Full contact fandom - what it's like to go to a football game in Ohio

My aunt is a season ticket holder for the Colts since they arrived in Indy.   Her group often travels to games if not west of the rockies.  The one place her group will no longer go is Cleveland.   Every time their group goes there is at least one major altercation.   What is interesting is the complete lack of intervention by the security guards.   Her description was very similiar in that security was either not interested or would blame them if a member of the group reported a problem.  They will travel anywhere else without too much issue as they are mostly older middle aged ladies who enjoy watching football.

Been to many Browns games. Imagine Ohio fans, just more drunk.

I was last at the M/Ohio game in 2009 and happened to bump into the husbands of my wife's college friends a couple rows in front of us. Both native cooler poopers and buckeye fanatics, they were excited to make thier first trip to the Big House, but also disappointed that during the walk into the stadium they couldn't get any M fans to fight with them. Apparently from their experience in Columbus, they expect to see fights and pissing matches and were surprised that it wasn't the same in Ann Arbor. They asked me if maybe it was because we hadn't won in a while and didn't think we had a right to "puff up our chests" anymore. I assured them that no, we are a proud bunch and do love our team, but we also know how to be civilized and understand that it's a f---ing game, after all. They said that they didn't feel like they were doing their part to support the team if they weren't doing what they could to get the opposing fans pissed off. I asked them how far they were willing to take it, and they said anything short of throwing a punch, unless the other guy swung first. Granted, these two are your prototypical meathead dicks, but I feel like they were honest and it just kinda gave me little peek inside a buckeye gameday frame of mind. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be seeing a game the 'the shoe' anytime soon.

2007 osu game, my tickets were section 9, row 27, end seats and the guy infront of me a Michigan fan and his gf an osu fan...she was on the endseat..., an osu fan going down to his seats a few rows further down turned said some drunken jiberish and planted one on her....... she went off, she was going off hating osu fans.....  and a few things about having to throw up.... he ended up being escorted out as enough fans complained about him, including osu fans.....

2004 we had an angry Irate Michigan fan, dude was going off ready to kill msu's team and was letting their fans have it.  He didn't make any contact or get in anyone's face, it was mostly funny but if someone would have challenged him, who knows... he wasn't drunk at all....

While Cleveland may set the gold standard for drunken fans, the drunken southern Ohio hillbilly stands proudly next to him (her).  In a classic move, Sam Wyche (when he was Bengals' coach) grabbed the Riverfront Stadium PA announcer's mike and yelled at misbehaving fans, "You don't liive in Cleveland!"  I loved that guy!  See clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yJMa20xXykI

My family has attended many Lions, Wings, and Tigers games over the years.  We've never really had any problems at any games.  Obviously, my children have heard language that they won't hear at home.  However, when you're attending an event that is fueled by testosterone and booze, you're going to hear some things.  

Hopefully, things don't get out of hand.  Use any negative situations as an opportunity to teach your kids how (and how not) to behave.  

It is unfortunate, but when attending sporting events, parents need to keep one eye on the field and one eye on the people around us.  We need to watch for behavior that could escalate into something dangerous to our families.  

I think STEPHENRJKING had a great point above:

"And as a consequence children won't learn to love football in person. And in 10-20 years that may be a serious problem for the NFL."

The NFL has identified attendance as an area of concern, but I continue to read that it's due to the "home viewing experience" (HD TV's & whatnot).  I have yet to hear or read any statements from the NFL saying there are too many examples of their fans being assholes.  The first step in fixing a problem is properly identifying the problem.  I guess the owners are too busy counting the cash from their $9 beer sales.  

...and Redskins game. Members of London Fletcher's family were involved in a fracas with stadium security and four of them were arrested and his aunt suffered a neck injury. Fletcher, a Cleveland native was playing in the first game of his 15 year NFL career in Cleveland, says his family was the victim:

“It’s my understanding, from the moment they got out of their car they were harassed by Browns fans and things like that, all the way up to the stadium,” Fletcher told Steve Wyche. “I had a 13-year old cousin who was hit in the face, prior to the game. This was going into the game, I guess in the tailgate area. So a lot of harassment took place prior to the game and during the course of the game.

“And I’m from Cleveland,  I know Browns fans, and they’re rabid fans and they love their team,” he continued. “I guess in the stadium they were being harassed again. But the situation that led to people being arrested was one of the stadium security guys assaulted one of my family members. Instead of defusing the situation, he escalated the situation. It wasn’t the fans that they had the altercation with in the stadium; it was Browns stadium security.” 

Nita Ashford, a relative of Fletcher’s, told WEWS that family members were attacked and, in the resulting fight, police used Tasers as they made arrests. Family members, many of whom were in the bleachers and were wearing Redskins gear, said the security firm at the stadium was overly aggressive. “All the while the game was going on, first the fans were picking at us and we were getting things thrown on us,” Nita Ashford said. “One of my nephews got punched in the face.” Fletcher’s sister said the altercation intensified because his aunt was in the middle of the scrum. “They choked her,” Keair Hall told WEWS. “That’s why a lot of the cousins were coming [to help]. They were choking my auntie, choking her.”

Notice the guy in the Michigan sweatshirt behind the row containing Fletcher's family:

Yeah I heard about that too.  FWIW yesterday was pretty quiet in our section but to be fair I had lodged a complaint with the Browns and they had much heavier security in place.  Plus the idiots from last week did not return.

Oh and the Browns sucked yesterday again.

There's no excuse for those louts, obviously. In my experience, pro games tend to be less family-friendly overall than college games. And it sounds like you kept your cool in that situation.

But to be fair, your wife does sound annoying. I'm not a smoker, but the game is outside, no?

The two smells that specifically trigger "football" in my memory are fresh-cut grass and cigar smoke for some reason.

If I had to sit next to someone loudly shouting "No Smoking!" repeatedly, I would start to wish almost immediately that they would stop. In fact, I would rather inhale smoke than listen to that.

Just saying....