The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/19/07 Section: Opinions

PATRICK YAWN

The bittersweet smell of bourbon mixed with Coke surrounds you. Profanities tangle with cigarette smoke in the air. And the occasional fight breaks out, leaving brawlers bruised and ashamed.

A crowded bar downtown? Or a packed student section in Sanford Stadium?

It could be either, and the similarities lead to the conclusion that things are getting out of hand between the hedges. Rotten behavior by students at football games is a problem for the University, despite attempts to deal with misconduct.

As a fifth-year senior and Bulldog football fanatic, I have seen some of my peers at their worst inside Sanford Stadium.

At the Western Carolina game, I spotted a student who smuggled two large, glass bottles of liquor into the stadium. Tiny alcohol bottles litter the student sections - particularly the top row of the south end zone section - following each home game.

During the Georgia Tech game last season, I witnessed a fistfight that ended with one starry-eyed student being pinned and punched in the head. Fellow students had to restrain the winner. And I still have not made it through a game free from the odor of cigarette smoke or the chanting of the un-abbreviated version of "BS" in reaction to an unfavorable call by referees.

I sometimes let the profanities fly when our team is not playing well, but must we reveal our immaturity to national television audiences by chanting "BS" in unison?

The University Athletic Association has specific policies governing fan behavior - alcohol is prohibited, and so is smoking in all seating areas. Event personnel are even authorized to search fans entering the stadium for banned materials.

But we all know these rules are not being strictly enforced. Even mandatory bag checks designed to prevent the entry of alcohol and weapons into the stadium are performed half-heartedly at best.

Yes, college students are technically adults and should be mature enough to follow the rules, but the truth is that some do not. Absent our ability to act with civility toward each other, we need additional security in the student sections.

I never have seen more than two stadium workers placed in any one section of Sanford Stadium.

The University should station a minimum of five security personnel in each section dedicated to student seating.

Students then might be deterred from engaging in crazy or lewd behavior. Those not deterred would stand a much greater chance of being caught.

Workers would be more equipped to deal with emergencies - including alcohol-related illnesses induced by too much tailgating - in the student sections.

I realize opponents of increased security will argue the poor behavior of students is not detrimental enough to merit hiring additional staff. However, continuous alcohol consumption does not mix well with the tightly-packed setting of a student section. If tempers flare, the result could be disastrous without enough security.

If the University wants to deter students from drinking, smoking and fighting - and ensure the enjoyment of others is not interfered with - it will seriously consider increasing security at football games.

After all, who really wants to sit next to that chain-smoking, confrontational "drunk, obnoxious Georgia fan" who should have stopped drinking three quarters - and a flask of Jim Beam - ago?


- Patrick Yawn is a senior from Savannah majoring in newspapers.

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