The Other Side of the Beer Argument

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Iceland12

Iceland12

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Didn't see any problems ourselves but somebody did. From today's Star Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/170100536.html

Safely ensconced in hermetically sealed skyboxes, the media and U administration keep assuring us that the advent of alcohol at Gopher football games is taking place "without incident." They should try sitting in the stands with the rest of us.

We had beer spilled on us three times; a fight broke out in the row behind us over the unspeakable sin of wearing a nonmaroon visor, and those of us who spent the better part of the entire game trying to keep the peace received multiple offers to have our faces rearranged.

TCF Bank Stadium stands alone in the dry Big Ten as a result of rare bipartisan legislative action. Republicans decreed that the freedom to be a sloppy public drunk is as sacrosanct as the right the bear arms. Democrats demanded equity for every potential drunk so that no section is safe for those of us more interested in cheering on the Gophers than in reliving our frat days.

The regents did their part by adopting inane policies that encourage unrestrained, two-fisted binge drinking. Even the sleaziest bars have bouncers. If the nonexistent security forces ever bothered to wander through the stands, we would have been glad to point out the perpetual drunks.

But enough is enough. We just listed the remainder of our tickets on Craigslist. There are far better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon
 

Those people didn't get that drunk off the 2-3 beers they had in TCF. Some people are just a little too dramatic.
 

The writer should know that they serve booze in those hermetically sealed skyboxes as well, so the administrators are in no way "safely ensconced."

You can't please everybody. Nobody is getting THAT drunk off of the beer served in the stadium. If they were having such a major problem they could have easily gotten security or moved to any of the myriad of empty seats in the stadium. I usually just ignore spilled beer and visor color fights.
 

If the nonexistent security forces ever bothered to wander through the stands, we would have been glad to point out the perpetual drunks.
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If it was that big of a deal, you'd think this person or someone else would have gotten some security. It's a two-way street. There's only so much the security can do.

And like others have said, there's no way the beer in the stadium got them drunk. People drink plenty before the game and that didn't change this year.
 

The more likely scenario is that this couple had an agenda for that they wanted to see.

People getting drunk off $7.25 beers sold for a couple of hours?

Fights over visor color? I've been in my fair share of joints filled drunken louts, and have seen my share of fights started over stupid subject matter. I have a hard time believing that narrative.

I've had ice cream and soda spilled on me at games, should we ban those?

You can walk 50 feet in any direction and find security.

It reeks of bitter people with an agenda, just waiting to grind their axe.
 


Looks like the guy has had a very long career in government, so telling other people what to do is in his blood.
 

Iceland12 said:
Didn't see any problems ourselves but somebody did. From today's Star Tribune:

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/170100536.html

Safely ensconced in hermetically sealed skyboxes, the media and U administration keep assuring us that the advent of alcohol at Gopher football games is taking place "without incident." They should try sitting in the stands with the rest of us.

We had beer spilled on us three times; a fight broke out in the row behind us over the unspeakable sin of wearing a nonmaroon visor, and those of us who spent the better part of the entire game trying to keep the peace received multiple offers to have our faces rearranged.

TCF Bank Stadium stands alone in the dry Big Ten as a result of rare bipartisan legislative action. Republicans decreed that the freedom to be a sloppy public drunk is as sacrosanct as the right the bear arms. Democrats demanded equity for every potential drunk so that no section is safe for those of us more interested in cheering on the Gophers than in reliving our frat days.

The regents did their part by adopting inane policies that encourage unrestrained, two-fisted binge drinking. Even the sleaziest bars have bouncers. If the nonexistent security forces ever bothered to wander through the stands, we would have been glad to point out the perpetual drunks.

But enough is enough. We just listed the remainder of our tickets on Craigslist. There are far better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon
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My god, people are babies aren't they? Maybe you should have acted like an adult yourself, instead of a petulant child. There is a security system in place that has worked very well for three years plus.

"Minnesota provides a memorable game day experience for all fans. Please help us to enhance the fan experience by demonstrating sportsmanship at all times. If you encounter unruly behavior, please contact an event staff representative. Spectators must remain off the playing field at all times. The University of Minnesota reserves the right to remove from the stadium, without refund, any individuals disrupting other fans, team representatives, or officials. This can be accomplished by texting the word "GOLD" to 78247."

NateDawgUM said:
Looks like the guy has had a very long career in government, so telling other people what to do is in his blood.
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City Manager of Minnetonka, retired after 12 years. No one left to boss around and make $144,657.00 a year.
 


I don't buy it. There's no way DPO listed all of his tickets on Craigslist - visor fight or not! He's way too committed to the Gophers!!
 



