I had the total opposite experience. First of all, I barely saw any staff in the stadium. And I was able to walk into pretty much any section of the stadium. I was sitting about 4 rows behind the Phillies dug-out for a few innings. The vendors were pretty funny. The one got an attitide going with me and would not sell me a beer, and I asked why. He smiled, and said because the keg just kicked. And then he recommeded another brand. I had another usher tell me which food stands had the best food and which had the best beers. The half-smoked all the way from Ben’s was great, but you need a fork to eat it.

And I was one of the people who overindulged on beers on the bus and in the parking lot. And i had a great time walking around the stadium talking to people. The Nats fans were great. I respect anybody who supports a team that bad.

I don’t blame alcohol for the problem. Some people are just jerks- some drink, some don’t. I have worked in bars for years- I know how people get when they are drunk. There does seem to be a different mentality amoung the younger (20-25 years old) Phillies fans with how they drink. When I was in college, my friends and I used to go to the Vet because it was a place to get drunk, scream and have nobody bother you. You could sit in the 700 level and not have anybody around you for 500 feet. We cheered for the Phanatic and sometimes the Phillies. (This was the late 90′s/ early 2000′s. Rico Brogna was the best player. And there was nothing better than booing Travis Lee.) It was all in good fun. There were never any fights or arguments. But there is this very drunken macho aspect in the younger fans, and they have to drink as much as possible. And they are not happy unless they get thrown out of the game or at least yell at somebody. I have never seen people drink so much and have so little fun. It is a lot of built up rage. It seems to have crossed over from the Eagles fans attitude. That is the reason I stopped going to Eagles games years ago. It’s baseball, it is the most mellow team sport around. Just sit back and relax and enjoy the game. And the Phillies just won the World Series- why so angry?

most of the incidents where people shoot and kill someone … these clowns are carrying guns because they aren’t man enough without them..

If people fought with fists the world would be a better place

I think 99% of the people drunk at the games are doing their damage Pre-Game.. where you can get a case for $20-30…. instead of the $7 beers inside

One solution, then, could be keeping out the drunk before they get in. While it’s possible (though I don’t think there’s a precedent), are ticket takers able to spot who is drunk and keep out those people? There are many other issues to tackle with that.

It’s sad, but idiots will get in and cause havoc no matter what.

Moreover, business is business. Beer and alcohol sales help drive revenue. It comes down to common intelligence. I’ll have one beer at the park. If I tailgate, I have two beers, max, before the game.

It was nice that, on our trip, people kept pretty controlled with alcohol. We had a few overindulgent drinkers, but nobody was out of hand.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090517&content_id=4783096&vkey=news_phi&fext=.jsp&c_id=phi