One Football Fan, One Section, One Stadium

I enjoy football. I like playing the game. I like watching the game. However, I don't obsess over it or go entirely bananas over it. There is a certain level of expectations that I have with being a fan of the game, and my hope is that would be the same perspective that all fans would have, but of course, it is not.

Many people love going to concerts. I love music, but something about the concert atmosphere isn't as appealing to me. But, with football, the environment and atmosphere of watching a game live is unlike any other sport. Anywhere from 70,000 to over 100,000 people packed into a stadium cheering with the smell of beer in the air. It is an ambiance that is unique to the game itself.

I don't attend many football games – perhaps one or two per year at best, so it makes the moment in a season where I do go to a game that much more special. But what was once an enjoyable atmosphere of both cheers and jeers from crowds now seems to be getting ever more insane.

I spent part of my recent vacation in Miami, which allowed me to go see my team, the Cleveland Browns, play the Dolphins in Joe Robbie Stadium (there is no need to call it whatever sponsor now has the naming rights). The Browns have a loyal fan base, so it was no surprise that roughly 40% of the stadium was populated with Browns fans, and in the particular section I was in, it seemed there were more Browns fans than Dolphins fans. As I'd find out, most of the people were either abnormal or getting progressively intoxicated or both.

Within the first quarter, it became clear that we were seated in front of the most annoying woman I've ever dealt with at a sporting event (and potentially in life in general). At the most random times, she would yell comments. To me, there is an appropriate time to yell at a sporting event – a touchdown, a sack, an important completion, a controversial call. A 2-yard gain is not appropriate. There are also appropriate things to yell such as “Tackle him!” not “Murder him!” Also, it would be nice if obscenities weren't shouted out unless it was in fact an extremely crucial play or something really amazing did occur. It's also preferable if this profanity wasn't shouted while the child that you brought to the game was seated next to you. It also makes sense for you to not rip on your team's quarterback when your defense is out on the field and the quarterback hasn't done anything specifically wrong at this point in the game. It's also preferable that you not let out a blood-curdling scream randomly that makes Janet Leigh look like she was whispering.

To counter this Dolphins fan's yelling, the Browns had their fair share of representation. An elderly gentleman chose to yell roughly every 15 minutes for the coaching staff to run a play for Evan Moore. I've never encountered someone who had so much passion for a back-up tight end or actually just one specific play being run over and over again.

My expectations at that point was that this was going to be a long, annoying game dealing with these two characters. But, as the game progressed, people were getting further and further drunk, which made things far more entertaining and was probably for the best since it was turning out to be one of the more boring games I've ever seen live.

Two Dolphins fans began an inter-Latino racial back-and-forth (“Brown on Brown” argument may be an appropriate term). At first, I thought they were friends, but then it became apparent they were just drunk and jovially trash talking with one another about one of them being Cuban.

Added to these characters was the whole backdrop of the LeBron James move from Cleveland to Miami, which then led to a woman in a LeBron shirt having debris being thrown at her, which again she apparently had no problem with as she was drunkenly jovial along with the “Brown on Brown” Cuban guy.

Everything seemed fun again. In its own distorted way, it was bringing back the types of things that make football enjoyable.

Then, the Browns won on a last-second field goal and the game ended. That's when the two worlds – annoying and entertaining met in a storm of idiocy. The annoying woman decided to continue her rant about how “the Browns suck.” It's not a great idea to talk about a team sucking after your team just lost to them – you have to logically know your course with your trash talking. One of a crew of Browns fans attempted to calm her down, while also pointing out that the Browns had won. This only furthered the situation as she got up in his face. Well, this then prompted this guy's drunk girlfriend to want to get in on the action because the Dolphins fan was “up in her man's face.” She was restrained by others in her group. I exited the scene as fast as possible leaving behind my Dolphins stadium souvenir cup, which I should have had all these individuals autograph.

When it comes down to it, this has always been a part of football – alcohol, screaming, highs, lows. But, between a Browns fan tackling an 8-year old in a Jets jersey weeks earlier to this mix of shenanigans I experienced in Miami to plenty of other stories I've heard from friends with their experiences in other stadiums, people need to realize that a majority of fans in a stadium are there to see the game that they plunked down their hard-earned money to watch. Your expert advice need not be shouted (which, by the way, no one other than us can hear you...also, do you actually think coaches are factoring in your thoughts with their play calling?) at every second. Just watch, drink, and enjoy. Give the respect to the game that it deserves.

If you stop yourself from all the shouting and the negativity and the unnecessary portions of this world of competition, you can take in the type of feeling Daniel Ruettiger in Rudy had when he enters Notre Dame's stadium and says, “This is the most beautiful sight these eyes have ever seen.” However, please don't cry at the stadium in the same way that line makes you cry every time you watch the movie.