Today’s guest column in the Buffalo News pretty much nails my feelings on why I rarely go to football games at RWS anymore.

There is a culture of violence at Buffalo Bills games which, contrary to conventional wisdom, does not occur to any great extent at other NFL venues. It is all fueled by alcohol, drugs, binge drinking at tailgates, and a general mindset that misbehavior and outrageous conduct is acceptable and even cool.

There is one take where I beg to differ with the writer…

The Bills have made a huge investment in security and policing fan behavior, and their intolerance of it inside the stadium is commendable. The Bills have pleaded with fans to clean up their act.

Oh really? Dressing more guys in green jackets and waving batons has solved the problem??? Me thinks not. What the Bills have done is build nice dugout suites and club lounges, and erected an impenetrable wall to keep the Great Unwashed away from their premium customers. Everyone else is left to fend for themselves. What the team should be doing is developing more family friendly tailgate events, music, contests, etc in the lots to discourage the kind of conduct that is going on out there now. What the team should be doing is setting up sobriety checkpoints around the stadium perimeter. Anyone holding a ticket in one hand and swigging beer with the other doesn’t get in to the stadium. Period.

I applaud the Buffalo News for publishing names of those arrested for game day infractions. The media should do more. The Chris Hansen “To Catch A Predator” model, shaming the perps before the viewing public, might make belligerent fans think twice about their conduct. In today’s day and age of technology, establishing a text message mechanism to report misbehaving fans by seat location, and a rapid response by security, sounds like a no brainer.

My advice to families attending sporting events around these parts still goes - Sabres, Bisons, Bandits, UB football. But for now, definitely not the Bills.

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