Fan behavior was appalling
I'm a Georgia Bulldog alum and I just returned home from Saturday's game against Arizona State. I've been to a lot of college football games and I can honestly say that I have never seen behavior as primitive and tasteless as I saw from Sun Devil fans this weekend.
In the SEC, we're extremely passionate about our football tradition. We like to drink, get obnoxious, and even encourage a little good-natured ribbing with the opposing team.
The idea of "friendly" jeering among fans is apparently lost out west though.
While walking past the student line before the game, the jokes about our attire turned into unmitigated bigotry. Every twenty feet or so people screamed out that we looked "like f---ing faggots" or that we were "gay as f---." The more creative fans proclaimed that we were "fags who f--- each other and our sisters."
Apparently, this weekend's insult crib sheet emphasized the themes of "incest" and other crude delusions about the South that date back to the Reconstruction Era. One idiot asked me if my family owned slaves.
The ASU student body sounded so ignorant, it's embarrassing.
Unfortunately, the obscenities didn't stop at words. My friends and I encountered behavior so baseless that it can only be described as ’roid rage. We were repeatedly physically assaulted or threatened for little more reason than cheering for our team. We got pelted with half-full beer cans and water bottles (despite the fact that we were walking alongside a senior citizen couple and a family with small children!)
I even saw a man proposing to his wife get the "Marry Me" sign ripped out of his hands and torn up by Sun Devil fans.
It is true that every team has its share of bad apple fans that can ruin a game for the good fans — I know the Bulldogs do. But what I saw on Saturday was not a few isolated incidents ... it was a culture of vulgarity, ignorance, and steroid-induced aggression that is an embarrassment to college football.
I can only hope this behavior will be addressed before Arizona State hosts another big team with a large fan following. The only thing I know for sure is that this college football fan is never coming back to Sun Devil Stadium.
Daniel Gardner
Atlanta, GA
