Great posts guys. I'm with you SEC FAN. I desperately want to take my son to a game... but don't want to deal with the side effects. I take him to MLS games once in a while, and those fans are terrific. Opposing fans are just like you say. They will talk soccer and its all about enjoying the game. Baseball games seemed like that too, until the recent incidents with the Dodgers fans and the Giants.
I feel the NFL has gotten way too seriously. I think another part of it is the increased emphasis on fantasy football and gambling. Gambling and the NFL go hand in hand. I think casinos probably take in more money per game on the NFL than any other sport, so a point here or there makes guys crazy. Same with the fantasy players who aren't as interested in their HOME team as their FANTASY team. They get all liquored up and then are going bonkers that their player isn't getting stats, and they are checking their phone every five minutes during the game getting angrier and angrier that the a-hole in the next cubicle is going to beat him this weekend and he's going to have to hear about it at the office tomorrow. It has just really seemed to devalue the fan experience in a lot of ways to me. I think the lack of fantasy teams really helps the college game experience. Same with limiting beer sales or campuses that don't have them altogether. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of buttheads at BYU games, but it's a pretty good environment to take my son to a game, because alcohol just isn't an issue. Don't get me wrong... I have ZERO issue with people drinking. It seems to not be too bad at baseball games where the beer flows freely. I just think that guys getting plastered with this idea of coming in and becoming a complete menace are becoming more the norm than not.
I am completely with you on Super Bowl XL. Nothing of the sort EVER crossed my mind in any way, shape, or form. I just remember wishing that the refs had done a better job and the team had overcome the bad calls or lack of good calls, or whatever it was that happened. I remember thinking that if Bill Leavy reffed a Hawks game I'd want to boo so loud he couldn't even announce penalties. Just totally drown him out. I thought that would have been funny and let him know what we thought of him. Bad job Bill. Boo on you. But death threats? Absolutely disgusting.