Under ZERO circumstance would I ever attend another Bengals game. Last one i went to was VS the Steelers and my 15 yr nephew was challenged to a fist fight from an adult , I had my 10 yr old son with me also and there were just so many drunks and fights . One Fan took my nephews towel and refused to give it back . I had Bengals gear on also. It was entirely ugly and I'll never go back .

 

Agreed, with me it was the Green Bay game when Favre was retiring (the first time). Ugly crowd. My young son was a Favre fan and had GB gear on but I was in Bengals gear, didn't make any difference. The foul language was unbelievable. Would have been arrested if the loudmouth drunk behind us didn't shutup when I told him we were both about to get hauled off if he kept it up. I had season tickets in the 80's and am still a fan but will not go see another live game. Ever.

I have also had season tickets for a number of years with my brother-in-law. For many of those seasons, I have attended all regular season games and gifted the preseason tickets to relatives. As my brother-in-law has gotten older, he has found it harder to navigate through the stadium. For the past 5 years, we have adopted an approach that has helped our fan experience. We now split our tickets with someone else. We hold a draft at the beginning of the year for the games. Flip a coin to see who gets pick #1. Loser gets #2 and #3. Winner gets #4 and #5 and so on. I know that I will attend 4 games and watch 4 games on TV (if sellouts). Sort of like the best of both worlds. When I go to a game and if I see people acting badly, I adjust. That's my nature. I'm there to be entertained and not let what happens on the field or off the field affect my long term temperament. It's a choice on my part. I enjoy both environments - enduring a brutal cold or rainy day with 65000 people going crazy or lounging in my family room watching the game on a 55-inch HDTV with commentary.

I will add it could have a big part on where you sit during the games. I always loved sitting in the endzone, and those are the seats that go to the opponents fans mostly when they come to see games or the nose bleed, the club seats are mostly season ticket holders and I could see where there would be less confrontations there because you are among mostly fellow bengals fans. So where you sit could make a big difference. But with that said, even at Riverfront we at times had 6 season tickets some years, 3 in one area and 3 in the end zone and would bring friends each game and I usually sat in the area where a lot of away fans would sit and it was never as bad as it has been at PBS amongst oppnents fans. The sad thing is that the most trouble we would run into would be fellow Bengals fans causing problems with other fans from the opponents teams or even fellow bengals fans. That was hardly ever the case 20 years ago.

 

It used to be things you would encounter when going up to Cleveland for a game wearing bengals gear...even then it was more expected than not, it's sad now that the same things you would hear stories about when venturing up to cleveland are the norm today at PBS and many other stadiums around the league. What once was the rarity is now the norm.

I have also had season tickets for a number of years with my brother-in-law. For many of those seasons, I have attended all regular season games and gifted the preseason tickets to relatives. As my brother-in-law has gotten older, he has found it harder to navigate through the stadium. For the past 5 years, we have adopted an approach that has helped our fan experience. We now split our tickets with someone else. We hold a draft at the beginning of the year for the games. Flip a coin to see who gets pick #1. Loser gets #2 and #3. Winner gets #4 and #5 and so on. I know that I will attend 4 games and watch 4 games on TV (if sellouts). Sort of like the best of both worlds. When I go to a game and if I see people acting badly, I adjust. That's my nature. I'm there to be entertained and not let what happens on the field or off the field affect my long term temperament. It's a choice on my part. I enjoy both environments - enduring a brutal cold or rainy day with 65000 people going crazy or lounging in my family room watching the game on a 55-inch HDTV with commentary.

 

^This is exactly my approach. I have now been a season ticket holder for about 6-7 years. I have seats in 160. There is no way that there is another Sec as brutal and rowdy than ours. Wait a minute, maybe there is. Point being, the good fan behavior outweighs the bad behavior and it's not even close. I am truly sorry for the fans who have had a bad experience at PBS. I really am....Try walking into the Browns stadium with Bengals gear on. You think you had a bad experience at PBS. Would I go back to Cleveland, sure I would. Just grow a little thicker skin. As I commented last week about how we as UK fans got brutalized by NC students after the game in Chapel Hill. It could of turned really ugly with the company I was with but it didn't. We were the wiser ones! Just walk away......

My family has season tickets and I've been to probably 6 games this year. I'll be there Sunday, too. I enjoy going to the games, but if my family didn't go then it wouldn't be nearly as fun. A big part of the fun is tailgating with friends & family.

 

Regarding drunkness, there are obviously a lot of drunk people at all football games. I'm curious to know where Hellbird (and others) ran into their problems. Was it in the upper level, lower level, or endzones? Our seats are scattered throughout the lower level and I can only recall one time where people surrounding us were overly drunk & obnoxious...and those people were in the upper level, saw empty seats, and moved down to our section.

