Beer at the swamp...Looks like we win!

[zephyr]

_ I really don't care what someone outside of us thinks about beer drinking at a Cajun football game. I'm not pushing beer or drinking... but Acadiana has always mixed beer drinking with natural social and cultural gatherings. It isn't a new toy to act like a 3 year old about. In many other parts of the country, and even in parts of the south, people act insane with a little beer in them. I can see why most areas of the country, and especially the huge state schools, ought not allow it.

At monster programs... dare I say it... they are magnets for the dregs of society. Dregs usually act like * before they start drinking... once the drinking starts... it's a catalyst for massive a-hole behavior. UL does not attract the tank-top dreg fan. That type of person requires an affiliation with the largest institutionalized mega-something to feel important about themselves.

We sell beer at the Cajundome and I've never seen any incident related to beer drinking. It makes a big difference if your immediate public is used to eating and drinking in non-volatile social gatherings... and Acadiana is pretty used to it. UL is a special situation where beer drinking isn't going to amplify bad behavior... alcohol consumption is already going on... so why not make some money for the program with it? _

People who drink beer at the cajundome haven't been drinking for the past 8-10 hours in the heat prior to drinking their warm draft at the game. Football games are always rowdier than any other sport and it along with boozing always leads to improper behavior.

[CajunSaint]

_ Ill hold off if you do.

Like I said before, there should be rules and there will be. We aren't idiots, even though I still "act" like one some times. The first time I show my ass at a Cajun sporting event will, be my last time.

I PROMISE IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN! Yet I can only speak for me and my family and friends. That includes you RC70, no crawfish macaroni for you! _

what is this promise of which you speak, oh great beer breath? lol

[jazzpop]

I'm obviously in the minority here, and who knows how this will turn out, but I wish that this was a threshold the university had not crossed. The potential for problems and tragedies will certainly be increased. I'm not a prude, and yes I drink, but drunk is drunk.
I doubt that local behavior patterns are much different here or in Minnesota where booze is concerned. Hope the need for revenue hasn't trumped reponsibility and good sense. Our wonderful local culture has a dark side that encourages alcohol as a necessary part of every social event. Beer in the stadium is sure to be a party to that.

[Just1More]

_ People who drink beer at the cajundome haven't been drinking for the past 8-10 hours in the heat prior to drinking their warm draft at the game. Football games are always rowdier than any other sport and it along with boozing always leads to improper behavior. _

I can assure you that any scandalous behavior will be blamed on the beer sales... right or wrong. If drinking creates such objectionable problems at UL football games, I would think the first 30 minutes after kick-off from the "8-10 hours of parking lot drinking" would create its own little pandemonium. I've never seen it. I don't expect a couple draft beers over the course of another 3 hours is going to break the damn.

I'll say it again... I am not promoting out of control drinking... but I am pretty much a "let people do what they want to do and manage the abuser" kind of guy. I know people that don't drink that I would like to toss out of many a public event. Unfortunately, I think that a rowdy, fun-loving beer drinker is going to get "tagged" as unacceptable.

I vote that for every out of control beer drinker we have in the stadium, we have to pluck one of the frowning, sitting on their hands fans complainer, and put them in a UFC cage to duke it out at halftime. I not only want the revenue from beer sales... I want the revenue from any of the unsavory fall-out.

[Crackleton]

_ People who drink beer at the cajundome haven't been drinking for the past 8-10 hours in the heat prior to drinking their warm draft at the game. Football games are always rowdier than any other sport and it along with boozing always leads to improper behavior. _

If you think there is no drinking going on in the stadium without beer sales, you are fooling yourself, zeph. I for one am happy that I don't have to start drinking whiskey once I get into the stadium after 8-10 hours of drinking brewskis in the parking lot. A nice cool Abita Amber sounds like the ticket.

As for rowdy behavior: I see far less of it coming from my crew as a result of this (see whiskey reference above).

[rhineaux]

The UL Athletics Department now has a contract with a professional concessionaire firm that has the experience, personnel and training to ensure that all state laws and safety issues concerning the sale of alcohol will be followed.

Does anyone know if this concessionaire firm will be handling all concessions from here on out and if Sodexho is gone, or if this is in addition to Sodexho?

I ask becasuse Sodexho's "employees" seemed more like volunteers, and while in some ways they were better than what we had before, their system still seemed a bit antiquated. And, I certainly wouldn't classify them as a "professional concessionaire firm."

[Crackleton]

_ And, I certainly wouldn't classify them as a "professional concessionaire firm." _

Case in point: their handling of the all beef hotdog incident of 2007. Man, those things are slippery. They didn't even warn me.

[CajunRed]

_ I'm obviously in the minority here, and who knows how this will turn out, but I wish that this was a threshold the university had not crossed. The potential for problems and tragedies will certainly be increased. I'm not a prude, and yes I drink, but drunk is drunk.
I doubt that local behavior patterns are much different here or in Minnesota where booze is concerned. Hope the need for revenue hasn't trumped reponsibility and good sense. Our wonderful local culture has a dark side that encourages alcohol as a necessary part of every social event. Beer in the stadium is sure to be a party to that. _

I finally realized how bad a shape our program was in when someone on Friday was telling me how this "will help us put people in the stands." When the only way to get a good crowd is to have beer... well... things are worse than I thought.

Oh... and don't compare basketball or baseball crowds to football crowds. They are just not the same.

[ULtimateCajun]

Anybody know pricing? Is going to be like the Cajundome $8 beer? Or Tigue $5? I'll pay whatever the cost, I just want to know how much I need to get out of the ATM before entering. haha

[MetryCajun]

_ I finally realized how bad a shape our program was in when someone on Friday was telling me how this "will help us put people in the stands." When the only way to get a good crowd is to have beer... well... things are worse than I thought.

Oh... and don't compare basketball or baseball crowds to football crowds. They are just not the same. _

I think this is false. What I think beer will do is keep people at the game longer and get us more revenue. Over the past 15 years we have mostly served up horrible football. In spite of this we still out draw most SCB and in-state teams. If we every get good at football we will have a packed stadium(30K) regardless of the beer situation.

[leeman]

ok, I thought this was a joke at first till I saw the wafb piece.. why would a baton rouge station have a story on this before any news whatsoever has been mentioned in lafayette?.. something aint right here.... I'll believe it when I taste it..LOL

[bballholic]

I was told by a friend that a local BR station said that Southern would NOT be selling beer this year. One of the articles mentioned Southern would be selling beer as well, but that doesn't appear to be the case. I didn't see the news broadcast, did anyone else hear/see this?