Jets Gate D Exposed
Posted on November 20th, 2007 by Bassett
The New York Times has an article about a tradition at Jets games that since I rarely go to games, didn’t know about, and now that I do, don’t know what to think of it.
I just wrote a big long preachy post about all this … then I deleted it. But here’s the two questions I have.
- Ask yourself what you would do if it was your sister that was standing there getting yelled at by grown men to expose herself. I’m guessing unless you’re Angelina Jolie’s brother, you’d probably be pretty offended.
- Second what does this say about the state of how bad this team is that this is the most thrilling part of going to games to some fans? The team has publicly urged fans to follow rules of the NJSEA, but what does Woody really care as long as the box office receipts keep coming in?
My feeling is that this will now come to Goodell’s attention, and I don’t think he’s going to let blatant harrassment slide in his image conscious league.
Filed under: Main Page
Even during the Parcells and Herm years the ramps at halftime are full of drunk fans smoking pot, now that the team sucks the fans are getting rowdier, the problem is lack of security, and sanity.
There’s a long history of scummy behavior at Jets games. Go back and read Gerald Ezkenazi’s cautionary tale of a franchise that just can’t get it right (titled “Gang Green: An Irreverent Look Behind the Scenes at Thirty-Eight (Well, Thirty-Seven) Seasons of New York Jets Football Futility” published in 1998, but covering most of the franchises history to that point.)
You’ll hear about:
- A game called “Da Money” where fans three dollars to street kids inside the circular walkways, only to pelt them with trash and beer bottles when they emerged to collect the bills and change.
- A fan who decided it was a good idea to fly a gasoline powered mini-plane during the game, crashing it into another fan and killing him.
But lets also be fair… I’ve been to NFL games in other cities and their not exactly Sunday mass, either.
Part of the problem, in my opinion, is the fact that a lot of the fans aren’t hardcore Jets fans. It’s hear-say mostly, but for along time I’ve been hearing about Jersey Giants fans getting Jets tickets because the waiting list for Giant’s tickets was too long.
It is sad though. I went to the Jets/Indy playoff game. If you remember, after the Chicago loss that season, most season ticket holders failed to mail in their vouchers for playoff tickets. As a result, in my honest opinion, a lot of tickets were available the week of the game and a lot of true fans were able to score seats. It was easily the single proudest moment, as the overall attitude and “lack” of debauchery was evident.
Who wants to be a model franchise, anyway?
Bassett- I’m similarly resisting the urge to write a long preachy post-but I have to say, what is described in that article is pathetic and embarassing.
should read “fans threw“
Side note: Philly is much worse.
I’ve been to a lot of Jets games (none this year) and every single one of them had one recurring event, win or lose.
“Show your t*ts!”
I brought my wife, then fiance, to the Meadowlands last year. She’s hardly a fan but always loves going to sporting events. I had to apologize to her for their behavior and wanted to make sure that she knew, that’s not why I go to football games. I’m not sure if she’ll go again.
They should consider removing alcohol from these games altogether.
Prince,
I was at the game where the gas-powered “airplane” killed the fan. It was at Shea vs. the Pats, I believe, and it was actually a flying Lawnmower. But it wasn’t another fan flying it, it was the halftime show. Very windy at Shea that day. Earlier in the show, Snoopy’s flying doghouse went out of control and crashed into the field, but they still continued the show. The finale was the Lawnmower, and it was obvious that it was out of control, then stopped dead in the air and dropped down into the stands. I remember it pretty vividly because it came close to hitting in our section.
I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1991 and sit in Section 336 / Gate D, and around me I wonder why some of these fans spend the money to go to these games. For example, even during good seasons the negative comments and expectations of failure is at best mind numbing and the unruly beavior has not been bad in my section but, is obvious elsewhere in the area. I’ve been the road games in Green Bay (fans are classy), Indianapolis (awful), Philadelphia (they need to be caged), Arizona (awful at the old facility), and New England (mediocre) all in all a ban on alcohol is a great idea. In 17 years, I have had one beer at a game and actually go to watch football.
Don’t bring your wife/girlfriend out to the ramps at halftime. There- problem avoided.
This isn’t going on inside the concourse- it’s on the ramps.
My Dad used to have season tickets in the early 90’s up until Parcells’ first season. We sat in the 300’s literally the last row against the back wall. There were always fist fights, dudes smoking, everyone just going out of control up there, right in the seats. There was even a guy who duct taped about 25 beers to himself under his coat (which is awesome, but not when you end up going out of control around kids).
