Son-of-a-Weizen Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Dang! ....even hassling 16 year old girls! A "reputation for civility" and tolerance out there, huh? Must be something in the water. D.C. Fans Endure Slings and Arrows Of Seattle Crowd Loss Cuts Deep for Those Who Traveled Far By Nick Miroff Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, January 6, 2008; Page A06 SEATTLE, Jan. 5 -- When the Seattle Seahawks scored their last touchdown last night, it was so loud at Qwest Field that the bitter words of Nick Gamache were buried under an avalanche of noise. The Seahawks had run up the score to 35-14 with another interception return for a touchdown, and Gamache, a Raleigh, N.C., resident who grew up in Silver Spring, was crushed. "The dagger already happened a while ago," he said. "That was the nail." The game was just like Washington's up-and-down season as the Redskins started slow, then rallied but ultimately fizzled. "I really thought we were going to win. I felt it in my bones. And that's why it hurts so much," said Gamache's friend, Michael Fitzmaurice, a District resident who flew out for the game. For the fans who braved the elements and the beery hordes at Qwest Field, the loss was an emotional injury to the insults they'd been suffering all day from Seahawks fans. And just like the noise, the hostile conditions were partly a product of the stadium's design. Unlike FedEx Field, where the sprawling suburban parking lot provides ample room for tailgating, Qwest Field is set in far more cramped downtown quarters. Throngs of Seahawk fans jam into a narrow strip of asphalt between a freeway overpass and the stadium, creating a warrenlike cluster of blue tents and jerseys. These were the hostile environs where one brave group of Washington fans set up before the game, and they were quickly besieged. Although Seattle fans have a reputation for civility, the hissing vandals that Washington fans faced yesterday were as bad-mannered a bunch as any in the league. Anyone who arrived in a Redskins jersey had to walk through a rioting gantlet of screaming blue meanies who pushed them, bumped them and even stole their beer. "They were throwing stuff at us: chicken wings, cans. It was terrible," said Dino Russo, 42, a Stafford resident whose Redskins rain poncho made him a ripe target. "I expected the crowd to be docile, and this was the opposite," said his friend Bruce May, 51, also of Stafford. "Philly is supposed to be the worst, but this doesn't compare." One well-traveled, battle-scarred Redskins fan, Ted Abela of the District, said he'd never seen so much unnecessary roughness from hometown fans. He likened walking into the stadium to entering the Colosseum in the movie "Gladiator," surrounded by packs of foaming Romans. "I went to Philly and New York this year, and this is worse," said Abela, 28. No one was immune. Even Ashleigh Miller, a junior at Loudoun Valley High School, wasn't spared from the onslaught, enduring a nasty encounter with one particularly boorish Seahawks fan. "He was right up in my face," she said, her blond braid tucked under a burgundy No. 21 hat honoring the late Sean Taylor, "and I'm only 16!" Miller and her father stood with their Redskins brethren in the rain before the game, dripping wet. "These fans are just trying to root for their team," said Kevin Miller, 48. "At least it's not like Philly, where they actually want to fight." But some Seattle fans did appear to actually want to fight. "It was scary; there were people in my face, blocking my path," said Steve Jones, 43, a District native now living in eastern Washington who drove over the mountains through 20 inches of snow to reach the stadium, only to face more treacherous conditions en route to a Redskins tailgate party. District resident Mike Cooper plunged right into the razzing and loved it, goading the Seattle fans by calling their players "Smurfs." "This is the best part," said the 41-year-old, who works as a loan officer when he's not wearing a crown of fake Redskins braids. "I love it." But some especially crass Seattle fans even went after the sacred, sullying the memory of Taylor, the defensive star who was killed in November, with low-blow insults. "I expected hostility, but I didn't expect people to say something like that," said Kenny Alvo, 24, an elementary school teacher in Springfield. "It's just a football game." "I've never seen people so classless," said Raza Ali, 33, a lawyer living in Los Angeles who grew up in Annapolis. "When I'm wearing No. 21 and somebody makes fun of a dead guy, that is classless by any definition." Seahawks fans said it was simply a matter of territorialism. "You gotta hold your own and let them know what time it is," said Kyl Uecker, 24, a beer-swilling Seattle resident plastered in blue and black face paint. The taunting continued into the stands for the sparse pockets of Redskins fans scattered throughout the stadium. Several fans planned an escape even before the game ended. Genna Henry of Idaho, whose father was from the District, said, "I just want to get out of here alive." