A stadium for the playoffs

[Kyle]

Last night was spectacular, and the home crowd definitely stepped it up. Posters have asked whether it was loud, and it was!

However, I'm sorry to say that there are many casual fans who do not contribute to that environment, and some who actively work to suppress it.

For example, during the game, just prior to each play where the Cowboys had the ball, I used an empty beer bottle against the glass wall behind me in the club section. It makes a tremendous sound - I can hear people doing that from across the stadium, so I know it carries onto the field. It is something I regularly do on third down, and last night, I was doing it on every down. Well, some folks behind me complained to the usher that it was making too much noise. TOO MUCH NOISE! And these were Redskin fans! The usher very apologetically asked me to stop.

Unbelievable.

Redskin fans that would complain about making too much noise. You know the fans I'm talking about. These are the fans that complain when you stand up in front of them to cheer a play. They are the ones that never stand up themselves, or yell or cheer, they come late, leave early, spend half the game inside the stadium, and are always giving their tickets away to opposing fans.

The problem is much worse in the club section, but I have seen it in every section of the stadium. Now that the team is successful, casual fans are coming out of the woodwork to use their season tickets. Great, welcome to party! But let's understand what makes a team more successful when they play at home. Seattle is 8-0 at home, and 3-5 on the road. There is a reason for that. We are 5-3 at home, and 5-3 on the road. Seattle may have a stadium designed for crowd noise, but our fans have the potential to create an even more hostile environment. We just need the un-silent minority of rabid fans to change the way things work in our stadium during the playoffs.

If you are privileged enough to sit in front of or behind something that is metal or glass, you have a duty to use it to make as much noise as possible. If you are not, an aluminum beer bottle on the back of a seat works pretty well too.

Stadium personnel and team management - we are now in the playoffs. You're job of providing a great fan experience has been successfully completed. Good job - we had a marvelous time in the stadium this year. Now that we are in the play-offs, it isn't about fan experience any more. Nobody needs to be comfortable. Nobody needs to be catered to. The best way to increase demand for tickets is to allow an environment that will help us win in the playoffs.

To our die hard fans - Thank you for creating a hostile environment for our opponents, and contributing to our victory over Dallas! We need to double our efforts for Seattle!

To our casual fans, if someone stands to cheer in front of you and you can't see, the solution is to stand up yourself. Heck, as long as you're standing, go ahead and cheer! If you are too uncomfortable standing to watch a football game during the playoffs, that's what couches are for.

To fake fans who would complain about too much noise in the stadium, my sentiments are summarized best on the back of a T-shirt I purchased on the way out of the stadium last night: If you don't bleed burgundy and gold, take your b!tch ass home.

[bch89]

I've sat in club level one time and to this day I haven't gone back. It was miserable.

[rumplestilskin]

All hands on deck on Sunday please. To the snob fan: Just break out of your shell and MAKE SOME NOISE.

[Jumbo]

You tell 'em, Kyle. Good to see you post.

[Park City Skins]

Very,very few times to play in to the great,fake,better than you fans thing. Kind of a useless exercise for the most part. However,there are exceptions to every rule. This is one of them. If you're at a game like last night and you're worried about too much noise,stay the **** home. Have a nice day.

[gortiz]

TOO MUCH NOISE!

these words should not be in any fans vocabulary ... honeslty. This is like a fish complaining about being wet ... wtf?

kind of a bummer man. I wonder how many of the "casual fans" you mentioned are at the game... is it significant? More than 25%??

[Dondrae474]

Great post Kyle. I sit in the endzone (section 112) and last night was fantastic. At the Ravens game, however, ushers were making people sit down on 3rd down because this one older couple was complaining. I thought that was ridiculous.

[robinsmw]

Couldn't agree more. I do the same thing w/ the beer bottle on the plastic seats. I yell my head off too. I'm in row 4 (7 off the field, thanks dream seats). I feel it is my duty to be as loud as possible.

Last night, I stood the whole game, it was great. My rule is normally to stand if someone is standing in front of me or on 3rd down. I have been asked to sit down before and my answer is normally that if they make the people sit down in front of me, then I would. They normally don't say any more. This happened once this year (Ravens game maybe?) and once last year (Pats game).

So, as you pointed out, it's not just a club level issue, it's the whole stadium. Although I will say that last night I've never stood the whole game before, it was awesome. And I even had a guy in front of me who was probably 6'10" (seriously). But that's the luck of the draw and different faces all around me. Seems that very few go to every game.

The only thing I can say is that the aluminum bottle on glass maybe makes a high pitched noise. Who knows, I certainly wouldn't ask you to stop. Sit down in the plastic seats and you wouldn't have a problem

[drjiveturkey]

For example, during the game, just prior to each play where the Cowboys had the ball, I used an empty beer bottle against the glass wall behind me in the club section. It makes a tremendous sound - I can hear people doing that from across the stadium, so I know it carries onto the field. It is something I regularly do on third down, and last night, I was doing it on every down. Well, some folks behind me complained to the usher that it was making too much noise. TOO MUCH NOISE! And these were Redskin fans! The usher very apologetically asked me to stop.

[/I]

You were lucky they didn't escort you out. I think there was a post not too long ago where a fan was ejected for banging his bottle against the SRO rails because it was against stadium rules. I'm all for making noise and screaming at the game, but lets not get ourselves ejected or have your Season Tickets revoked for something that silly.

[redskins4ever28]

I can't believe people would complain about noise at a football game. It's a football game!!!! I wish these peoPle would give their tix to true die hard fans.

[Thirtyfive2seven]

I can't believe I'm going to say this but these types of people need to be chased from the stadium. I have experienced similar things SO many times. Last year I was banging two empty bottles together and was told that was too much noise. I've been told to sit down as well. PIsses me off

[Toe Jam]

I think you're allowed to bang on the SRO panels, but you're not supposed use objects like glass bottles. Regardless, you shouldn't be getting crucified for being too loud. That's ridiculous.

[Tweedr01]

Great post Kyle. I sit in the endzone (section 112) and last night was fantastic. At the Ravens game, however, ushers were making people sit down on 3rd down because this one older couple was complaining. I thought that was ridiculous.

Dude, I was in 111 right next to you. We were rocking all night, started we want Dallas chants, but man...this drunk skins fan right in front of us was trying to start rg3 chants while he walked up to the line. Really? The girls fans around us were laughing and joining in, it was on one of our timeouts and then a failed third down at the end of the game.

[superozman]

I think you're allowed to bang on the SRO panels, but you're not supposed use objects like glass bottles. Regardless, you shouldn't be getting crucified for being too loud. That's ridiculous.

Glass bottles aren't allowed in any stadium for any sport, imagine the mayhem, !!!

[Toe Jam]

Glass bottles aren't allowed in any stadium for any sport, imagine the mayhem, !!!

I knew that.

I think you're allowed to bang on the SRO panels, but you're not supposed to use any foreign objects.