In 2005 Condoleezza Rice brought the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, to the Alabama/Tennessee game. They sat in the front row of the President's box directly behind our seats. Our grown children and their friends used the tickets that day. And all throughout the game our daughter's drunken date frequently screamed curse words at the team or the refs, including a particularly common Anglo-Saxon vulgar: the F word.
There were families seated nearby, with children who shouldn't have been exposed to that. But there's no describing the depth of our humiliation when a guest in our seats behaved in that manner in front of the most powerful woman in the world and her guest, a foreign dignitary. At least one of the most offensive words he used belonged to Jack Straw's people first.
I'm not in favor of censoring free speech. But surely there ought to be a standard for decent behavior in our stadium. We don't want an environment in Bryant Denny where children are exposed to violence or vulgarity. Seems to me texting/video security aids are a pretty good idea. If they'd been available in 2005, my daughter would certainly have made use of it to get rid of that troglodyte who would not sit down and shut up.[/QUOTE]
Wish I had been there to do something about it. Fellows, please join me in my habit of addressing this behavior. Seldom have I had to, but I have confronted this behavior at games, pointing out the presence of children, and then telling them that I would now begin dogging them verbally (no profanity and no physical contact) until one of three things happens, until they choose to express themselves with acceptable words, until they start something physical that would allow me to use my military training in self defense, or until we were both ejected...and that I was happy either way as long as the issue would be resolved. This has always worked and honestly has received applause from those around the jackhole.
Second, regarding the reporting: The University is under no obligation to records these events in a format that ESPN prefers, which means that ESPN will never get an Apples-to-Apples comparison. Any journalist worth his salt will recognize this and see that any conclusions would be jaded. THAT is the only story that can come from this. Further, who actually does the arresting? In Bama's case, with 92,000 there, the University, City, County, and State all have arresting Official there. Who consolidates that information?