Nov

27

Sociologist weighs in on Gate D controversy

Posted by Michael Sciannamea

November 27, 2007 |

Courtesy of The New York TimesThere’s an op-ed column in today’s Newsday by Michael Kimmel, a sociology professor at Stony Brook University, regarding the behavior of male fans at Gate D at Giants Stadium at halftime.

Kimmel says the behavior of male fans toward females who attend the games and happen to be in the vicinity of the area is an extension of these guys’ attitudes toward women in general, and that the football stadium is their last bastion of “maleness” because women have infiltrated everything else in society that was once dominated by men. Therefore, these groups of guys are demonstrating their true anger and contempt of women who just want to enjoy the game of football as much as their male counterparts.

Although I agree with Mr. Kimmel to a certain extent, I don’t know if I’d go that far in describing the behavior that is going on at Gate D. As far as I see it, it’s nothing more than a bunch of drunken young guys, who obviously don’t know what the word “moderation” means (much less spell it), who believe that they’re entitled to have a good time at the game and can do whatever they please, especially in roving packs, where they feel protected from retailiation. I highly doubt any of these “brain surgeons” would have the courage to indulge in that sort of behavior by themselves. Plus, the laissez-faire attitude of the stadium security force, as well as the NJSEA in general, has allowed them to pretty much do and say whatever they want without fear of penalty, either by detention or expulsion.

I don’t think it’s much of a sociological issue–to me it’s an issue of allowing fans to either show up in the stadium already drunk, or giving them the opportunity to buy more alcohol while in the stadium, either by themselves or by their friends, up until the time alcohol sales are cut off. Plus, the Meadowlands security which, in my opinion, is the worst there is in any stadium or arena I’ve been to throughout the country, must be forced into doing their jobs and stopping the problem NOW.

This means expulsions, this means arrests, and this means revocation of season tickets from fans who either are guilty of the behavior themselves OR by those who get game tickets from StubHub/eBay/friends, relatives, co-workers, etc. Of course, if you as the season-ticket holder can’t attend a game and those tickets find their way into the hands of somebody else, there’s no way of knowing how these people will behave at the stadium, so the latter part of the previous sentence would be an impossible policy to justly enforce.

The only way I could see a policy like that being enforced is to somehow hold some sort of meeting between Giants Stadium officials, the Jets, and the ticket holders themselves to investigate the siutation and come to some sort of resolution. However, I don’t think any of these parties want to hold (possibly) dozens of these meetings every week.

In any event, there was increased security at Gate D at the Giant game this past Sunday, but the real test will be on Sunday, December 9 when the Jets take on the Cleveland Browns. If the “fans” who have engaged in this behavior don’t get the message and continue to act like the drunken idiots they already are, then they deserve whatever happens to them.


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