Does alcohol turn you off from going to a game?

One, i'm too poor to drop 7.50 on a beer. Two, I like the game. Maybe I'm one of the few who go to games to watch the game. But I'll rarely have a stadium beer.

 

Remember New England getting banned from hosting Monday Night Football, its fans were so drunk and rowdy? Wasn't that GREAT?

 

I'm not a fan of drinking at sporting events. To me, I go to the event to watch the game, to enjoy the game. If I want to get drunk, be a slob and do it in public, the game is the last place I'd go. I'd probably go to a bar or somewhere getting drunk and being a slob is the main entertainment. Does it turn me off from going? No, because most people aren't drunken yahoos. But it wasn't enjoyable in college going to games because I always had someone drooling/fainting/yelling in my ear.

 

How about the first MNF home game in 13 years, and a holiday weekend on top of it?
Enforcement around Bills game a 'nightmare' for police; 64 arrested

Way to represent, fellow Bills fans.

 

I think I was lucky...I've never really had bad stadium experiences when alcohol was involved.

The only exception was my freshman year in college when the band went to kU. The students were so hammered, they were trying to throw random objects into our instruments. And one girl was screaming and running up the aisle next to me and completely faceplanted on the concrete steps. I felt bad for laughing, but it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

 

I rarely go to sporting events for pleasure anymore, but when I do, the behavior of the drunken fans does serve as a turnoff.

The thing I'll never get is what leads folks to act like that in the first place. I mean, I've been drunk. Many times over. Loud, profane obnoxiousness never occurs to me, but I suppose we're all different drunks. The thing that gets to me quicker than anything are drunks who turn obscene with families and children in the area. Drives me nuts.

But at the same time, there is something soul satisfying about a brewski at the game. I don't get the same urge going to funerals.

But Jesus Christ on a unicycle, is beer expensive now. I had forgotten. I went to a baseball game a few weeks ago, ordered a Bud Light and was like "Is that the familiar feeling of Astroglide betwixt my cheeks?"

 

It doesn't bother me that alcohol is served at the parks. In fact, after spending so much time in the press boxes at stadiums, the first thing I'll do before taking my seat at a baseball game is buy a beer. I've never noticed anything rowdy come of alcohol in the sections I've been in, although I'm sure some problems have risen. Of course, I think a lot of problems can be chalked up to people being jerks more than anything.

 

You hit the nail on the head -- we're all different drunks. I'm a happy drunk; for a lot of people, drunkenness brings out their inner asshole. Especially at football games.

 

Absolutely not.

We're just in a different age now. Improvements in technology and the financing of these new arenas and stadiums have allowed for better security and more money to be spent on keeping things tamer. security firms are smarter now as well in event management. shit, there are people who actually work the games for security that NEVER turn their back from the play the entire time! i know, post 9-11, but imagine that 20 years ago.

it's not a coincidence either that with the cost of tickets and associated expenses increasing every season that a large segment of the population can't afford to go to games anymore, and obviously the high cost of alcohol nowadays is a factor as well.

norms have a lot to do with it, too. cheap beer encourages fast drinking, and that was not really cared about in the past. you'll never see another version of 10-cent beer night and there's a reason why cheap beer nights are going the wayside. local class a affiliate used to do $1 beers in the outfield every friday. there were, i think, eight in one season. i went to all of them. they were very successful, let me tell you. the moved it to tuesdays the next season and i only went to one, and there was definitely a big decline in the number in attendance, and the obnoxiously wasted. and it's not like i saw huge brawls or actual physical fights. just dudes acting like pricks (what kind of asshole rides the back of players on opposing class a baseball teams? jesus christ).

that said, i enjoying drinking at games. i enjoy going for the actual game as much as anybody, but there is no better feeling in the world than drinking a few beers at an MLB game. i'm lucky to make one per season, and when i do, it's usually with great friends, and i'm usually on vacation, so i spend the money. i've unfortunately wasted $20 on worse things than a couple overpriced beers at a major league park. at least i know what i'm getting.

and come on, especially if you don't care about a certain game (i.e. september nights at camden yards), anyone who likes to drink a few beers at a baseball game knows the best seats are in the outfield and upper deck. you shoot the shit with everyone around and basically have a great time.

when i have kids and everything, i'm sure my tune will change. but i hope i never reach the point where i have to choose not to go to games. i know having kids around has a lot to do with it, and i honestly believe that's why my pops never took me to hang out in the upper deck at tiger stadium or old comiskey back in the day. 700 level at the vet was out of the question. but i think it's good socialization to be exposed to that atmosphere, even the bad parts. you have to behave yourself.

 

I love a beer at a ball game as much as the next guy but when I'm with my son I stick to overpriced watered-down Coke.

I took him to a Saturday afternoon game in July when the Indians were in town to play the Jays. We were sitting in the outfield just above the Jays' 'pen surrounded by loads of Cleveland fans who'd made the trip for the weekend and when the Tribe got a huge early lead there was plenty of good-natured ribbing from the Indians fans.

In the fourth inning three college-aged guys show up (each with two beers, red flag time there) to sit next to us. Everything's OK for a couple of innings, so with the game a blowout I decide to take my son around the stadium so he can get his Jr. Jays passport stamped (three stamps and you got an Aaron Hill bobblehead). We're gone an inning and a half or so and get back at the top of the eighth when these guys have all refilled several times. By now they're shitfaced, spilling beer on my son's backpack and calling the guys in the 'pen all sorts of nasty names for not throwing balls to them. How you get that gunned on the shit they serve there is beyond me.

The guy sitting next to my son offered to fight two guys who told him to shut up while his two buddies shouted obscenities at some people in the next section. I'd had enough and told my son we'd go watch the rest of the game from another seat. "What's their problem?" asks my seven-year-old as we leave. I looked at the idiots and said - certainly loud enough for them top hear - "Some people shouldn't drink when they come to ball games."

Security was dealing with them as we made our way out of the yard at the end of the game.

 

We Americans are not used to your Canadian super-beer. That's how they got so gunned.

 

Fair enough, but these guys weren't from Cleveland, they were locals. At least the Tribe fans would have an excuse!