I was around 10 at the time and my Dad had it with all the mayham and got rid of the tix. You really can’t bring kids to these games. I usually end up there at least once a season and it’s still like that. Last year at the Bears game there were a few Bears fans sitting next to us. The dudes behind us were ****-hammered spitting tabacco all over the floor, yelling obscenities at the Bear fans (two of which were females). One of these idiots said outloud to the other, “Let’s rape some Bears fans in the parking lot later.” I had to turn around and tell them to cool it, which they didn’t.
As much as I like to drink, I don’t think selling beers inside the stadium is a good idea (who the hell gets wasted on $8 beers anyway?). In addition, you need to be a complete jackass to get kicked out of a sporting event and I don’t care if you had season tix since the 60’s you should be banned for like for that kind of behavior.
I’m gradually losing faith in all professional sports, and this is just another reason.
This is pathetic and disgusting.
J – your comment is weird. What do you say to the people who have no idea what they are in for when they go into the ramp? Too bad, you should have known?
This is a breakdown in civility that will discourage all but the animals from going to the game. Its too bad, I enjoy going but I now have some serious doubt about whether I want to go or not. I certainly will not bring my wife or kids.
FWIW, this pales in comparison to what we see in England and I’m sure a lot of it is harmless chanting rather than specific “harrassment” (not that it would be unlike the NY media to go on a witchhunt).
You can ban the beer from inside the stadium, but not outside, so that won’t work. In fact it will mean people get tapped sooner, so will increase the annoying problem of constantly having to let people out to take a leak.
However, I’m not condoning the behaviour in any way (I’ve practically stopped watching sport over here). Some people do need to learn how to conduct themselves. The best way to stop it is for someone to speak up against it and for everyone else to back that person up. Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen in reality, especially if people involved are intimidating.
Of course, I recognise too that Americans tend to be more sensitive about these sorts of things that Brits do (although I prefer not to lump myself in with the majority).
Any Jets game is a church social compared to Raiders games. When they were in the LA Coliseum, my buddies who went to see a Jets game feared for their lives, literally. Hell’s Angels and other street gangs have adopted the Raiders “colors.” So, needless to say, it was a rowdy, dangerous crowd fueled by drugs and alcohol.
The one thing that I didn’t like about what the author said is that he equated the rowdyism with losing. Coming into this season, the Jets have had only 2 losing campaigns since the Kotite 1-15 debacle in 1996 (the Giants have 4). The “show us your [chest]” chants only began recently, during a period of, mostly, winning Jets football.
I think the chanting is inappropriate and demeaning. Now, that this “dirty secret” is exposed, let’s hope it’s ended. However, Jets fans have always been rowdier than Giants fans because of their different fan bases, but equating the rowdiness with losing is stupid.
It’s the owners that are responsible and the players. Between torturing dogs and this “Gate D Behavior” why would any reasonable person be interested in football at all? Ah yes, maybe THAT’S the answer “footbal fans.”
As a woman who goes to every home game and goes through gate D, I can say halftime is quite the show. I agree with the comment by J – if it offends you or you have kids – don’t go out to the ramps at gate D at halftime. If you happen there by chance, not knowing what goes on, it is pretty evident as soon as you exit the concourse so turn around.
Also – you won’t get harrassed, and you won’t see anything, unless you are bellied up to the ramp walls – which are 4-5 people deep. If you are a woman and you get up there – you are asking for the chant. You can choose to do it or not do it – but know being up there you are gonna get asked. As a young woman with large ones, I do get a comment here and there – but just as quick the attention is turned back to the inside of the ramps in hopes that the chant works.
Last year we saw an increase in security that pounced on the girls once they did it – in one case knocking a girl to the ground – and that’s not right either.
Wow, after reading this, I’m glad I’ve always gone to see the Jets play on the road. I’ve been to games in Seattle (not the Jets), Denver (Jets@Broncos), Green Bay (Vikings@Packers), and Buffalo (Jets@Bills), and 90% of the people at those games were classy.
The only incident I can even think of was a drunk 18-year-old bumping into me on purpose at the Bills game, but I had about 60 lbs on him so that was short-lived.
I’m surprised people weren’t already aware this went on. I thought it was common knowledge?
FOOTBALL: A bunch of sex starved horny guys looking to get their rocks off on programmed violence that makes them feel macho.
What else do you expect?
In a world where there was zero sexual frustration there would be zero market for this kind of infantile violence.
