Your craziest/worst experience at a sporting event?
I'm in the mood for a good laugh. Share stories of your craziest experience or worst experience as a fan at a game.
This can be altercations with opposing fans, drunks/idiots sitting around you etc.
My worst was in 2000 in Columbus. Drunk ohio fan intentionally pushes my 18 year old niece while walking by and while he tries to get away I grab him by the back of the collar, spin him around and slug him between the eyes and he drops like a sack 'o' potatoes.
Craziest was at Yankee Stadium. As a spectator without a dog in the fight, I watched legions of drunk Yankee and Red Sox fans fight it out to finish. I wish they had the small cameras back then like they do now because it looked like some WWF Battle Royal action. There had to be 30+ in the brawl.
Yours?
September 19th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^
Not really part of the 'sporting event' in this case but one time I was bucketing (fundraising for Mott's Hospital) outside of a Michigan hockey game with a couple of others from Dance Marathon
A drunk, fat bro came stumbling past with his friend, pretended to drop a bill of cash into the bucket, then grabbed a dollar bill and left.
What followed got ugly.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:53 PM ^
I bucketed a handful of times when I was at Michigan, usually my interactions with drunk people were positive (they tended to be a lot more generous than the sober people who mostly ignored us). Never heard something like that. Takes one hell of a douche to steal from a person raising money for Mott's. I hope you got your money back, one way or another.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^
Yeah I stood there in disbelief for 30 secs. Chased him down, cussed him out, snatched the bill back. it might have escalated to something more before his friend separated us and gave me $20 for the trouble
September 19th, 2013 at 8:24 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 4:46 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^
I was there, too. That was totally crazy and terrible! Oh, you meant other than what went on on the field?? My Brother in law was spit on in East Lansing and my husband's Grandma was told to "f off" in West Lafayette. Good times.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:02 PM ^
App State was my first game in the Big House. My student ticket was not in the student section. It was on the other side of the stadium, in a small section full of the only Boone, North Carolina people in attendance. I was a blip of maize in a sea of App State fans. Why did my school forsake me so?
September 20th, 2013 at 9:15 AM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 5:39 PM ^
This. A million times over. At least for worst.
As far as crazy...
I live in Seattle, and for the opener this year (against Central), I woke up still drunk from the night before and went over to Buckleys, which is where the alumni association watches the game. 4 pitchers of beer later, I decide to head over to a friend's tailgate near Husky stadium (where the Huskies were playing Boise state in their stadium renovation reopener). I'm so wasted (I took a cab, don't worry...), that I get lost in the fucking woods (yes there are woods and swamps near Husky stadium). The case of bud light I'm carrying turns into two bottles I carry in my hand. I eventually make it to the tailgate an hour later (should've been a 10 minute walk), exhausted, delirious, and cut up to hell from trying to drunkenly bulldoze through shrubs and shit.
It was kinda like this:
Of course my asshole friends were more pissed at me being loud and wasted, and not bringing enough beer, than being concerned that I might've brain my damaged.
September 19th, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^
I had season tickets that year and the Ohio game was much more crushing. Of course App State was horrible, but I was so shocked it didn't really depress me. More like a daze. But the Ohio game...Ugh. Hoping Henne, Hart, and Long could finally win against them and there wasn't a chance. Cold and wet. Just miserable, so miserable in every way possible.
September 20th, 2013 at 8:05 AM ^
For whatever reason, I couldn't go. Thank God.
I did, however, attend that miserable game vs. Ohio that you speak of. Yeah...I felt the exact same way afterward. The cold, wet, and misery was in every fiber of my being.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:49 PM ^
Granted, I was in middle school at the time, but I remember this clear as day - I was actually at the game at Tiger Stadium in 1990 where Steve Lyons absent-mindedly pulled down his pants to dust himself off. Literally everyone in the stadium was in the aisles laughing, or at least those of us behind the visitor's dugout - who had the best view - were doing so. That was rather crazy.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
Drunk Lions fans harrass a guy in Jets jacket all game until he retaliates verbally, gets physically assaulted...when security comes about 50 people in the stands point to said Jets fan and he gets tossed. It was embarrassing that adults could act that way, but hey I didn't speak up in his defense, so I guess I was part of the problem too.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
Just got out of a taxi the morning of, spoke with an older OSU couple at S. State and Hill at a red light.
I told them that I hope their team loses.
...it was exhilarating. I am not a crazy guy D:
September 19th, 2013 at 6:00 PM ^
Your user name suggests as much.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
I've not had any bad nor experiences as a fan at a game thank goodness.
