Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Read a news article about an NFL fan dying after a fight in the stands. I searched youtube on fan fights and was shocked at how bad and often these happen. 

Been to alot of races in my day and never have seen anything like the NFL fights. In fact most people at the races will chit chat about racing regardless of what shirt you have on. For a sport (racing) that is viewed as redneck too most folks it's certainly more well behaved than other sports. 

Racing isn't that well behaved either.   Fans of any sport can get out of hand pretty quickly if large amounts of alcohol are involved, which is most of the time.   I sit on the back straight at Knoxville on the bottom rom of section P.  Three years ago a fight broke out in the next section and up several rows from us.   It spread though, and I thought we were going to have to defend ourselves for a couple of minutes before it broke up.   Then last year some drunk idiot was escorted out by security for doing a striptease at the top of the stairs leading to section P.   The dude got all the way down to his underwear, which is really a great thing for the kids in the audience to see.   I don't know what happens at NFL games and don't care, but I would disagree that racing is well behaved.    I don't know which sports are well behaved.   Maybe golf?   Who wants to watch that though...

I don't take my kids to Nationals because people are idiots...

Otherwise on normal shows I'd agree rwcing people are usually fairly easy going and respectful to one another. 

An evening of bad racing is usually still better than a good day of any stick and ball sport.

i've been trying to decide whether these things are happening more often or they're just getting caught on video because everyone has a phone.  the only fight i've seen at a sprint car race involved the rahmers and danny dietrich.  it was lincoln a few years ago.

the idea that this nonsense only happens in philadelphia should be put to bed.  i don't think anybody ever got killed at an eagles game.  there are idiots everywhere no matter the sport.  there does seem to gradually less respect.  like i mentioned in the other thread...people don't seem to understand how to sit in their own seat, say excuse me when they come into a row, wait until a stoppage to go into their seat, get through an entire game without spilling their drink, or cleaning up if they do spill a drink.  

i got into a situation at a binghamton rumble ponies game a few weeks ago when a kid kept leaning into the harrisburg senators dugout asking them for a bat during play.  the coaching staff told him to knock it off and he kept doing it.  when i told him he needed a ticket to sit there and it would be nice if his dad would sit with him...dad showed up like he wanted to fight me.

people want to do act however they want...but they especially don't want to be called out for being an idiot.  that's not supposed to happen.  it seems like this dad thought using his kid to get broken bats was his path to being a millionaire.  i would start with not being a knuckle dragging idiot.

I remember back in the 70s that we would have fights in the stands every so often.  I could see them from the press box.  Usually, they happened between friends and families of drivers that would have on track incidents.  I don't think that they happen as much, largely because back then, families weren't allowed in the pits.  I have to say that it did add to the entertainment factor.  Maybe not for the rest of the crowd, but for those of us in the booth, it was pretty damn funny.

www.manvelmotorsports.com

The only near-scuffles I've seen at a sprint car race usually involve idiot fans who feel the need to stand up for the first 5 laps of the feature while rolling film on the I-phone. Like they are ever going to go back and watch that amazing footage which is readily available on youtube in higher quality. 

And don't get me started on 'needs to film fireworks guy'. 

Now my blood pressure is up. This all makes me want to punch somebody. 

Nah, not at an Eagles game. A Phillies game though. About 15years ago, three dudes from Kensington got into an altercation with another group of people there for a bachelor party at the bar at the game. It spilled into the parking lot and they stomped a young guy in his early 20's to death. All over a spilled drink. They all plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and spent time in prison.

We have a lot of complete and utter social idiots in society. We have a lot of alcohol in society. We have a lot of aggrieved and angry people in society. Add it all up and it makes for an interesting night out. Be safe out there people.

Yeah, really damn funny until you consider that person that just talked one of their friends into coming to the races for the first time.   Fights on the track between drivers or in the pits are one thing, but fighting in the stands is never entertaining or funny and is a big black eye for the sport. 

But the leaders of philly have made kensington so much better since then. lol. 

Let us race fans not forget about race track parking lot brawls, I know a friend that was in one once.

Before I make my point, it's worth noting that the autopsy was released on the man that died after that fight.  It was determined that the punch nor a fall from the punch caused his death.  He had a medical "episode."  An educated guess would say heart attack.  Unfortunate, but it appears the fight did not directly cause his death.  

My angle on this:

1.  NFL stadiums hold 58,000 - 100,000+ crowds with people sitting elbows to elbows.  Sprint car races hold 2000-25,000 people and most times, people aren't packed in like sardines.  As pointed out, in events that they do, like the Knoxville Nats, fights are much more likely.  

2.  There are only 2 sides in each NFL game making it a certainty that if you're wearing the visiting teams jersey, you are in direct conflict with the guy wearing the home team's jersey.  On the flip side, at sprint car races, there are literally 50-100 different t-shirts being worn.  There are only favorites and not so favorites.  It's not black and white like with team sports.  

I've seen fights at the races for sure.  However, I've seen many more at Chicago Cubs games, Milwaukee Brewers games, Chicago Blackhawks games, and I've seen a TON of fights at Chicago Bears games.  It's much more likely.  Just way more people at these events with completely opposing interests in all cases.  Same amount of alcohol.  Same amount of passion.  Same percentage of drunks.  Just not as much of a buffer. 

Maybe the sheeple of society are drinking more passion fruit cool aid than cultured fans. There are more excuses than penalties in today's world..