Make love not “war”.
Dawn also makes a good point. You really have to be in the middle of things to know whats going on. I can’t see anyone ending up leaning against the wall in a crowd of chanting guys by accident. Not that this is wonderful civilized behavior, but it is what it is.
I don’t consider NFL games, NASCAR, rock concerts etc to be “family events”. Sorry. Any place where thousands of people drink beer all morning is not a “family place”. Just like how they keep trying to make Vegas a family destination- it never will be, or it shouldn’t be.
I go to the games, and my tickets happen to be by gate D. During the half, when I go to load up on refreshments, I see this event going on. It’s embarrassing, it’s terrible, crude, etc, but it’s not as bad as what the article made out. The hundred idiots that stand around yelling for someone to “show their tits” isn’t indicative of the thousands that came to the game to watch some football. To put it another way, there aren’t throngs of fans foaming at the mouth for women to expose their chest…
Being said, proposing a “ban on alchohol” at the stadiums is not the answer. Any adult with half a brain will figure out another way to get drunk (ie. drink more before the game). The answer is to probably more in line with altering the turnstiles during the half (keeping people off or something). It’s a shameful activity, but I love when people talk about banning booze like that’s gonna make everything ok! They tried that two years ago, and I still saw people throwing punches in the lower levels.
So, thanks for sparing the lesson on morality, basset. I’m sure you’re aware that the majority of people that read this blog are real fans that don’t go to the games to check out a couple sets during the half.
What a bunch of animals. Just another reason to be ashamed of this lousy disgraceful franchise.
Lazarus. no comment.
Just so my post isnt misinterpreted…the “event” during the half is a disgrace, but don’t buy into the fox-news-esque hype of this story.
The Jets crowd is full of classless buffoons, including “Fireman Ed!”
I wish I could take my kids to see them play but I won’t subject them to it, I’d rather take them to see the Giants at this point.
wow this blog is very one sided! did anyone actually see it?? well if u missed it you can go onto youtube and type in search for “gate d jets”. it was really nothing but harmless fun. women werent forced to do it. its football, the most macho sport in the world! get over it! if your gonna get upset about this, then why not protest Mardigras or Spring Break or dance clubs?????? its boobs!!!!! soo what!!!!!!! I salute those women who helped going to a jets game in ‘07 a little less painful. If you dont like it, then dont go through gate D, or save your money and leave the wife and the kids at home!
Pretty simple..most Jet fans are lowlifes and ruin it for everyone else. This behavior has been going on at the stadium forever since the Jets started playing there. Why do you think they stopped selling beer at halftime. Anyone remember the Monday Night Jets-Bills game? Bunch of trailer park white trash.
“Nothing but harmless fun…”
Obviously Ben, you don’t do very well with women on your own, do you? You have to hook up with a bunch of other knuckleheads who can’t handle their three beers and harass people. And it’s not just women–I’ve personally people (maybe even you) throw things at innocent bystanders from the top ramp at Gate D, even at kids.
Why don’t you and the rest of your buddies go back to Long Guy-land in your pickup trucks and do something constructive, like work the fry machine?
Hmmm I didnt know this was a personal attack blog Mike S. If you like personal attacks about some stranger you havent ever met, then you should become a politician seriously. Secondly only a loser who has nothing better to do then complain about a team that he doesn’t even like and go on this Jets website to voice your thoughts…. Thats really immature. You dont know me, and I dont know you, and you should go beat your self off to Girls gone Wild you fag boy. You probly dont even live in New York, and you probly hate football. And by the way, I have a beutiful girlfriend who I love and respect completely, but she is cool and also knows how to have fun;)
Oh and back to the actual topic:
its amazing how in our “sophisticated” society of ours, the female chest is reguarded such an abomination if they are shown in public. maybe we should stone the women who flash us to death just like the terrorists? now who’s being sophisticated? I bet if more women wrote their thoughts on this blog, I bet most of you would be quite suprised how many ladies arent that bothered by it
this is great.
can we talk about the andrea kramer video now?
The Jets should’ve never left NY!
Its true, Ben does have a beautiful girlfriend who he loves and respects. I believe her name is Karl.
I really thought this was common knowledge, too. And I had no idea it was exclusive to Gate D (my gate for years).
