It’s drunk. It’s annoying. It’s arrogant.
More than likely, it will be the guy beside you during N.C. State’s opening football game against Appalachian State. Get used to it, because the Wolfpack has seven home games this season.
There’s nothing you can do. You sit there and listen to the most ridiculous statements, you learn that everyone that plays for the other team is homosexual, and you hear language that resembles a Bobby Knight basketball practice.
But one NFL team has had enough.
The Cincinnati Bengals have created a “jerk line” for the upcoming NFL season — a number fans can call when someone around them is obnoxious. It’s easy to remember : (513) 381-JERK.
In an Associated Press story earlier in the month, Bob Bedinghaus, the Director of Development of Paul Brown Stadium for the Bengals, said the team wants to avoid being known as the “curse police,” but also has a goal in mind — to reduce the number of disturbances in the crowd.
“There were complaints [of] excessive drunkenness, people that were kind of falling down drunk,” Bedinghaus told the AP. “There were some fights last year. Whenever you put 65,000 people together, you’re always going to have some fights. But there were a few more than normal.”
The main worry the team has is prank calls – with the article quoting Bedinghaus as saying, “If you get 6,000 people calling this line [complaining that] ‘Hey, [Steelers quarterback] Ben Roethlisberger is a jerk’ — then it becomes less effective,” he said. “The thing to remember is we have caller ID on this line.”
With no call-waiting or voice mail implemented in the system, and only one person controlling the call center, the line had 100 calls by half-time in Cincinnati’s opening exhibition game. On at least one of the calls, deputies were dispatched to investigate the situation.
Is it too much? Probably so. But it’s the reason it was implemented that is important.
Many fans don’t realize the difference between being an obnoxious fan and a good fan.
Yelling, cheering and screaming until you lose your voice — great.
Cursing, uncontrollable drunkenness and stupidity beyond reason — no.
Noticing the difference between the two is what makes a top-notch fan base. Creative, witty cheers make an amazing environment. Chants dealing with STDs, homosexuality and cursing do nothing except make a fan base laughable.
As my fourth year at State begins, I have encountered every type of fan in the stands. The quiet fan who observes the game from an X’s and O’s standpoint. The loud, yet supportive fan who cheers to the point where he or she loses his or her voice. The drunken fan, who falls down in the bleachers — taking two with him. And the brainless fan, who swears that the yellow first-down line exists in real life, not just on TV.
Don’t be one of the latter two. Carter-Finley already has plenty. Have a beer, hang out with friends and be loud — enjoy the game. However, make Carter-Finley Stadium a loud and tough environment to play in, not a crowd full of jerks (Note: Maryland).