Interesting. Attack the Gopher supporters that don't like Minnesota being the only Big Ten school serving alcohol to the masses due to the fact they are being negatively affected. Sheesh.

Minnesota flip flopped on this issue for the sake of trying to make more money. The U accepted the undeniable trade-off that there would be a negative impact to the game day experience for some fans.

There are negative consequences of the U's switch-for-loot that will be felt and experienced by some. It's unfortunate these folks had to experience some of the negatives and are so turned off by what they dealt with that they won't be returning to the stadium.

The limited locations of the beer service actually promote faster drinking - the % of people double fisting beers at TCF Bank Stadium is unusually high.

I understand some of the comments above in this thread (i.e., bad stuff can happen with ice cream, people were probably drinking before the game, etc...), but geez - these people witnessed crappy behavior that was probably due in part to the University changing their "principles" (to put it in the U's words) and you're making the paying customers/Gopher supporters out to be the bad guys?

A more reasonable response, I think, may be to suggest that a) if you're going to serve beer, do it according to the law (i.e., convenient to the general public) and b) address behavior issues in the crowd, at least with a visual presence every now and then.

Meanwhile, on a) Minnesota will tell you that they are thoughtful because they make the students walk extra far in order to double fist their beers and b) they brought on another dozen big time keepers of the peace to help control things.

Blah. It's unfortunate. And stupid. People try to have things both ways...
 

I figured this had to be a joke with the last name "Gunyou."

Sounds like something Parski would say to 19. Or is it the other way around?
 

I wouldn't attack them if they were proactive about the situation. Rather, he sat on his hands the entire game and then wrote a letter to the editor. If somebody is giving you a problem, find security or text the number. Or move, all very easy situations.

When somebody is bothering me on Public Transportation in Chicago, I don't stop the train, I find another seat.

If they have such a major problem with beer being served, why is Kim Gunyou's Twitter profile pic at Target Field? They have a much more lenient alcohol policy.
 

I am someone who still is yet to have a beer in the Stadium. Although I have had a few beverages outside of TCF at Sally's or Station 19 before and after the game, I am yet to enjoy a beer inside. We have a good number of people who enjoy beverages around us in Section 103, and I have yet to notice any incident in two games this year.

But, to reiterate a previous point, it wasn't the beer sales at $7.25 at the Stadium that got them drunk. Certainly the drunk people should've acted like adults. The fans that wrote the column shouldn't have been scared and went and got security or texted in to the fan line to report the incident. Really, the fans who wrote the article have no excuse other than a willingness to do nothing about it. Just my opinion.
 



My question is, where do these rowdies sit? And maybe I should go sit with them and buy them a beer. If the offended party were Badger fans, we'd all be patting the louts on the back. Their aggression sounds misdirected, I can fix that with a beer in hand and a maroon hat on my head.

Kidding aside, this letter sounds like hyperbole. As did the sub-header "Beer-Soaked Gopher Games..." Are we sure this isn't some faux letter drafted up by Reusse to gin up some controversy (pun intended). OK - NOW kidding aside.

This is unfortunate if this was experienced by the Gunyou's. Not cool at all. But I hardly think it's the norm in the stands, based on my extensive walking around at the half and in between the 3rd and 4th quarter. Rather than bail on the Gophers though, I implore Mr. and Ms. Gunyou to call the ticket office, explain the situation, and see if you can move to a different section next game. My section (219) is rather tame, at least in the lower levels of it. We'd welcome you there.
 

Why wouldn't they be telling the truth? No reason not to believe them. They should/could have went out and got some security if they felt threatened. The third time they were doused should have done the trick. Selling their tickets seems to be quite an over-reaction. Reading the letter though, they seemed to be so "ticked-off" about the decision to allow alcohol to be sold in the stands in the first place that it was probably only a matter of time before something pushed them "over the edge".

Wished they would have told security and then gutted it out until next year. The Wisconsin game would have given them a much "wetter" story to tell.
 

I've heard. that the police had zero people processed from the stadium, and only one escorted out. They would have been happy to deal with the miscreants if they had been informed. The t-shirt "No more Minnesota Nice" applies in this situation, inform security, and let them deal with it.
 

Gold Vision said:
Those people didn't get that drunk off the 2-3 beers they had in TCF. Some people are just a little too dramatic.
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Exactly... And if they truly sold their tickets, then they are exactly the type of fans that we DON'T want or need in The Bank. I hate the sloppy drunks as much as the next guy.. but the first sloppy drunk that offered to 'rearrange my face' would be the last.
 


If these folks would have gone and spent their time at the game finding security and tattling and pointing out people, but then still sent in a letter to the editor, some of you would still be whining and looking up these people's salaries, criticizing their twitter pictures, etc.

