| Twenty people were arrested and 49 others ejected from Sunday's football game at the University of Phoenix Stadium. Most were Raiders fans, according to posts on a football Web forum. |
Oakland Raiders followers lived up to their reputation on Sunday as some of the rowdiest punks in football fandom.
Hyped-up fans, rivers of booze, and a nail-biting game between the Arizona Cardinals and Oakland Raiders led police to eject 49 people from the University of Phoenix stadium and arrest 20 others.
The Cards won the game by one point, as we reported earlier today.
Fourteen of the arrests were for juvenile liquor violations, says Sergeant Brent Coombs of the Glendale Police Department. Coombs wasn't sure whether the underage suspects had purchased their alcohol at the stadium, but noted that it is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to have alcohol in their bloodstream.
Of the remaining folks arrested: Two people were accused of disorderly conduct, one had an outstanding warrant; one was accused of assaulting a police officer; and one was suspected of selling illegal football merchandise.
Most of the 49 documented ejections were for public intoxication, Coombs says.
Commenters on an Arizona Cardinals Web forum claim the problems stemmed mainly from Raiders fans. Um, hard to believe.
One commenter, Booman141, writes:
The Raider fans in our section were horrible they spent more time yelling profanities and flipping the bird to the fans than watching the game.I made one trip to the bathroom and 1 consession run and on both occasions I saw Raider fans getting in Cardinal fans faces and flipping them off.
I could go on and on but like I told the people around me; 'these guys make Cowboy and Niner fans look like saints' and I dont say that lightly. Seriously they were that bad. I counted and 5 Raider fans were ejected from my section in the first half alone.
The guy who sits in front of me is an elderly gentleman who comes to the games with his wife (has been a STH for 10 years) and he made a trip to the bathroom and came back visibly shaken and told his wife; "Cmon we're leaving" during the 2nd quarter.
I dont understand spending money so you can come to a game and start fights and get arrested. It makes no sense. What a life? Get a life?
So in other words the Raider fans are the worst I have ever seen by far without question. Completely and totally pathetic scum.
Another fan, Billy Baroo, says:
The only lesson I learned from them is how to get thrown out of the stadium and put in jail for resisting arrest. I watched about a dozen of them get tossed from section 419. Biggest group of losers I've seen in a long time.Raiders fans are not even close to what they used to be. Most of the emphasis seems to be on Halloween costumes and acting like a gangster. They spend most of the game making trips to the concession stand.
From "Darth Llama:"
We can really learn a lesson on how not to conduct ourselves as fans from watching them. A fan base should try and be a positive reflection on the team they support, but the Raider fans are anything but. There were a lot of them there today, and every one of them was drunk, loud and should have been kicked out. Even with Cowboy fans, at the end of the game, there are handshakes and "we'll get you next time," not with these guys. It was like they were all looking for any reason they could to start a fight, it was embarrassing for their franchise. I honestly hope that we don't host these guys again anytime soon. I wish that teams would step up to the Raiders and get them to try and do something as an organization to clean up their fan base. When the Raiders are in town, the game experience takes a huge downward spiral, it's really disgusting.Sorry to any Raider fans that have posted on here, a few of you have been pretty cool and classy, but to you guys, it's time to find another team. I know you like to think that those guys are the minority, but they're not, they're the bulk of your fan base, and if I was a Raider fan, I would look for another team. Raider Nation is the bottom feeding parasite of the NFL fan world, and they are an embarrassment to the NFL in general.
Yeah, but they buy a lot of beer.
(Tip of the hat to www.scottsdalearizonanews.com, which first reported the arrests and ejections).
UPDATE: Coombs got back to us on Tuesday morning (9-28) to report that the number of ejections on Sunday's game was only a little higher than average. And the arrests -- average, he says: "Some games there are more, some less." Sheesh -- that's not good for the Raider Nation's image, is it?