The NYT journalist gives a lousy, one-sided account of what goes down. You can hear his bitterness in the phrase, “Perhaps forlorn Jets fans, who have rarely had a winning team to support, are seeking alternative entertainment on game days.” No one is EVER forced to do ANYTHING. There is plenty of T-I-T-S chanting, but no physical harrassment. I’ve seen much worse happen at frat parties.
You know what, David Picker? You may be right. We’re New York Jets fans. We don’t expect to win. That’s why we have the Yankees (no offense to the old school mets-jets shea crowd).
I’ve been a fan for years, and I’ve only taken a date ONCE. Luckily, it was Jets-Packers in week 17 of 2002 (if you can’t remember, look it up- about as “romantic” as a football game can be). I would never, EVER, take a female to Gate D in good conscience. And if I did, I would tell her “don’t get too close…they might see you.”
Another time, at the spiral during the Bears game last year, my friend (a Bears Fan, with a Bears Jersey) got bombarded with 8 dollar beers and plenty of heckling. How did he respond? He poured a beer over his own head- the spiral went wild, and left him alone thereafter.
Is this worse than when a Jet fan stabbed another Jet fan during the Saints game in 2005? No. But coupled with our “cheering” of Chad Pennington’s injury, we’re on the fast track to becoming the league’s worst fans.
My boss told me about this today, since he knew I’m a huge fan even at 2-8. I told him- hey man, we’re New York Jet fans. We’re the ugly, redheaded stepchildren of New York City. We play in another team’s stadium, in a different state. The best thing we can do is embrace it.
on another note – I wonder how long it will take for a lawsuit to get filed – someone looking to get rich quick is gonna jump on this one with the way the article made it sound
The Jets are a Joke! They should be contracted out of the league as a one sorry-ass franchise with even sorrier fans.
I am offered free tix like two to three times a year. Which I turn down. I’d rather go watch retards go to the bathroom.
I just want it to be known that I have nothing to do with this. I know you were thinking it Basset!
Gate C for life!
There’s one Jets story you won’t see on SNY.
Ben, Ben, Ben:
You are so eloquent, aren’t you? I will inform you that I have been a Jet fan for close to 40 years–I saw Joe Willie Namath play in person. You weren’t even a thought in your father’s brain or a drip in your mother’s ass back then.
By the way, what is a “beutiful girlfriend”? You see, what you probably didn’t learn in your top-grade high school in Long Guy-land is that the word is spelled “beautiful”–so I’m thinking your girlfriend is either your right hand or possibly your left.
Here’s hoping you get so drunk on the top level of Gate D that you fall off and hit your head. However, since it’s the holiday season, I wish you a long and peaceful coma.
I’ve had tickets since 1988, and I’m in the vicinity of Gate D in the 300’s. I’ve certainly seen some raucous behavior, some of it absolutely over the line, at the games, and I don’t spend every or even most halftimes out on the ramps. But I’ve been out there often enough to say that I disagree completely with the Times’ implication that a broad segment of the crowd engages in this behavior, or that it’s representative of more than a few juvenile idiots. (My wife also noted that some of the female “victims” absolutely invite, and revel in, the attention they get a the games – these incidents are not limited to the ramps at halftime, either, as I’ve seen them take place in the stands themselves on occasion.)
I went to Sunday’s game with three children betwen the ages of 6-8, and, while I wasn’t happy with language on a couple of occasions (primarily from Steeler fans), aside from that there was no behavior, or verbiage, that I had a problem with. This strikes me as an angry journo, frustrated that he was retained by security, who is applying a stereotype from the Kotite era – since when have the Jets, who, until this season have been in playoff contention until at least the last game of the season every year since 1997 that they haven’t had a QB injury, “rarely been… a winning team?” – and it strikes me as a lazy story.
One other point; the most famous of all Meadowlands security problems – the snowball throwing about ten years ago – was perpetrated by Giant fans, which is ignored for purposes of this article as it doesn’t fit the writer’s narrative.
Why is everyone surprised? You are at a Jet game!!!! There has never been a larger gathering of NY/NJ idiots in one place!!! Your average NY/NJ male is not exactly at the top of the food chain……they have the largest concentration of ignorance on the planet and everyone acts surprised that they act like animals? But if it were their sister or wife they’d instantly become the typical liquid courage fueled GED having tough guy and “yo…badabing….you’ll swimmin wit da fishes, I’ll shoot you like day do dose deers upstate!”
Proud to be a JETS fan!
