You stay classy, Jets fan

November 20, 2007 by Benjamin Kabak 37 Comments

Allow me to opine – albeit briefly – on the behavior of Jets fans at the Meadowlands. That article from today’s Times details the how drunk men exude an undercurrent of hostility as they encourage women to flash the crowd during halftime. The Jets had no comment. In this age of Isiah in New York, this dispatch from the Meadlowlands sure makes for one unpleasant story.

http://riveraveblues.com Mike A.

Drunk guys trying to get drunk chicks to flash their boobs? What has the world come to!
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  I’d say the security guards ignoring what’s going on and instead detaining reporters doesn’t look too good either.
E-ROC

As long they are all natural boobs, I’m all for it. Ok, in all seriousness though, this isn’t good for New York in general. They don’t need anymore bad publicity with Isiah calling women b!tches and now Jets fans being stupid. Hopefully, the Giants continue their winning ways and the Yankees make some moves so that it’s not all bad.
Perry O.

See what decades of frustration can do to a group of fans lol.
http://www.replacementlevel.com/ Sean McNally

Don’t call it the Meadowlands… call it GIANTS STADIUM. Remind those Jest fans that for all their cheesy green construction paper – its still not their building.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  It must be painful to know that the new facility is simply marked as The Meadowlands in preliminary drawings.
  - http://www.replacementlevel.com/ Sean McNally
    
    I’ll continue calling it Giants Stadium in a silent protest. Much like my continued use of Byzantium, instead of that ridiculous “Istanbul.”
    - barry
      
      You mean Constantinople?
      - http://www.replacementlevel.com/ Sean McNally
        
        That’s nobody’s business but the Turks. [/end Bad mid-90s indie alt-rock reference]
Count Zero

That’s pretty pathetic. It’s even more pathetic that Security AND the State Police ignore it.
martin

i like breasts.
Sonny M.

This is B.S.

I may be a giants fan, and yes I also like the Dolphins (by default,I hate the jets, and loathe the Pats).

I’ve been to numerious Jets games.

I have never seen the behavior described in the NYT article.

Its bull, totally absolute Bull$h1T.

This is just the times, looking to make sports look bad, its fans look bad, and take an elitist attitude towards folks, because
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  If it’s such BS then why do clips of these incidents exist on YouTube exactly as The Times describes them?
Sonny M.

I was on youtube before, I saw a couple of clips, that was it.

Its not that common, its not every game, its not routine.

I was at a game this season and out on gate d for smoking breaks, this didn’t happen, I didn’t see it, I did see some jet fans act like jerks towards me, but I didn’t see them harrassing girls, or calling for girls to flash or expose themselves.

This is bunk, being blown out of proporotion and made out to be some kind of ritual, when its not.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  Were you there for halftime or for a smoke break? There’s a bit of a difference.
usty

Oh my god, not BOOBIES!
Sonny M.

Halftime, I usually take my smoking breaks after every quater.

Even though I am a giants fan, and hate the jets, I go to a couple of jets games every year.

I was at one game this season already, am planning on going to another.

I’ve been at Gate D, a few times, at the half, and haven’t seen this,
thats why I don’t believe it (that and its the NY Times). I can say that Jets fans
can be jerks, they certainly have given me crap on more then one occasion, but what is
stated in the article, I have never witnessed at that gate at the half.
It’sMeSNITCHES!!!

Sonny.

Oh, so since you didn’t see it first hand, it must not have happened? Oh okay.

I’ll trust the New York Times any day over your flawed logic.
- barry
  
  Calm down children.
steve (different one)

this is all A-Rod’s fault.
Sonny M.

Well, considering the fact that I have been to multiple jet games, been at gate D numerious times, and have not seen it, go ahead and believe the NY Times.

You sound like the perfect customer, someone who will believe anything, even if its not true.

My only question is how many naive and gullible people will actually believe this fairy tale of a story.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Ben K.
  
  Why are you so adamant that this story is false? Are you participating in this circus at Giants Stadium? Officials aren’t denying this goes on. They’re simply denying that they have much power to stop it. I’m confused as to why you’re so against this story unless it just stems from an irrational hatred of all things coming out of The Times.
It’sMeSNITCHES!!!

First of all Sonny. I read the AP report in Newsday. I don’t know if the Times article was an AP piece. Regardless, the article states that there’s footage of a woman being groped by a fan. It goes on to say that another man spit at a female beer vendor that refused to serve him?

By dismissing the article, you’re invalidating these victims’ accounts of harrassment. That’s pretty messed up. They get humiliated and harrased, and then you have nerve to shrug it off as sensationalized media coverage.

If you have an issue with media coverage, fine, but you’re using a sensative issue to platform you’re personal opinions.

And again, just because you went to a few Jets games doesn’t mean you know what goes on in every inch of the stadium at all times. You’re being irrational.

Now, how about you give the women in question the benefit of the doubt? I think they deserve it.
It’sMeSNITCHES!!!

Ben, maybe you’ve just uncovered a closet misogynist.
barry

They’re just titties
Sonny M.

I’m dismissive of the article, because it is pretty specific, and thus what is claimed would be hard to miss, Gate D, and its referred to as a “tradition” with alot of people.

Now either, this “tradition” is very rare, or they are taking an isolated incident, and making it into something else.

Now have I seen bad behavior at games?

Hell yes, I’ve actually seen one woman get beer thrown at her for wearing a dolphins jersey, I’ve had fans curse at me, I’ve seen fans try to burn other fans with cigarettes, but at Gate D (where I have taken many a smoking break at halftime), I’ve never seen this “tradition” of guys yelling at women to expose themselves.

