an unfortunate incident with the goal post. How security could let people walk out with a goal post defies explanation.

Robert Weathers around right end..yes...I remember that well!! That did it!! It was the ONLY Foxboro game I have gone to..and I remember after, people were so happy..that they got the goal posts OUT OF the ground is incredible...I do NOT think that is possible now nor getting on teh field like that, but that stadium was so small AND it was teh first time in the playoffs since the fiasco with Faitbanks... Can't believe that people sued and won..people were injured, but when people do dumb things like that..

 

[PSU]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I was actually at that game with three other college buddies....we were seated right behind the Bungles bench and were giving Breech (kicker) and Munoz (HOF tackle) @#$% all game. At the end of the game, I ended up running off the field with Tony Eason. I remember how surprised I was at the how big he was ...too bad he didn't have the intestinal fortitude to became a quality NFL QB.

 

[captain stone]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

Good posting.

The atmosphere in the '80s at Pats games was indeed not suited for children. Attending a game nowadays is a 180 degree turn for the better as Kraft really cleaned up the experience.

Regards,
Chris

I too was at that Bengals game in '85. What I remember most about it is that it was dam cold that day.

I loved the atmosphere at Foxborough during the '80s, when I was in my 20s. The majority of Pats games I ever attended was during that decade. The motto at the stadium then was: If it feels good, do it. If the NEP of the 2000s had the fans of the '70s, 80s and early 90s in attendance, they would never lose a home game.

 

[MrClutch]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I thought the lack of monday night games was because we sucked.

funny. (no sarcasm)

 

[Coast2CoastPatsFan]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I belive it was a Jets game that got us off MNF, but didn't the town of Foxboro have something to do with it???

Yes, it was the infamous 1976 MNF game vs. the Jets (Pats won 41-7) that contributed to it. Several Jets fans made it to the game, there was a lot of drunken behavior, fights, arrests. Even the MNF announcers were commenting on how rowdy it was in the stands.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Re: ANyone recall the details of the goal post story..

I thought the lack of monday night games was because we sucked.

Hahaha, yup, that was my assumption too. One of the great things about the dynasty is that now we can look back and laugh about those years, to some extent.

 

[E Belichick Unum]

I was at the game. My wife and I had bought season tickets with wedding money that year. I went with a buddy, security was non-existent on the field. While the goal post was being pulled down my buddie and I sat at the 50 yardline and smoked an illegal cigarette on the logo. We watched the happenings around thegoalpost, watched as it got paraded out of the stadium.

It was a phenominal day, it was cold but we didn't care. In the end, Billy Sullivan went and visited the guy in the hospital and promised to take him to the Super Bowl if the Pats made it. Billy got so much sh!t for making that promise that he had to reneg on his promise. It was a shame, it was such a great run and at every turn the press made life hard on him. That was the year that Ron Borges wrote the drug story. Imagine Kenny Sims smoking dope! What I remember about him was how hard he worked to make it back onto the field from the IR. Back then a team could activate a player off of the IR after week 13.

 

[BradyToMoss]

I was at the game, it was a Sunday, a great game and big, big run by Robert Weathers sealed the deal and sent us on our way. I was one of the idiots that stormed the field and almost suffocated under a wall of humans.

The goal posts were torn down and in true drunken Patriot fan fashion, it was carried with glee up Route 1 where a number of alcohol infested Patriot trues felt the wrath of electricity. One of the classic carnival acts at Foxboro, man I love this team.

 

[cupofjoe1962]

The first Monday night game I attended waa on Labor day 1979 against
the defending Super bowl champs - Pittsburgh Steelers.

I think they opened the gates to the parking lot at noon.
There were a ton of steelers fans and a ton of fights in the parking lot.

I remember a guy walking buy me with two of his friends helping him.
He had a bloody rag held to his head and blood was running down his arm.
I figured someone must have hit him with a bottle. He looked like he was on his
way to the hospital.

About an hour later they guy walked past us again with a new clean rag
held to his face. The blood on his arm was now dry and he was
eating a cheeseburger as he passed us.

There were also a ton of fights in the stadium that night.
I remember people fighting and rolling down the benches as they fought.
The other fans were kicking the people as they rolled.

I also attended a monday night game in 1981 against the Cowboys.
This was the last Monday night game they allowed in Foxboro
until a 1995 aganst the Bills. The 1981 game against the Cowboys was
another drunking fest .I know I was buying beers at the age of 19 with
no identification. Although the Cowboys game got monday nights games
banned, the Steelers game in 1979 was far worse.