I think things have been quite tame at the first two games - but I don't doubt that some people may have experienced what these folks say they have and that's unfortunate. Their response is reasonable - they dealt with it while they were there and then decided it's not a place they want to return to. That's fine.

Some people would rather run and tell the rent-a-cops that johnny is being a bad boy and get more people riled up. Wouldn't be my tactic, but I guess that's probably reasonable. Another reasonable option would have been to tell the offending parties what you thought of them and when they made a threat, launched an attack on them. I might prefer that method.

Nonetheless, essentially deciding not to return, but being pissed off about it, doesn't seem outrageous to me. It certainly doesn't motivate me to determine the background of the people who don't enjoy sitting by rowdy drunks who are screwing with them at a college football game.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
Nonetheless, essentially deciding not to return, but being pissed off about it, doesn't seem outrageous to me. It certainly doesn't motivate me to determine the background of the people who don't enjoy sitting by rowdy drunks who are screwing with them at a college football game.
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Fair points, but the fact than one of these folks just happens to be running for public office when he writes his letter to the editor makes him fair game for investigation and criticism.
 

For some reason I doubt this story is true. If it is, good riddance! We don't need your teetotaling, puritan a$$ in our seats. By the way, I'm drunk
 

MrC said:
Fair points, but the fact than one of these folks just happens to be running for public office when he writes his letter to the editor makes him fair game for investigation and criticism.
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It looks like he ran for Lt.Governor in the last election. Is he running for something now?
 

Iceland12 said:
Reading the letter though, they seemed to be so "ticked-off" about the decision to allow alcohol to be sold in the stands in the first place that it was probably only a matter of time before something pushed them "over the edge".
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That's what I took from it. I mean, did the regents really do "their part by adopting inane policies that encourage unrestrained, two-fisted binge drinking."? I was against selling beer outside the suites but to me that sounds more than a bit hyperbolic.
 

Beer sales will more than make up for the lost revenue from them no longer attending the games.
 

After being at TCF and many other college football venues, I will say that TCF's biggest problem is not rowdiness. In fact, TCF's lack of rowdiness is one of its biggest problems.

Maybe their section was out of control and if so, it's too bad we lost some fans. However, a louder and more animated fan base is precisely what this school needs. If these people couldn't handle TCF, they certainly wouldn't have been able to handle Kinnick, Camp Randall, or almost any other stadium.

Part of the U having a real football program means that some of the aspects of real football programs will become commonplace. A rowdy section of people cheering for the Gophers? Doesn't sound too bad to me.
 

When you put 35,000-50,000 people in one place, a percentage of those people are going to have a bad experience. Guaranteed, can't be prevented, going to happen. Sporting event, concert, religious ceremony....doesn't matter. I don't think it merits background checks, google searches, hate mail, death wishes, but some people believe otherwise.
 

Judging from the time between multiple people leaving, and returning with a beer in my section, I would have to say that 'binge drinking' is basically impossible at TCF Bank Stadium. Granted, there are probably a few that grab a beer and immediately get back in line, and perhaps these people ran into a group of those, but alcohol consumption seems remarkably well contained.

In fact, I would hypothesize that it might REDUCE drunks at the game. I have to admit that while tailgating there has been a time or two when game time approaches that I finish my beer, slam one more, and grab one for the walk. If I was drinking, and knew I could buy a beer at the game if I wanted, I would be unlikely to do that.
 

p.s. i am thinking about starting a "do not vote for john gunyou for three rivers park commisson. he is a major debbie downer" campaign. man, what a drip this guy is.
 

Alright read the article, checked out this fool's website as he was running for Three Rivers Park Commissioner or some *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#, and I had an epiphany. This guy likes going to parks and reading history about wood FOR FUN. All we need to do is get all the people who think that doing the aforementioned activities are entertaining and remove them from TCF!!

TCF SHOULD be a party, its a celebration of sport in a philosophical sense (but we'll leave the philosophizing to the former Minnetonka City Manager) and it should be treated as such! Get some brews, some fellow revelers and get after it at TCF. I haven't been blessed with an opportunity to see a game live from the new stadium yet, (followed every game by TV tho) and my last memory of live Gopher football was Nov. 22 2008 when we turned the page on the Dome forever. Let's make TCF a damn party every weekend! We get to sit outside in the elements, drink a brew or "double fist" as our boy John likes to say, and cheer on the squad to victory!
 

supadupafly said:
p.s. i am thinking about starting a "do not vote for john gunyou for three rivers park commisson. he is a major debbie downer" campaign. man, what a drip this guy is.
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The man is positively a square. No other way to say it politely.
 

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