NFL, Giants Stadium in Hot Water for Breast-Baring Ritual Among Fans Tuesday, November 20, 2007 By Catherine Donaldson-Evans Giants Stadium management, the National Football League and the New York Jets are in the hot seat over a practice that has become a halftime ritual at Jets games: lewd, drunken male fans shouting at women to expose their breasts. The men whoop, whistle, chant and stomp for female fans to lift up their shirts and bras, often shouting obscenities in the process. Some women comply with the jeering requests. When the male spectators don't get their wish, they frequently grow nasty — booing, spitting and throwing beer bottles at the women they're targeting. The story, which was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times, has caused a public outcry and led the New York Jets to issue a statement about the behavior. "This type of conduct on one of the stadium spirals is outrageous and unacceptable," said Jets senior vice president of business operations Matt Higgins. "We have spoken with NJSEA [New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority] officials and demanded that they take steps immediately to ensure that it does not happen again." The NJSEA, which runs operations at Giants Stadium and The Meadowlands complex where it's located, acknowledged that the bawdy ritual has been a problem and said security staff and New Jersey State Police are doing what they can to stop it. "This is not something new to us in terms of dealing with rowdy fan behavior," NJSEA President and CEO George Zoffinger told FOXNews.com. "Anybody who uses vulgar language or is intoxicated or acting in an improper manner is either ejected or arrested." Zoffinger said that for the 2007 football season, eight women were tossed out of Giants Stadium for indecent exposure, seven of them from Jets games and one from a Giants game. So far, he said, a total of 148 people have been thrown out of Jets games and 35 have been arrested for bad behavior, compared to 174 ejections and 44 arrests at Giants games. But punishing the males for their derogatory cat-calling isn't easy, he contended, partly because of the large number of raucous fans at games and partly because cheering doesn't necessarily warrant disciplinary action if it isn't accompanied by indecent language, object-throwing or other behavior that is against the law. "In a crowd of people chanting, it is extremely difficult to single out a person you would eject or arrest," said Zoffinger. "We crack down as much as we can. If a crowd of 100 is chanting, 'Take off your top!', we try to convince them it's not a good idea. We often get ridiculed for trying to do that. But as abhorrent as it is, I'm not sure it's a crime. ... We can only do so much." One thing they can do, he said, is nab the women who bare their breasts and the men who pressure them by using obscenities. "We arrest the women because that's a crime," Zoffinger said. "If [the men] say, 'Show me your f— t—, we can arrest them. If there is bad, vulgar language involved, yes, we do eject them, every single time. ... Boorish behavior will not be tolerated." The breast-baring problem isn't at the top of the list of security concerns at The Meadowlands, which handles 2 million visitors a year — the most of any sports arenas in the United States, according to Zoffinger. "We run one of the safest stadiums in the country," he said. "As abhorrent as this behavior is, it does not pose a safety and security issue. I don't think the security staff looks the other way. If we see anybody, we immediately take them into custody." Zoffinger said he's looking into beefing up security at the stadium during Jets games in an effort to control the incidents. The NFL didn't return calls from FOXNews.com seeking comment. New Jersey State Police, who patrol the Giants Stadium games with the Meadowlands staff, didn't directly address the Jets games ritual, but said troopers deal with legal infractions when they occur. "We enforce the laws, and that's our responsibility," state police spokeswoman Jeanne Hengemuhle told FOXNews.com. "If we see the law being broken, we act accordingly." Amateur videos of men haranguing women in the Gate D section of the stadium during Jets games and women responding by exposing their breasts initially appeared on YouTube, but by Tuesday afternoon they'd been removed from the site. Feminist writer Naomi Wolf lambasted the "Girls Gone Wild" types of stadium shenanigans as "barbaric" and "reprehensible," and said the practice could lead to sexual violence. "This is the sign of the degradation of public morality in America," the "Beauty Myth" author fumed during a FOX News Channel panel discussion. "I don’t want my daughter to be exposed to this." The practice is apparently mostly limited to Jets home games at Giants Stadium. Insiders say they aren't aware of it happening at Giants games. "The NJSEA has assured us that they will address this conduct at all Meadowlands events," said the Jets' Higgins. "We will not allow a small minority of people to ruin the experience for our fans and will be monitoring the situation." The NFL is no stranger to the problem of public breast-baring, thanks to the very famous and very costly halftime show "wardrobe malfunction" number by Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake during the 2004 Super Bowl on CBS. "Football is about one thing — it’s about testosterone," Steve Mason of 710 ESPN Radio told FOX News. "This isn't especially shocking. I don’t think you want to bring the kids to Gate D any time soon."
