OT: Duke bans tailgating

Submitted by a2bluefan on

Apparently, Duke is banning tailgating because they found a 14-year-old passed out in a port-a-john.

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/Duke-officials-ban-student-tailgating-for-football-110910?gt1=39002

Goodness me, what a can of worms. Is this overreacting and punishing the many because of the actions of one? Should there have been better security/police at the tailgating scene? Parents anywhere to be found?

Is anyone aware of any such a thing happening during tailgating in Ann Arbor?

panthers5

November 11th, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^

My wife is a 3rd year law student at Duke, I can tell you that tailgating is not banned. They shut down the annual undergrad tailgate section where the undergrads go to dress up like it is halloween and party like they are in a drunken orgy. It is a huge embarrassment to the University and I am gald it finally happened. It is difficult to bring your children on campus during a game because there are so many drunken undergrads fumbling around. They are like babies who can't keep their food and drinks in their mouth at these tailgates. They spit out their beer like it is a cool think to do. They also enjoy throwing full beer cans up into the crowd and watching them just come down on people and laugh.

 

I have tailgated at Michign, Ohio State, Michigan State, Tennessee, and Florida and I have never seen anything like what they do at Duke.

maizenbluenc

November 11th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^

I can vouch for Duke having a football team that has been a cross between Northwestern (academically) and Indiana (in level of suck) for quite some time. They haven't had a winning season since '94, and last won (tied for) the ACC championship in 1989.

My son went to their football camp this summer. They must have a hell of a time recruiting because their facilities are probably close to what Bo inherited (if you can believe Rosenberg's book) when he came in in 1969.

Anyway, I was at that game with my son this past Saturday. While we missed that particular  tailgate party, it featured Duke's #114th ranked scoring defense against UVA's 68th ranked defense. Similar to the results in Ann Arbor, the game was a shootout down to the last second with UVA in scoring position as the clock ran out. Duke won 55-48.

Capacity at Wallace wade is 33,941. There were 22,741 present. (I bought tickets 15 rows up on the 40 the night before the game.) Trivia fact: the 1942 Rose Bowl was played in Wallace Wade because they were concerned about Japanese attacks on the West Coast.

By the way, Duke seemed to be in the 3-3-5 a lot FWIW.

jcgold

November 11th, 2010 at 12:19 PM ^

The fuzz bust tailgate parties from time to time, and have a particular interest in the party on hill between East U. and Church.  But the U doesn't seem to really care.  

Duke = 6400 undergrads who must live 3 years on campus

M = 24,000 undergrads who must live one year on campus

Trying to crack down on tailgating would be a logistical nightmare for M.  They have no control over what goes on off campus and very little could be done to stop it in any way shape or form.

a2bluefan

November 11th, 2010 at 12:43 PM ^

Well, the 25K to 30K fans each week in Wallace Wade Stadium would probably disagree with you. But that's not the point, of course. While Duke hardly has the legions of fans we do, if you were a student there (or anywhere) and they took away your gameday festivities, you'd be pretty upset. 

profitgoblue

November 11th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^

Its not like students can't/won't drink before the games.  Duke football doesn't draw a big "commuter" crowd like a Michigan does.  People don't drive/fly in from all over the country to see games.  Most of the students will simply drink at home and walk to the game so its not that big of a loss.  Kids under 21 are not allowed to drink but I think we all found ways around that criminal law . . .

 

BBA1994

November 11th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^

but I believe the ban is on student tailgaiting.  Party at your house then make your way to the game dukies...it doesn't take a high SAT to figure that out.

BlueinLansing

November 11th, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^

 Michigan State didn't ban tailgateing but they certainly put a curb to it.

 

Duke seems to be overreacting, but then with a school full of lawyers and recent legal issues over soccer players and prostitutes, how can you blame them for wanting to protect themselves a little.

MGauxBleu

November 11th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^

That was not enough for university administrators, however, who called the drunken partying prior to football games unacceptable. The school's football team is 3-6 this season, a slight improvement after nearly a decade of putrid performances.

So much implicit goodness in there.

oriental andrew

November 11th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^

We live in a stupid reactionary country.  Someone tried to put a bomb in a toner cartridge?  Let's ban all toner cartridges on planes!  Someone theorized that a bomb could be built by putting certain liquids in a water bottle?  Let's ban all liquids on flights!!  A kid was found passed out in a port-a-john?  Let's ban tailgating!!! Surprised they didn't go straight to banning port-a-johns, but I digress.  

oriental andrew

November 11th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^

You think so?  While the magnitude of the two might be different, the principle is the same.  Are we safer now that toner cartridges are banned on commercial flights?  Are we safer because tailgating is banned?  No.  They are both short-sighted reactionary moves to specific incidents which fail to take the larger context into consideration.  A 14 year old who really wanted to drink isn't going to let a lack of a tailgate stop him.  All this does is limit Duke University's liability and does nothing for the "safety" of potentially drunken minors.  

dennisblundon

November 11th, 2010 at 2:32 PM ^

I agree with everything you just said but with Duke's track record of parties ending up horribly wrong maybe not a bad idea for them. What is it with that campus's inability to just get fucked up and go home and sleep it off. No not them, kids passing out in porter john, DA charging you with rape, I mean pull yourselves together man.

Beavis

November 11th, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^

Wow.  Crazy.  Duke affectively telling its football fans "f*** off". 

No way this would ever happen at a major program. 

BlueGoM

November 11th, 2010 at 1:06 PM ^

Another "zero-tolerance" style decision.   Whoops one kid gets out of hand?  Ban everything, that way we'll be sure to avoid any future lawsuits.

That's the only line of thinking here.   Duke is just covering its behind.

Tater

November 11th, 2010 at 1:29 PM ^

The admins at Duke should be happy that anyone still cares enough to attend games and tailgate.  As for the girl passing out in a portajohn:  Hey, stuff happens. 

M-Wolverine

November 11th, 2010 at 2:00 PM ^

Up at Michigan. I've always thought we should play them OOC, instead of a MAC team or something. Not much more challenging, but comes from a major conference, and would have some draw due to the Duke-Michigan rivalry in basketball. Heck, I'd even do a 2-1 deal just so we could put some hurt on them in our sport like they do to us in theirs.