Maybe when I was at the Delaware State game and Michael Cox scored 2 TDs and Ohio lost to Purdue. That was kinda crazy.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^
Sorry, even on the John Beilein Scale, that only gets a 2 subs out of 10.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:54 PM ^
My best friend played OL for them back in the early 00s so I often got free tickets. I went to a night game against oregon and Reggie Williams dad sat right behind me. Yep he was drunk. i stood up to cheer a few times and he didnt like the fact that i blocked his view. we ended up in a shoving match before it got broken up.
I once fell 4 rows onto an old guy eating some nachos at a supersonics game. They were slingshotting shirts into the stands. i almost got one! hit me in the finger tips. Problem was i stretched too far to get one and fell.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^
Craziest was the 1st game between the Red Wings and Avalanche the 1st regular season after The avalanche one the cup and Lemieux hit Draper from behind.
The crowd was out for blood and the game starts with McCarty fighting Lemieux off the faceoff. I just remember then shoveling his blood off the ice, the goalies fighting and the Wings winning in overtime. The energy in the crowd the whole game had hairs standing in end.
2nd Craziest was UTL I
3rd was Magglios homer in the ALCS to send us to the World Series. Detroit was alive that night.
September 20th, 2013 at 8:26 AM ^
As for the wings game, it didnt happen that way. The Lemieux/McCarty fight was late in the season and was the 4th meeting between the teams that year. Lemieux missed the first two meetings, but played in their game a week earlier in Colorado. Also the fight was not off of a faceoff, nor at the beginning of the game... the melee began after play was stopped late in the first period following a scrum that broke out between possibly the two most unlikely candidates on the ice, Larinov and Forsberg. You were right about the wings winning in OT.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^
Conboy and Tropp?
September 19th, 2013 at 5:21 PM ^
the FUCK YOU STATE chants still ring in my ears a little. ive never been so outraged at a game.
September 19th, 2013 at 7:07 PM ^
You can hear them in this video.
September 20th, 2013 at 11:14 AM ^
This was insane. I have been to OSU three times and never been a part of a crowd so venemous (and deservedly so). Every FYS chant seemed to come from teh bottom of every Michigan fan's soul. Pure vitriol for everyone in green that night.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^
The drunk guy pushed your niece? That's pretty gentle for an OSU fan.
A friend of mine who was in the MMB in the late 90's told me he saw an OSU fan punch a girl clarinet player in the face at the 96 game. And he wasn't even drunk.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:58 PM ^
Went to the Rose Bowl vs USC (Went next year vs Texas also, more on that)
So I'm not gonna recap both of these Rose Bowls, but the afterwards is the big difference.
During the USC game, my father, sister and her boyfriend and I were 4 blues in a sea of red. We were getting heckled, but nothing as bad as the actual game.
Afterwords, you know after USC was crowned Rose Bowl champion, we are leaving. We're all minding our own business when 2 USC ultradouches come up behind us, taunting our shitty football team. We're like haha, yeah guys you got us. These two king broggalos try to start a fight with me and my 55 year old father! We're like what the hell leave us alone. They pump their bro fists and go bromance in their Hummers with their Miller Lites or whatever.
Next year, vs Texas, that heartbreaking loss. My buddy and I come back to our hotel after the game, get some booze and head to the hotel courtyard. There we see two Texas fans sitting at a table with some liquor out. My first thought is great, another Rose Bowl loss getting shoved in my face. Oh man was I wrong.
These good ole Texas boys started slinging compliments about our great football team, pouring us shots, having a grand ole time. By the end of the night we had shared all of our college stories and had basically forgotten who even won the Vince Young Bowl.
TL:DR - Experienced USC douchcanoes only to be saved by good ole Texas boys the next year.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:02 PM ^
USC fans are the douchiest bowl opponents. Other than maybe Florida. But Texas fans were up there in being very Michigan-like.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^
Sounds like you've been to a ton of bowl games. How many have you gone to?
September 21st, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^
I try not to generalize too much, but I do think USC fans suck because they are also SoCal residents.
I have not been overly impressed with our own fanbase. I think we're maybe upper middle of the pack when it comes to cool factor.
But Texas, from my experiences and others, I feel has among the best fans in the world.
September 19th, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
That said, USC fans (ie Walmart Trojans) are quite different from USC grads in douche factor, often approaching Yankees fans in bandwagonism. My friends who attended Texas have similar laments.
September 19th, 2013 at 8:37 PM ^
Exactly, you have to view the majority of USC fans as orphaned pro football fans. Then it all makes sense! Most of them have no affiliation to the university (even tangentially) other than that they live in the greater LA area, and USC has been the best football team there for many years. So they root like they may have rooted for the Rams/Raiders back in the day.
