Bills fans among NFL's worst-behaved

[jmt57]

Thankfully the era of night games being banned in Foxboro are long gone. From what is being reported in a couple of stories in the Wall Street Journal, the reputation that Eagles fans have should really belong to fans of the Bills. The Bills have are on Monday night later this year, and at 4-1 are a candidate for a flex scheduling Sunday night game down the stretch too. Combine that with their past history of behavior, and they could be in line to be the first team to be penalized by Sheriff Goodell as part of his fans personal conduct policy; he reserves the right to hold franchises accountable for the conduct of their fans.


NFL Tackles Drunken Rowdy Fans

One self-admitted laggard is the Buffalo Bills, a team that has struggled to control some of the worst-behaving fans in all of sports. The Bills are aware of the Eagles text-messaging system and would like to have it, but they simply haven't budgeted for it. Buffalo has relied, instead, on old-fashioned shame: publishing the names of those arrested at Bills games in the local paper. But that often isn't enough to keep fans from getting plastered.

According to Chris Clark, the Bills' security chief, one Canadian fan who was arrested this year came back to Buffalo to appear in court. He stopped by the stadium to apologize and ask Mr. Clark for a tour. "He told me he got on a bus in Canada at 7 a.m., started drinking, and doesn't even remember being in the stadium." Though Mr. Clark admired the fan's candor, he declined to give him the tour.

Loutish Fans Disgrace The NFL

These trends partly explain the general state of fan behavior in Buffalo. Ralph Wilson Stadium was built in 1973 and holds 74,000, but there are only about 48,000 season ticket holders. That means about a third of the attendees have nothing to lose if they misbehave.
The quality of play is also a factor in crowd behavior. "If fans are focused on the game, there tends to be less time for troublemaking," said Mr. Clark. Unfortunately, the team can count on one hand its number of winning seasons over the past decade.

In Buffalo, the unruly behavior often spills over into the luxury suites, prompting Mr. Clark to post guards outside each one. "Fans would just walk in and use the bathroom," said Bills suite-holder Ed Shill. "In the warm weather, when the windows were open, they'd dive in and grab food and beer. In the winter, when it's 20-below outside and we're in our shirtsleeves drinking hot chocolate, they'd throw things at the windows and give us the finger."


Night games are the worst. "They drink like it's a one o'clock start," Mr. Shill said.

That was very much in evidence during the Monday Night game. It was, without a doubt, the drunkest crowd I've ever seen at any sporting event. Many fans stumbling to their seats just before kickoff were absolutely plastered.

Walking through the parking lot before the game, I witnessed a scene all too common at NFL tailgates: home fans taunting the visitors with four-letter expletives. What made the scene here particularly appalling was the target--a family of Cowboys fans with two small children. And the taunt, repeated throughout the stadium by Bills fans, questioned Dallas quarterback Tony Romo's sexual orientation (think of what rhymes with "Romo"). I wonder how the parents explained that one.

So what was the tally at the end of the first "Monday Night Football" game in Buffalo in 13 years? There were 58 arrests, 111 ejections and 46 turnarounds at the gate. The charges included three for assault, six for obstructing governmental administration, 17 for resisting arrest, two for criminal mischief, 31 for disorderly conduct, two for exposure, 14 for harassment, 19 for criminal trespass, one for criminal possession of marijuana, and one for unlawful possession of alcohol (underage drinking).

Clearly Mr. Clark, the Bills' security chief, still has his work cut out for him.

 

[Angry Man]

You know if I were a Bills fan these days........ yeah, I'd have to be drunk just at that mere thought of being a Bills fan period.