Tailgating Trouble on the Horizon

Am I the only one to notice a string of University power plays lately? To that end, last week the Athens Banner-Herald ran a story that ominously hinted at new tailgating rules for game day that would "aim for a broad culture change in sports fan behavior", whatever the hell that means. The gist of the story was that UGA Keystone Cop Jimmy Williamson and a faculty committee have been looking for ideas to deal with "alcohol problems" on campus. The Red&Black ran a similar article today.

Among the lowlights in the article:

Over the next season or two, Williamson would like to see parking on sidewalks around the stadium eliminated in order to provide safe passage for pedestrians, who may otherwise risk an accident when entering the street to get around parked vehicles.

A long-term project could be to "create more of a buffer around the stadium" to improve queues and crowd control, he said. A buffer would include restricting parked and moving vehicles in that zone, which also would improve officials' ability to respond to an emergency or a homeland security alert, he said.

What is interesting to me is that the article lazily accepts Williamson's assertion there is a growing problem with alcohol-fueled misbehavior on campus. However, the "solution" of restricting sidewalk parking has nothing to do with alcohol or fan behavior. Neither does a "buffer" around the stadium relate to curbing public drunkenness.

The recommended solutions have no rational relation to the stated problem. What is more likely is that "fan misbehavior" is being used as a stalking-horse to implement more insidious changes about which fans would otherwise be belligerent.

One problem with Chief Williamson is that above all else, he is a University bureaucrat. Bureaucrats are particularly adept at two functions: (1) justifying their jobs and (2) expanding their budgets. By advancing a solution for the "problem" of fan behavior, he neatly sidesteps the debate whether there is a trend or actual problem with alcohol-related fan behavior. I'm sure more money and a few more officers on the force should solve the problem, right Clancy Wiggum?

What would a discussion of athletics be without input from Coach Michael Adams? Adams is all over this issue, predictably on the lookout for ways to micromanage and deflect blame. According to the article, Adams "condemned fans' drunken behavior, the excessive number of arrests and resulting garbage from the Nov. 12 Auburn game as 'despicable.'" More despicable than secret payoffs to fired football coaches? More despicable than the bungle in the jungle? Probably not.

I think the more realistic explanation for the unusual amount of garbage at the Auburn game is a combination of opponents' behavior and the logical fact that evening games generate more trash than a 1:00 PM kickoff. Of course because the University predictably failed to plan ahead by providing for additional receptacles to handle the additional garbage, there was nowhere to put trash by 6:00 PM. At our tailgate it is a point of pride that all garbage is collected, even if it can only be piled up next to the overflowing trash cans so it can easily be removed.

There are no new policies in place yet, and it is too early to tell how this little power play may manifest itself, but trouble is on the horizon.

Dawgnoxious,
Commissioner of Bourbon, Tailgating & Waste Management
Georgia Sports Blog


Photo: Mike Adams briefs reporters on a new blue ribbon panel to improve the game day experience. The group will be made up of well known tailgaters such as professors from the Department of Women's Studies, UGA's Risk Management Actuarials, and members of the Neo-Prohibitionist League.

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