September 19th, 2013 at 10:40 PM ^
September 20th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^
September 19th, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^
I was there too. The worst was the fucking traffic and 4 mile hike to the goddamned Rose Bowl.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:25 PM ^
That year. Ugh.
September 19th, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^
The taunts from the USC fans were almost uniformly low (e.g. Michigan faggots!!). I very rarely heard that crap in AA.
September 19th, 2013 at 8:46 PM ^
I remember I visited Austin, Texas for a week just a few months after the Rose Bowl loss to them. I wore my Michigan clothing a lot that week and was around the campus a lot expecting to get shit, but Texas fans were all class and I had nothing but friendly conversations.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^
Mine's a weird one. For the past few years, the hockey student section has sung the Canadian national anthem prior to the game in honor of the Canadians on the team. Last year, some Western grandma assumed we were being disrespectful and threatened to report us to Michigan's administration. Anyways, we got wind of it, and promptly started singing the anthem straight in her direction. Also started chanting "ugly sweater" at her, because, well, it was a god-awful sweater.
Edit: Most games involving Rico and Miami at Yost also had interesting results.
September 19th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^
Bad, all OSU in the early 2000s. Booing the band so loud through the whole performance you can't even hear them. Little old ladies who moon you. Little girls giving you the finger. Bros shoving you from behind in the seats. Throwing bottles and rocks and anything not tied down at the buses as they leave town.
But of all those in 2002 when leaving with my sister in law had a drunk guy grab my coat and say he wants to shit in it and I cock back to knock him out and he flinches like a Notre Dame doing scheduling and is pulled away by his friend. So we have to walk at the edge of the parking lot all the way around to get back to the bus.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^
Crazy: 2003 OSU 100th game tailgate at Hoover and State.
Dancing in the street in traffic, ripping license plates off, lighting a guy's OSU hat on fire, kicking field goals over the stop lights. Like, lining up and kicking and having it hit the light or the cars on waiting at the light. Someone bounced a keg into the street. It was rowdy, man.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^
Worst: Lehigh Lafayette game in the early 1990s. Goalposts torn down, police with dogs, people drunk and screaming and just a whole lot of "Yikes." Never been so afraid for my own safety in a crowd.
Weirdest was I guess my luckiest. I was at a Tigers game, not really paying attention, and suddenly everyone around me is up with their arms outstretched to catch the foul ball ripping our way. A couple people get a bit of it but don't manage to grab it, it bounces off the outstretched glove of the guy behind me, and plops down as gentle as can be right on my lap. Easiest ball gain ever. Since my kid was sitting next to me, they crowd just let me (him) have it.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:08 PM ^
First one occurred during the "Bronx Zoo" period of Yankee stadium (Billy Martin - late 70s). After a loss, to Baltimore I think, we were leaving the upper deck when a portible radio (size of an attache case) dropped from the sky. It had to have been chucked from above and behind me and certainly crashed into the lower level (where I have to assume that other fans were exiting). My friends (Yankee fans) just shrugged and continued on out.
Second was as the old Shea stadium for a Jets game (again, late 70s) against Cleveland Browns. The half time show was of a guy and his R/C model airplanes. I thought this was a little odd because the NFL didn't really have half-time shows (like college). This guy's last "plane" actually looked like a push lawnmower. It took about 70 yards before it took off. He did two passes up and down the field (much to everyone's delight). Then, he lost control of it and it crashed into some guy's lap who was seated in the second row around mid-field. It was pretty funny until the EMTs were called to remove the guy. I few days later we learned that he died of his injuries.
Third was at Michigan Stadium where I got a last-minute ticket to the Ohio game. Tress had the game in hand and Tate was chuking INTs all over. I sat in a sea of Ohio fans and have some verbal barbs going all day. One Ohio patsy actually threatened to spank me and which point the fans in the local vicinity got very quiet. I replied; "No thanks Bruce, I'm straight." at this point all of the UM fans laughed. The "spanker" left shortly thereafter, with his loud-mouth wife.
The fourth and last was the first OT game at Michigan Stadium versus Penn State. My Dad and I had seats on the 10 yard line about 20 rows in (near Super Fan). We had a perfect view of Chris Perry burrowing for a first down and then turn it into a touchdown, to win the game. I have never heard Micigan Stadium so loud as it was that day. Bonus was that I got to see it with my Dad (he lives in northern CA now).
September 19th, 2013 at 6:41 PM ^
It was Jets-Pats, not Jet-Browns.
September 20th, 2013 at 1:23 PM ^
Thanks for the correction Sal4. Duly noted.
September 19th, 2013 at 5:10 PM ^