Like many others, I watched both NFL games yesterday. However, the Cowboys/Lions game proved far more exciting than the Ravens-Steelers game. It was only because we could not get a good view of the stands. Steelers fan Jake Berlin was also a bit bored and decided to tweet that he was going to run onto Heinz field. Among his frenemies on social media was Steelers’ security which promptly located him and threw him out of the stadium — leaving him with these before and after selfies.
Berlin first posted the selfie below with “Screw it, #Steelers are losing anyway. 400 RTs and I’ll run onto Heinz Field.”
The next selfie showed him 20 minutes later in a security vehicle being escorted out of Heinz Field with the note: “SOMEONE TAGGED THE STEELERS AND SECURITY CAME TO TAKE ME AWAY. OH MY GOD.”
It raises an interesting question of the basis for removal for a future offense. It is true that he was threatening to disrupt that game, which is likely sufficient for the stadium to act. However, I assume that he assured security that he was just kidding. If that was the case, was he being removed simply for making what he considered a joke?
We have seen the dubious no joke policy enforced by the TSA as if it were a federal law (which it is not). I certainly understand the need for the Steelers to intervene, though the Steelers’ security showed more speed than the Steelers’ defense in the sack. However, unless Berlin said that he really intended to rush the field, the questioning would have been enough to send a message. On the other hand, the team likely views such tweets as something that quickly build, like a flash mob, into a serious disruption. What is most interesting, as we have seen in other circumstances, is the speed with which businesses now see such tweets and postings.
Superb blog you have here but I was curious if you knew of any discussion boards that cover
the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really like to be a part of community where I can get responses
from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Cheers!
So I read all your comments and have rethought my initial anger. Tweeting in a stadium of thousands might be a signal. We all learn from doing dumb things while young. It isn’t just government watching you.
Paul C., as an avid UCLA fan (in spite of their loss to Stanford taking us out of #1 possibility) I always say there is nothing like college football. Pro games are full of drunk people yelling offensive words. We rarely watch NFL. If you don’t have a team, it really isn’t interesting. We had season tickets to UCLA and loved being at the game. As I’ve mentioned, my health has limited our activities. Oregon will destroy Ohio. Then people will start respecting PAC-12.
Father Morrissey has a devious mind. That can only help in his profession.
Soooo. Take a picture of that loud slobbering drunk next to you, get up and go to the bathroom and tweet it as a selfie proclaiming that “am going down to body slam the Seahawks’ mascot” if…….”
Call it a “Tweet fake”? Akin to a head fake.
Maybe it’s just actual attendance:
“Despite unprecedented growth of TV audiences, attendance at NFL games reached an all-time high in 2007. It has consistently dropped ever since.”
Or maybwe not:
“The average audience between 18 and 49 for NFL broadcasts across CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN and the NFL Network has declined by about 10.6% over the last four seasons, according to Nielsen data prepared by Horizon Media, to about 7.7 million in 2013 from about 8.62 million in 2010. Meantime, male viewers between 18 and 24 watching the sport have also fallen off, tumbling about 5.3% in the same time period, to approximately 847,000 in 2013 from 894,000 in 2010.
“This segment is not passionate about the NFL like older age groups,” says Kirk Wakefield, executive director of sports and entertainment marketing at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business.“
The Walmart Heir is moving the Rams to LA. Saint Louis is not good enough for him. Start the boycotts now. Steelers Fans: pull out now like your father should have. These teams make enough on television. They do not need fans in the seats at the stadium.
PreCrime Enforcement Division wins again.
Pogo: Ravens/Steelers had 24 million viewers Saturday night, CBS’s “48 Hours” came in second with 5 million. It’s just you.
But, what about the fans and their rights? The missed the spectacle of the guy running onto the field, the dumpy security guards waddling after, the cornering, the catch, and then the long walk of shame as the perp is hustled off the field. Football is a game, more of the spaces between the plays than the plays themselves. The stadium officials made a mistake here. Attendance will be down.
Pogo: I believe the Arizona Diamondbacks have moved fans out of seats right behind home plate for violating a policy against wearing the opposing team’s jersey (and they don’t want that seen on TV.) So I suppose if you don’t like the rules, don’t buy the product. Short sighted imo, but this is still America and business owners are free to set their own rules (unless wedding cakes are involved.)
This dbag was voluntarily on private property and the host of the event chose to remove him, probably under the umbrella of a “fan conduct” policy.
Ed – I have never followed the Diamondbacks since they crammed the stadium down the throats of the people. Have never been to a game. And the Cardinals are a joke. That is why I support ASU.
US Football seems to be in the throes of death, and raging against the dying of the light.
Maybe that’s just me.
Pogo – it is just you. The college playoffs set a new record for viewers.
” I suspect the wording on the ticket contract is such that it provides the stadium owner with the power to evict someone they consider disruptive in a unilateral manner.”
Would that include rooting for the other team?
Why not?
This disappoints me as a Steelers fan.
I hope they gave him his money back. However, this is over the top. Wasn’t ‘Minority Report’ about this?
To me it would seem the stadium owners could evict someone for any reason they are legally able. I suspect the wording on the ticket contract is such that it provides the stadium owner with the power to evict someone they consider disruptive in a unilateral manner.
There is too much at stake to risk a warning with people making promises to act in a disruptive manner. One, for the obvious reasons but also because it emboldens copycats.
Yet, I understand the zero tolerance that is becoming common with regard to jokes.
In this example if I was in a decision making authority on what to do with this man after the talking I would have done the same as the security staff. It is not worth the resources having to babysit him so he does not run onto the field, and if he did later it would be my neck on the line for allowing him the opportunity to do so. So that is pragmatically what could have been decided by those actually involved.