Just a side note for all those who want to pile on a team having a bad season- the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority has reported that to date: 148 Jets fans have been ejected from games this year with 35 arrests compared to 174 Giant fans being ejected from games with 44 arrested! So if you want to believe and side with a liberal reporter reporting one side of the story thats fine but to say it is just Jet fans that are out of control? and for all of you “light in your loffers and Nose in the air” go watch tennis or golf this is a football game!
in response to ‘your avg ny nj male is not at the top of the food chain..”
The statement is a tautology. No average person is at the top of any food chain, because then they wouldn’t be average. They’re be above average. You have said nothing.
Secondly, being a “New Yorker” who is a jets fan, I like how quickly people forget that New York is the cultural and intellectual center point of the enitre globe. What you are referring to, is a hoard of drunk guys who go to a jets game and yell and throw garbage on a ramp. As I said, I sit right by D, and not-for-nothing, I noticed a fair share of Steelers fans joining in on the “fun.” I went to a bills game two years ago, and a MOM told me to go f*** myself when the jets fumbled. Give me a break…football fan drunken sub-par conduct is not exclusive to the realm of Gate D at the meadowlands.
So, take your shots, and remember that when some lofty reporter reports on something that happens at your stadium that you had nothing to do with, don’t be surprised. I could walk around any professional sports arena and write an article about some travesty of moral implications, interview a drunk guy, and produce a equally “intriguing” piece of journalistic slop.
The Jet’s have a half-time show – it may not be conventional or geared to the traditional shows of some of America’s top football teams, but the fact is that they need any forms of entertainment to make games more exciting for their target market.
One sore losing Steelers fan stirs up the press…I saw her on the news, she should be flattered because it is probably more attention then she has gotten in years.
You asked for a woman to post their opinion…
If you saw a group of men chanting at every woman who passed them by on the street, you’d be appalled–if you had any moral sense– and I hope, especially if the woman looked like she was afraid, you’d stop them. So why would anyone condone it there?
The fans here are nuts. I’ve seen trash dumpsters burning and being tossed over after games before.
ok listen i am a season ticket holder my dad has had em since the 60s and i have been going since i was 5 and i am now 23. I sit in section 335 right at section D. This tradition has been going on for years not just because they are a bad team. I go to every game with my dad and my SISTER. She knows what goes on there but it’s only common knowledge not to walk near a crowd of drunk men, let a lone a crowd of drunk men yelling “SHOW YOUR TITS” its harmless fun. This guy who wrote this article in the times is just mad that he got arrested for asking questions. Stop ruining the fun….this is NY (technically NJ) its harmless fun if anybody who has their “expert” opinion on this actually have witnessed this in the past they would know that if girls dont wanna show their tits they simply dont and when she gets targeted she simply walks away there is no mob attacking her they just move on to the next girl. It is honestly ridiculous that this is “exposed” now and how all you so called “men” have your panties in a twist and if you actually witnessed what goes on at section D at halftime you would know it is nothing to be offended about just harmless fun.
I have never been so enraged or upset as I was when I read about this behavior and people trying to make excuses for it. You all ought to be ashamed of yourselves.
A woman has the right to be able to walk wherever without being bullied into baring parts of her anatomy. Being yelled at, having beer bottles thrown at me and being spit on does not sound like fun.
I think women should carry pepper spray with them and the next time some jerk gets in her face–spray him. If you think that’s extreme, think again. I have been on my high horse ever since I read about this whole ordeal and I think I will probably be there for a very long time.
Where is this world coming to and just how low can we go? As for the women who actually DID show their breasts, I chalk that up to stupid people doing stupid things. They obviously have no self-respect and need a group of drunken men yelling to validate themselves.
RIDICULOUS behavior and outraged in florida.
Alex B, Grow up and get some sense of responsibility and decency and maybe even a life.
Men are disgusting. Their animalistic instincts to rape women come out when they are amoung large groups of fellow drunk men. The women that please these men are more disgusting. The people that chalk this up as “good fun” ride the short bus.
HEY,whats the big deal? IF THE GIRLS DIDNT “SHOW EM”, the boys wouldnt be looking. Men can take their shirts off and they show them on national TV. A Woman takes her shirt off and she goes to jail. They are just breasts after all! The United States Politically Correct BS is getting mighty old! “Who told you that you were naked”? If nudity bothers you,quit listening to Satan!
so the reporter is “lofty” and “liberal” for doing some actual reporting. after all: “This guy who wrote this article in the times is just mad that he got arrested for asking questions.” mad over a little thing like getting arrested! how dare he ask questions!! what is this, a free country or something?