I'm a Jets season ticketholder. More on this later... I have to compile the most outrageous things I've seen over the years
Been a season ticketholder since 1994. Have two seats that are split by the 50 yard line, 22 rows up, directly behind the Jets bench. Legend has it that the originals owners of every seat in our section were Mnahattan restauranteurs who subbed them out over the years. I used to take my kids to the games when they were younger but things got so bad that I thought they would be better off watching the Scarface DVD over and over. Then I would take employees. Or customers. But so much outrageous behavior took place that the thought of exposing a valuable customer to this stuff was ill advised. Why not just take them to a peep show or a cockfight instead? Maybe a fight club. The area where the flashing occurs is also the area where the "fans" chug booze out of the bottle and do more drugs than you ever could imagine. Its like an opium den on those concourses. There is a heavy haze of pot and crack smoke the entire half time. When you walk into the stadium they pat you down outside now... there are two 40 yard dumpsters at each entrance and they are FULL of unopened beer and whiskey bottles and cans, sheepskin and metal flasks and such. Literally thousands of dollars of unopened booze. Yet they still manage to sneak in there contraband. Of course the tailgating starts four hours before kickoff and power drinking is the order of the day so most of the fans are legally drunk by 2x or more before they enter the stadium. I have seen cars ignited on fire by grills in the parking lot as well as impromptu pro wrestling cards and ultimate fighting matches outside as well. Inside I have seen all manner of barbarism. I had two women in front of me , wearing competing jerseys, sword fighting with unmbrellas. I watched a 40+ year old man pick a fight with an 18 year old and then witnessed the kid punch the man into an unrecognizable pulp before the security guys could reach them. I saw a frustrated Jets fan, during a TV timeout, stand up in the upper deck, remove his Jets jacket, light it on fire and drop it into the crowd below. They routinely inflate balloons that are anatomically accurate in the shape of the male genitalia and release them throughout the stadium the whole game. If you are stupd enough to wear another team's jersey then you will be subjected to beer showers, obscenities, and bodily harm as long as you stay in your seat and that's without regard to age or sex. When Bruce Coslet was Jets Head Coach fans used to shout the worst obscenities at his teenage daughter who roamed the sidelines next to her father. Randall Cunningham broke his leg against the Jets one year and was showerd with laughter and beer as he was driven off the field in a cart. And yet when a punk like Mark Gastineau showed up with his dyke girlfriend at the time, Brigitte Nielsen, you would have though royalty was in the house. I could go on. It's like Caligula's circus there. I quit going to games two years ago. Still own the tickets. Give them away usually. Or eat them. And the Eagles stadium is even worse!
Come to Friendly Reliant Stadium Jif you won't freeze your tush off, comfy at all time with perfect site lines from every seat in the house.
T T..Gillette Stadium is a family affair. The Kraft family would not have it any other way. Years ago in the old Foxboro Stadium, they had problems. This is all history now. I have never been there, but I have 2 nephews who are season ticket holders...they say its a pleasure being there.
Bet you can't get Margharitas and Nacho's at Gillette!! 72 degrees at all times Jif, very comfy seats. Only good ole boys cheering their team, no shennagins!! BTW Dunkin Donuts has annoucned that they are expanding their Houston stores from 3 to 175...I don't think it's a good idea. They were never very popular when they had more stores than 3, can't imagine what they are thinking.
Dunkin saturates an area . They can do mass advertising with many stores. They are now going head to head with Starbucks. McD is also cutting deeply into Starbucks. ( McD stock is up 40 % YTD.)
Hang on now Krebs, most of what you are describing transpired in the early 90's and mid 80's. I have been a season ticket holder for 5 years now, but I've been going to the games since I was a very young kid in the mid 80's with my dad. He was a Giants fan, but back then you couldn't get Giants tix and Jets fans were giving theirs away. I was there when they nearly set the stadium on fire in the 80's. The blowup dolls you are referring to have not been around since Parcells showed up in 97. In fact, there has really only been one incident out of the norm of rowdy football fans since then, and that was the stabbing incident in DuhHerm's final season as coach. The only truly annoying thing besides the occasional drunken idiot fights are the annoying paper airplanes people make with the free programs. As to the incident in the spirals, this goes on just as frequently at Giant games. In fact, I've seen it at every Giants game I have been to. For those who don't know, Giants stadium has spirals at every gate. At halftime all the smokers migrate there to catch a smoke. People from the upper levels tend to throw money down the center of the spirals, enticing someone to go in there the "Get the money" as they are chanting loudly. When somebody does go for the money, they usually get pelted with beers. The person that goes in there knows full well what's coming, and choose to do so anyway. At times there is quite a bit of money in there. Opposing team fans that venture in there tend to get it alot worse. The other incident that frequently occurs in the spirals are guys chanting "Show your t*ts" to girls in the spiral within view. 99% of the time the girl just smiles and walks away from the edge, to which nothing happens. On occasion, some girls happily oblige them and let the funbags free. They get a raucous cheer and go on with their day. Some girls tend to tease. They'll go to the edge, make like they're gonna let em out, and then laugh or stick their tongue out. They are the only ones that tend to feel the wrath of the beer pelting. And they know it's coming, they just wanted the attention. I'm not condoning any of it, but I'v been to a ton of Jets games and can say that 99% of the time nothing beyond what happens routinely in every other stadium goes on. What amuses me is the security being so lax about this. If a fight breaks out in the stands the yellow jackets descend within a flash. For some reason they all disappear during the spiral incidents. Even the ones you do see there are just standing around watching, probably hoping to see an accomodating female themselves.
I'm sitting in the most expensive seats in the stadium. You would not want to bring your wife or small kids with you to a game in my section. The upper decks must be like a sequel to "Escape from New York".
Really? My seats were in section 307. Honestly my whole section was extremely tame. The guy that let me have those tix has since given them to his sister's boyfriend, so now I take 2 games a year in sec 335. Pretty much the same there, tame and mostly well behaved. NFL football games in general are fairly raucous events that may not be suitable for young kids or young kids or wives (which really is a problem and a shame), but it's really no worse at Jets games than anywhere else.
George... <t>I'm a 41 year Cowboy fan and what Terry forgot to tell you was you can watch a game at Reliant here in Houston in September and they will at times leave the freaking roof open when its 90 plus outside and you get to watch how many people pass out. It's amazing and on the other side of the coin I have been at the Astros Orange Juice Park in February watching a College baseball classic in 40 degree damp weather with the roof open till the seventh inning and they decide its cold so lets close it. You should hear the comments from the fans. <br/> <br/> Those Jets stories are a hoot.</t>