The fights in years past were pit fights. You used somebody up on track you know your were going to turn a corner in the pits and run into a fistù

You said everything I wanted to.  I've probably been to about ten Vikings games.  Only one time did I see a fight and it was like 3 sections over from where we were sitting.  I would say most of the games have been against the Bears.  One perticular game I remember was in the 2017 season (for clarification that year the Vikings were 13-3 and the Bears were having a bad year) we were riding the light rail to get there and they started giving this one guy a bunch of shit about the Bears, however it was never nasty and all in good fun but I started to feel bad for the guy just based on the numbers.  So I started to stick up for him.  He filled me in that he was from Chicago and his daughter had married a guy from Minnesota and he was going to the game with his daughter her husband and lots of his family (who were all Vikings fans).  So it wasn't even strangers giving each other crap, they all knew each other.  But he was honestly the nicest guy.  He said he really wanted to see the new stadium and he was really pulling for the Vikings because they're long overdue for a Super Bowl.  I told him how I hated the Bears as a kid but was starting to feel sorry for the fans because they're overdue too.  And he said you can't come to here as a Bears fan and not expect a little bit of shit.

I can't speak for all stadiums (when my son's football playing days are over we're going to try to see every NFL stadium by going to 1 or 2 away Vikings games every year) but I can say Vikings games are a great family friendly experience.  By my calculations, around a little more than a million people were at a NFL game this last weekend.  Don't get me wrong, one death at a game is one too many but it's far from the norm.  What happened there could've happened at any event with a lot of people where alcohol is involved.

I went to Cedar Lake my first time in 1962.  There were a bunch of "greaser" types, for young people think along the lines of the Fonz as representative of the greaser look.  Anyways, they got into it with another group of fans and it morphed into a brawl.  One guy was knocked out cold and sprawled out next to us.  We got up and moved and the rest is too long ago to remember:  Anyways, I have seen fans brawling, drivers and crews going after each other and crazy on track retaliation incidents as far back as sixty years ago.  I'm not buying this rosey picture of Sprint Car fans always being on their best behavior.

Stan Meissner

".........and the Bears were having a bad year".............................What year was that?  1964, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 80, 81, 82, 83, 89, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, or this year?         

In all seriousness though, I can't say if Bears fans are the worst, but they are, as a whole, pretty bad. (coming from a Bear fan)   I'm not from the city of Chicago, and I know of a lot of great people living in the city of Chicago.  However, the overall vibe I get is not good when I meet someone who lives there.  The worst game I ever saw for fights was a game between the Bears and Colts during Urlacher's rookie season.  I am not kidding you when I say I saw 100 fights and 20 people leave in handcuffs.  It was an absolute disaster in the stands.  It was easy to pick out the fights because it was raining, and security was all wearing bright green raincoats.  It was non-stop running clusters of green raincoats.  

Race fans definitely can have the same issues, but as a whole, they're not all rooting for one side or the other, and most have rural roots.  Most Bear fans (or Cubs, Blackhawks for that matter) have urban roots.  What's the difference?  I live in a small town.  Everyone knows me, and I know everyone.  I don't need to tell anyone about the things I have.  I don't need to let everyone know how tough I am.  I don't need to let anyone know what my job is, or how much money I have either.  A lot of these "tough guys" at the Chicago sporting events feel the need to be louder and tougher than anyone else as if they are impressing someone.  Then, multiply that times 10, and you have the typical Bostonian, which is where the brawl happened last week in the NFL.  As "different" as I see the Chicago sports fan, the urban fans from the Northeast are WAY different, and much harder to take.  They make the average Chicagoan seem super polite. 

JMO

When I started going to the races in the early 70's at Black Hills Speedway there was a fight in the parking lot behind the stands every Friday night about the time the feature races started. The announcer was real nonchalant about it. "All available security personnel to the concession area please. Here's the lineup for the hobbystocks...".

As much as I'd love to give you some shit about the Bears being bad, I only remember the year because it was the last time the Vikings had a chance to go to the Super Bowl lol (seems to happen about once a decade, only to disapoint us).  I haven't been to a Bears game in Chicago but every Bears fan I've met has always been super nice and I've always had good conversations with them.  But I can say the perspective is they're kind of obnoxious but I've never seen it.   

I haven't been to an Eagles game either (and I know there's lots of PA people on here so I'm sure I'll upset them) but I don't think there's any fanbase worse than the Eagles.  I'm not saying every Eagles fan is a POS but this is a fanbase that boo'd Santa Clause, gave a standing ovation when Michael Irvin was laying motionless on the field, spit and threw food at multiple players wives and family from opposing teams, throwing full beer cans at opposing fans.  And when the Eagles won a Super Bowl, how did the "classy" people of Philadelphia react?  like any fan would, start fires all over your city, smash windows to stores, start looting, tip over cars, light cars on fire, rip down traffic lights, one fan literally ate horse shit.  Again I know not every Eagles fan is this way but as a whole I can't think of a worse fan base.

Don't worry, bud, I don't take offense. I don't really give a fuck either.

You could come to Philly and decide for yourself, but it appears your mind is already made up.

Party on, Hoss. 

as  DIE HARD BLEED GREEN EAGLES fan.............my worst experience in the stands was at VIKINGS games

2011...my pre teen sons were blocked from using the restroom and told  hey kid, dont forget to wipe your ass with your jersey before you go...i yelled back..DUDE, hes 10 years old  back off......ended up having to get security

also they got beer ""spilled"" on them multiple times on accident...enough that he couldnt even wear his sweatshirt to walk to the transit after the game...we won  but my youngest son left crying cuse of the anger and heat

in chicago 2022--the bears fans around us were very friendly

in 2019 in kansas city....the fans recommended bbq places for us to go...shook our hands after and said...well  its just a game to help us escape the real world for a few hours

and for those that dont know....in PHILLY...there is a judge, courtroom and jail and the stadium...and if you cause enough trouble there..you lose your season tickets and your right to buy them in the future

I don't like bras.