 

Obviously it happens throughout the stadium (evidenced by some actions in the bathroom), but I think it's more prone to occur in the upper-level...but could be wrong.

Already turned them down. so that would be a NO

My family has season tickets and I've been to probably 6 games this year. I'll be there Sunday, too. I enjoy going to the games, but if my family didn't go then it wouldn't be nearly as fun. A big part of the fun is tailgating with friends & family.

 

Regarding drunkness, there are obviously a lot of drunk people at all football games. I'm curious to know where Hellbird (and others) ran into their problems. Was it in the upper level, lower level, or endzones? Our seats are scattered throughout the lower level and I can only recall one time where people surrounding us were overly drunk & obnoxious...and those people were in the upper level, saw empty seats, and moved down to our section.

 

Obviously it happens throughout the stadium (evidenced by some actions in the bathroom), but I think it's more prone to occur in the upper-level...but could be wrong.

 

We were in the lower level, about the 20 yard line. Had a great view of the crushing tackle made by the security guard after the fan ran up and took the ball out of Favre's hands.

I get letting things roll off our backs, as just navigating through life everyday, quite often it's the only civilized approach, as not everyone behaves in a desirable way in public.

 

We try to discourage fans and kids at high school games from getting too rowdy, and wouldn't except it if they went overboard, why is it that full grown adults who ought to know better get a pass?

 

Why should it be an overlooked "that's just the way it is" practice at an NFL football game where the roughnecks are sharing space at a public place with 80,000 other folks?

 

Why isn't more effort made by society in general to send a message to the overly rowdy folks at games that this kind of behavior will not be accepted?

 

The more people see it as a norm at games, the roughnecks will take advantage of the freedom to go overboard. Give them an inch, they'll take a mile.

 

We've wisely stopped allowing smoking indoor at public places where it was once the norm, and the general public adjusted, that I believe that if more concentrated effort towards the "wild ones" were made, little by little they'd adjust to being expected to act in a more civilized manor.

 

Another example of how folks just had to adjust because a newer policy was put in place would be where at Cincinnati concerts before the Who tragedy, we had festival seating, and since then at large arena shows it changed to reserved seating. As much as concert goers used to love the old policy, they had to adjust to the new.

 

The minute someone goes overboard under stadium behavior rules, they're tossed, and sooner or later the rowdy folks will come to understand that security means business, and if they want to enjoy a game at the price they paid to attend, they'd better chill out with their behavior and act like they've got some sense.

There are idiots everywhere beer is consumed. Go to your local pub on a Friday night or go to an outdoor festival. I just don't let it bug me. If you took the tailgating and beer drinking away from the games they would never sell out. Football games are about more than just the game like it was said above. It is about an all day affair, and tailgaiting with friends and family. Sometimes people consume to much and if they do they should be punished for dumb actions. But the party atmosphere at games is what makes it so much fun. I couldn't imagine going to a Bengals game without tailgating at Longworth hall all day consuming some brew and cheering as loud as I can at the game. The fans who do that far out number the fans who want to be party poopers.

I took my son to his first Bengals game last Sunday and had a great time. With that said, black out or not, I would not sit out in this weather. As far as the crowd goes, althought we sat in back of some goofs who had marginal interest in the game, overall the experience was good. There were Ravens fans 2 rows in front of us and no one said a word to them that I could tell.

So you're a "casual" fan just because you don't want to sit in 10°-20° weather with a ton of drunk people to watch a football game, when you could go to Buffalo Wild Wings or stay at home and watch on a nice tv with 10-15 friends?

 

How could 10-15 of your friends be a better experience than 65,000 of your friends?

......

 

A. No.

 

B. No.

 

To be clear, I LOVE the Bengals.

 

Ditto. I'll add option C:

 

Seats in a suite. Nope.

 

Too cold. Too much of a hassle. TV is awesome. If no TV I'll find something else to do.

 

Count me in with these two.

 

Also, there is nothing better than hitting pause and getting on BGP for a few minutes then returning to the game. :lol2:

No way and I wouldn't go to the 49ers game if you paid me to take the tickets. And they're my favorite team for life

I understand not wanting to pay for tickets. I also understand people have family obligations and other things in life going on. I just don't get not wanting to go to the game for free if you have no other plans. If I hadn't just spent the last week in town for the holidays I wouldn't miss this game for anything. Going to be crazy in the Jungle.

Count me in with these two.

 

Also, there is nothing better than hitting pause and getting on BGP for a few minutes to watch Hellbird self destruct, then returning to the game. :lol2:

Fixed it for you.