Football fan debate rages on
I have read Mr. Coots and Mr. Gardner’s comments [in the letters section this week] concerning the ASU fan behavior at last weeks’ Georgia game. I also read Mr. Jackson’s comments with a great deal of amusement.
By justifying the behavior, I would guess Mr. Jackson is as much a part of the problem as his comments would suggest.
My wife and I attend all home games to support my son and the team. The behavior of the ASU students, and, in some cases, adults in ASU apparel, was indeed as Mr. Coots described “embarrassing and disgusting.”
I was relieved to read his letter as I initially thought my disgust was due to coming from an “older” generation. Having been involved personally in professional sports for the past 25 plus years, I have been exposed to a variety of behavior in opposing stadiums. Heck, I spent 10 years in Philadelphia, where I thought they had the rudest fans in the world.
Saturday night made the Philly fans seem downright hospitable! We had a young man behind us (sitting next to a man with a 10-year-old boy) yelling nothing else but obscenities the entire three quarters he stayed. I don’t think he even had a clue what the score of the game was until he looked in the third quarter, then promptly left because we were getting “our f---ing ass kicked.”
This situation was duplicated tenfold as we had numerous Georgia fans in our section.
As far as Mr. Jackson’s comments, I was involved in a big-time program in the South and they don’t come close to the overall behavior of this student body. Boisterous? Yes. Even drunk, but not abusive and disrespectful.
Perhaps if security would start tossing the truly abusive students, then things may improve.
The long and short of it is I do not enjoy coming to the games, yet I will continue to come to support my son. However, after he graduates, I cannot support such behavior.
John Fierro
Gilbert
