Weekly HT (9/4): Team loyalty

[Sam!]

In the excitement of getting back on the Internet and in starting our picks challenge, I completely forgot to post the featured topic for this week! (Sorry Dan!)

Football season is here. College and pro football seem to bring out some of the most rabid fans in the US. Soccer (and the recently concluded World Cup) brings out some of the most fervent fans worldwide. The World Series is approaching and some families' baseball ties go back hundreds of years.

So what would you do for the right to see your team play? The man who jumped out of the stands onto a foul-boul-net at Yankee Stadium was recently banned from Yankees home games. For life. But there was no jail sentence handed down.

Still... it begs the question: would you go to jail or take the ban?

[NotMyOwn]

I wouldn't go to jail, nor would I want to be banned from home games. Loyalty to me means being a fan, no matter how well your team is playing, too many people become bandwagon jumpers once a team starts winning.

[Sam!]

Understood. But if you had to choose EITHER going to jail OR a lifetime ban from all of your teams' games (home and away), which would you choose?

[Gandalf]

I think you'd need to specify what kind of jail sentence you're talking about for some people to decide.

Personally, I'm all for not doing something stupid enough to earn either penalty.

[Sam!]

Alright, for starters...

2 weeks in the county jail vs. lifetime ban from attending live games (home or away) for ALL of your teams.

[NotMyOwn]

I wouldn't go to jail for any reason. Besides most games are available in tv through satellite.

[Sam!]

Obviously you have never met a Green Bay Packers season ticket holder! For some, gameday has nothing to do with TV and everything to do with watching their team live in action.

[Gandalf]

I could see that with some sports... but NFL games really are much better on TV, in my experience. The game's too structured around the TV broadcast (rather than vice-versa), so there are literal commercial breaks even in the stadium, and even in decent seats it's harder to see the action in person.

Personally, I wouldn't go to jail either. It'd be terrible to not be able to go to another Cardinals game, but not worth doing something illegal and going to jail.

[NotMyOwn]

Obviously you have never met a Green Bay Packers season ticket holder! For some, gameday has nothing to do with TV and everything to do with watching their team live in action.


No, I' allergic.:D :D


I went to a Bears game and also a couple of Pro Bowls and I definitely prefer them on tv.

[jrmitch]

Man, not to be a wet blanket.......:D

I guess that I'm just old school enough to think that anyone who would do something that can possibly harm the club they claim to root for is just plain dumb. The amount of liability that a team could face in potential legal action from someone hurt in a stupid stunt is plenty of reason for all sports teams to discourage such acts in the strongest terms possible, and I think the guy deserved to be banned. (For example, what if the net had failed to hold this kids weight and he dropped through the net and landed on someone below him? Even Steinbrenner couldn't have afforded that lawsuit). So it really scares me when I see a guy like the nut at Yankee stadium, because human nature being what it is someone else will think it'd be cool to pull a similar stunt, and eventually someone gets badly hurt.

As far as the jail or ban side goes, neither is an option, because I know I'm not stupid enough to ever consider putting myself in that predicament in the first place. Granted, there are a lot of things I could possibly be talked into doing for either Bronco or Irish tickets - but I'd definitely draw the line at anything that would place the teams at the risk of legal action, cause me to engage in anything illegal, or possibly cause either myself or others to get hurt. To me, those who are willing to take those risks just aren't true fans. True idiots, maybe......but not real fans.

[Sam!]

Ok, but "neither" wasn't an option.

[jrmitch]

Ok, but "neither" wasn't an option.So I made it one. :D

Seriously, I agree with Brian and Not My Own. Both breaking the law to get a ticket/admission or doing something that merits a lifetime ban are irresponsible choices. If I was absolutely backed into a corner and had to choose one or the other it'd be jail, I guess. Doing something that would merit a lifetime ban from watching your favorite team would be the ultimate act of stupidity as a fan.

[Jake]

I'd take the two weeks in county jail. I didn't even have to think about this one.

[Sam!]

I'd take the two weeks in county jail. I didn't even have to think about this one.
I think I would too, for University of Florida athetlic events. Not for baseball or football though.

[Sharon]

I'd take the two weeks in county jail. I didn't even have to think about this one.

Hmmmm .... 2 weeks in jail or banned from Steeler games for life. Personally I would not do anything that stupid. BUT ......

Jail .... who knows?? I might be adopted by someone named "Moose" :eek:

[Sam!]

Jake. A year in jail? Or a week in isolation? WHat about federal prison?

[Jake]

Jake. A year in jail? Or a week in isolation? WHat about federal prison?

A Year? No
A Week In Iso? Sure

How long in Federal?