Here is the big question, I can’t be the only person here who has gone to jet games, and smoked a ciggarette at Gate D. Is there anyone out there, who seen what this article claims first hand?

I’m knocking this article because its trying to make something sensationalist and exaggerate some horrible behavior into an ongoing pattern which is untrue.
- It’sMeSNITCHES!!!
  
  I don’t think the intent of the writers and reporters is to portray the stadium as a haven for sexual assaulters. This is more or less a one-time incident and that’s how it’s been reported. I don’t think anyone is saying otherwise.
  
  The media doesn’t seem like its in the midst of a tactical smear campaign to judge and demonize an entire stadium and its patrons.
  
  However, I’ll be the one to say that and I’m sure that’s been the case in almost every other football stadium. To say that there haven’t been numerous cases of sexual assault at Giants stadium in the past is naive. I also wouldn’t count out the possibility that there is an increase in the amount of these crimes at the stadium, as sexual assault cases are on the rise everywhere. Feel free to do some research. I guarantee that sexual assault cases at the stadium have increased in, lets say, a 15-year period. When I say sexual assault, I’m referring to groping etc. I don’t consider the “Show us your boobs” chant assault, even though it is sexual harrassment.
  
  The video evidence is there. What do you think initiated the media coverage in the first place?
- http://nosenseworrying.vsport.tv Jen
  
  Sonny, there’s a MySpace page “dedicated to the girls of Gate D @ Halftime” (I won’t link there since it’s NSFW, I’m sure you can Google it). And read the entry on this subject at http://www.thejetsblog.com. There’s a number of firsthand accounts of the goings on at Gate D.
  - It’sMeSNITCHES!!!
    
    Looks like somebody owes the Times an apology.
It’sMeSNITCHES!!!

Note: When I said “However I’ll be in the one to say that…” I mean saying that there is an ongoing pattern of this type of behavior.
Sonny M.

The article specifically notes this as a tradition, they do not make this out to be a one time thing (if they had, then I would not have gotten so annoyed with it).

As for myspace, I’m looking for it, I know you can’t link to it, but can you give the name or something else.

As for the Jetsblog, most of then don’t seem to have seen it, a couple claim they have.

The article, makes it sound like there are hundreds of people doing this, and its a common occurance.

Thats why I am calling BS on the article. I will say, I have seen alot of nasty behavior at these games, with drunk idiot fans doing stupid things, both in the stands, and in the councourse, by I have not ever seen the so -called “Half time show” that is described.

FWIW, I do not doubt for one second there has been terrible things that happen at these games, and I’ve seen some really bad things first hand, but the articles’s claim of this warped tradition at Gate D is not one of them.

I want to see if the Times clarifies themselves or retracts the article or admits they exaggerrated a story.
Sonny M.

Crazy at this sounds I just realized something.

My God, I am defending Jet fans.

I hate the jets.

I don’t like their fans.

Why the hell am I defending them again? Yea, the article is misleading, but shouldn’t I be jumping on a bandwagon against them?
- barry
  
  You wrote alot of shit on this post.
  - Sonny M.
    
    Yea, I stand by on facts, that the report made isolated incidents into ongoing patterns, and made it sound like this was a tradition, but hell, Jet fans can be, and at these games, alot of them act like jerks.
    
    I’ve had one idiot jet fan try and throw a water bottle at me (he missed, didn’t seem to care that he hit a kid either), I shouldn’t have even bothered.
It’sMeSNITCHES!!!

I read the Times article. It does refer to these incidents as a part of an ongoing occurence. However, they’re somewhat correct in their assesment. If you do your fair share of googling, you’d agree. The myspace page Jen is referring to is run by the same guy that posted the youtube videos (which are now taken down). He has slideshows of women flashing themselves. I’m not going to post the URL either. Not because it’s obscene, the photos are actually blurred on the bullseyes, but because the guy seems like a low-life and I don’t want to give him even more recognition/advertisement. Im not as concerned with voluntary flashing as I am with harrassment and assault.

Anyway, I’m kind of sick of this discussion. The fact of the matter is, this wasn’t an isolated incident. The concern should focus on the victims. Instead, you’re fixated on the Times for some irrational reason, you refuse to accept witnesses’ acounts and photo/video evidence, and your obsessing over semantics etc. You’ve somehow transformed an article meant to raise awareness of a well-documented, persistent problem of harrassment and sexual assault and turned it into a vendetta against a newspaper.

Lastly, you want the Times to retract an article and admit they exaggerated a story?
A) Prove they weren’t right.
B) Just because you think they’re implying something- doesn’t make it so. (Check invalid inference).
C) It’s an opinion piece.
Since you’re so concerned with journalistic integrity, I suggest you visit FAIR.org or Poynter.org – get your priorities straight.
Sonny M.

I’ve been to fair.org numerious times, and am often on their site.

This discussion has also gotten on my last nerves too.

Since you’ve left it to me to prove them wrong, and I should “put my money where my mouth is”, I guess I’ll have to do it.

Easiest way, I’m going to another jets game soon, I’ll go to Gate D, at the halftime, and do the whole photo thing, and e-mail that to the NY Times, and lets see what they say (I’m not going to hold my breath).

FWIW- How come no other jets fans or people who have gone to jet games here, has offered an opinion on gate d?
- It’sMeSNITCHES!!!
  
  Ugh… ok. First off. Giants stadium and Jets games will never be like that EVER again. So, if you go back looking for something, the only thing you’ll find now is beefed up security and a new family-friendly public relations campaign. You do realize that a whole world exists outside of this blog and your mind right? Jen found Jets fans that were there. You can find them too.