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Wow, amped-up fan intensity at an NFL playoff game. I'm shocked, I tell you. SHOCKED.! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 "The Seahawks had run up the score to 35-14...." Um...huh? How do you run up the score when the opposing QB keeps throwing the ball to your D-Backs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted January 6, 2008 Report Share Posted January 6, 2008 Wow. You DC wimps better not show up in Oakland... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeBop Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I'm in Seattle. Been here five days. There are definitely some stupids on the streets. Haven't noted anything particularly rowdy or obnoxious, aside from the face painting and odd headgear. Then again, I'm from Oakland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Wow. You DC wimps better not show up in Oakland... Boy howdy. Raiders fans would make mince meat pie out of your face....just because they can. Yup. Raider Hater here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I hate it when the dagger happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.D. Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 " How do you run up the score when the opposing QB keeps throwing the ball to your D-Backs? I guess the DBs shoulda taken knees after intercepting the passes... The sheer number of drunks at sporting events is pretty scary. I've been to one MLB playoff game, the Yankees' first home game vs. Seattle in 1995 after the strike (interestingly, tickets were easy to buy, and didn't sell out for several days. That all changed by the following year). I've never seen so many drunks as were walking up and down River Ave. before the game. Definitely made me uneasy, and I was rooting for the home side; I imagine M's fans would have been terrified. There were subsequently many fights in and under the stands. [Never been to a football playoff game, but expect they'd be at least as bad; have attended several NHL playoff games, and they were nowhere near as hairy.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Basten II Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 American sports fans are wussies, compared to fans from the other side of the ocean, being cursed at is the least of your worries over there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 American sports fans are wussies, compared to fans from the other side of the ocean, being cursed at is the least of your worries over there. If not wanting to get cracked over the head with a broken bottle or stampeded to death while trying to escape soccer hooligans makes me a wimp, then you can place my name at the top of the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted January 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 American sports fans are wussies, compared to fans from the other side of the ocean, being cursed at is the least of your worries over there. If not wanting to get cracked over the head with a broken bottle or stampeded to death while trying to escape soccer hooligans makes me a wimp, then you can place my name at the top of the list. Little by little though that's changing. Instead of routinely assailing one another with bottles & chairs, they've decided to channel their energy into getting it all out of their systems on New Years Eve. Fun! .... Next year try for 35 and dare the Belgians to match it!!! Twenty-two schools in the Netherlands were set fire to during New Year's Eve. Three schools were completely burnt out, insurance company Centraal Beheer Friday reported. The damage to the schools amounts to over 20 million euro, according to the insurer. The company feels schools should do more to prevent fires. Cameras and sprinkler systems could be installed, a spokesperson explained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim McG Posted January 11, 2008 Report Share Posted January 11, 2008 (edited) American sports fans are wussies, compared to fans from the other side of the ocean, being cursed at is the least of your worries over there. If not wanting to get cracked over the head with a broken bottle or stampeded to death while trying to escape soccer hooligans makes me a wimp, then you can place my name at the top of the list. Little by little though that's changing. Instead of routinely assailing one another with bottles & chairs, they've decided to channel their energy into getting it all out of their systems on New Years Eve. Fun! .... Next year try for 35 and dare the Belgians to match it!!! Twenty-two schools in the Netherlands were set fire to during New Year's Eve. Three schools were completely burnt out, insurance company Centraal Beheer Friday reported. The damage to the schools amounts to over 20 million euro, according to the insurer. The company feels schools should do more to prevent fires. Cameras and sprinkler systems could be installed, a spokesperson explained. Now there's some fun, huh? Edited January 11, 2008 by GoodSpeak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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