Fans Gone Wild

Two Iowa football fan-related items appeared in The Gazette this week. While they were as different as sand and snow, they both went to the issue of crowd behavior at athletic events.

The first was a guest column written by University of Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta, asking Hawkeye fans to contribute to a great game-day experience by behaving, and reporting "fans engaging in inappropriate behavior" to security. The dreaded triple-header of college athletics -- rival game, homecoming, night kickoff -- means more time to drink alcohol and get rowdy Saturday when Iowa plays host to Michigan.

Talking to those who have lived here much longer than myself, this is not something that Barta routinely does. Nor, for that matter, does any other athletics director around the nation. Yet, Barta felt troubled enough by recent events at Iowa home football games to write this column.

The second story was even more disturbing. An Iowa City woman, Brittney J. Mears, was arrested during last Saturday's Arkansas State-Iowa game after she repeatedly called out defensive end Adrian Clayborn's name. According to the police report, Clayborn became distracted and annoyed by Mears' actions. She was removed from Kinnick Stadium and charged with third-degree harassment.

There appears to be more to the Mears-Clayborn story than verbal harassment, and we'll leave that for another day. All I know is that in more than 35 years of covering football games on the high school, college and professional level, I can't remember another time when a player complained about someone bothering them from the stands and that person not only was ejected but arrested. Hey, I was in Tampa when Doug Williams was the quarterback of the Buccaneers and was called every racial slur in the book; Doug never complained during a game, and while some idiotic fans probably were ejected from the stadium, or should have been, they were not arrested.

Unfortunately, unruly behavior around sporting events has become the rule and not the exception these days. Most of it has to do with people drinking too much and then acting like idiots. There is the bravado that comes with being among 80,000 fans and able to blend into the crowd. Also, this appears to be the era of  boorish behavior, something that created a national furor a few weeks ago when a member of Congress yelled out "You Lie" during President Obama's address on national health care and Kanye West upstaged and insulted Taylor Swift during a music awards show.

Going to a sports event is supposed to be a fun experience, an escape from the daily grind. There is nothing wrong with expressing your emotions, even booing. There is something wrong when the athletics director from a major university has to ask fans to behave themselves during a football game. There is something wrong when a woman can constantly yell things from the front row of a stadium to the point where she has to be taken away and arrested.

This isn't an indictment of football fans in this part of the country. The problems are everywhere. I once was hit by a pint-sized whiskey bottle while standing in the  end zone at the end of a game -- at Florida Field in Gainesville, Florida. I had my pocket picked while jostling through the beer-stained crowd to get to the locker room -- at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

Encouraging fans to choose soft drinks and water rather than alcoholic beverages would help calm things. But drinking beer and eating ribs while tailgating is as much a part of football as the cheerleaders, the marching bands and Brent Musburger. Banning alcoholic beverages from the parking lots also isn't going to happen because people will find a way around that  (see Prohibition).

The  solution lies with the fans themselves. If you want to drink -- and obviously many of you do -- drink responsibly and don't act the fool. That goes for those who just turned 21 to those who are 61. If someone is being obnoxious, do not hesitate to report them and have them sent home so you and your family can enjoy the game. Make noise, have fun and don't get carried away -- by your emotions or by the police.

After all, it's only a football game.