The drive home is spent tuned to an angry caller sharing with radio listeners why he despises the opposing team. Meanwhile, chat room chatter runs overboard. By kickoff, fanaticism is rampant, emotions spilling from the bleachers onto the field. Fans leave games with feelings of euphoria, disgust, bitterness and joy – depending upon the result, of course. Victories are accompanied by fans storming the field and tearing down goal posts. Losses are followed by riots.

Sporting events are no longer merely fun and games. Fans, often overindulging in alcohol, fail to separate themselves emotionally from the outcomes of games. Throw in the thrill seekers with youthful abandon, add constant media attention on the outrageous, and sporting events have become increasingly more dangerous, too.

"There is a rise in incivility of society at large," NCAA president Myles Brand said. "It bleeds over into sports. It's OK to have fun and enjoy yourself, but there are limits."

The incidents of rioting and injuries in post-game melees are numerous. The solutions to stopping these incidents are not. Coming up with them is the crux of the Sportsmanship and Fan Behavior Summit, a meeting of college administrators and community leaders to be held Thursday in Dallas.

Looking for answers

There is a desperate and determined agenda to get a handle on fan behavior before it becomes uncontrollable. The Tucson, Ariz. police chief wants to know how he can prevent people from turning over cars or starting fires if the No. 1-ranked Wildcats' basketball team wins the NCAA championship. The mayor of Columbus, Ohio, wants to know why officers need to spew pepper spray from hoses to keep crazed fans off of goal posts and out of hospitals after football games. Representatives of TEAM – Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management – would like to give tips on how to recognize and deal with inebriated patrons.

Everyone wants answers.

AP

A sheriff's deputy aims pepper spray at fans after Ohio State beat Michigan. College officials will meet this week in Dallas to discuss fan behavior.

"I think there is always concern that there will be a continued spiral in activities that lead you down the path of potential for things we've seen in international soccer and other areas," Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said. "I don't think we're there yet, although there are elements of that sort of behavior that we've seen at our events."

Last year's college football season was the center of attention in large part for this very reason.

When Texas Tech beat Texas, 200 security officers and event staff were in place to enforce Tech's zero tolerance policy of fans coming onto the field. They stood their ground for seconds before giving way to the fans rushing the field.

At Ohio State, students left the game against Michigan with broken ankles, broken legs and concussions. Others left after sheriff's deputies used pepper spray to control the chaos.

Miami (Ohio) defensive coordinator Jon Wauford knocked a 36-year-old Marshall fan, lawyer Robert Flaugher, unconscious when Flaugher reportedly rushed Wauford and the Miami players after the game. Wauford was handcuffed on the field.

The results of such behavior can be tragic. In October 2001, 21-year-old Ball State student Andrew Bourne was paralyzed after goal posts collapsed on him and broke his back after a win over Toledo. The 400-pound goal posts came down twice this season at Oklahoma State's Lewis Field, though there were no injuries.

"It's a catch-22," OSU associate athletic director Marty Sargent said. "You want fans to enjoy the moment. On the other hand, you want to make sure everyone is safe. I don't know that anyone has an answer. You hope to get to a point in your program where you expect to win and you don't get these mad celebrations."

Alcohol factor

As long as alcohol is a factor, the breakouts are far more likely, many argue. Some point to drunken fans as one of the primary culprits in poor fan behavior.

"For a long time, we've known alcohol can increase aggression. Add it to the equation, and it's one more bullet in the gun that's going to lead to increased instances of violence," said Dan Wann, professor of psychology at Murray State and co-author of the book Sports Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators.

Jill Pepper, executive director of TEAM, said educating ushers, stadium officials and others on handling fans who have had too much to drink is critical. She does not believe alcohol should be banned from sporting events.

"We encourage responsible consumption and educating and training people on how to deal with it," Pepper said. "How impressed would you be if an usher could handle that one obnoxious guy in the stands?"

Weiberg said the Big 12 will not allow the sell sale of alcohol at basketball and football championship games after the conference's current contracts end. He acknowledges that is not the entire solution. After all, alcohol is served at professional sporting events where incidents like rushing the field are rare.

The NFL security office in New York gives strict guidelines regarding who can be on be on the field during a game, and there are NFL security representatives in each NFL city. The same rules apply at Major League Baseball games and in the NBA.

"The fans sort of know it's not tolerated," said Ryan Reichert, director of security for the Houston Texans and a former Houston police officer. "I hand pick security officers that I know will be working and not watching the game. We want them focused. We have officers picking drunks out of the crowd. It only takes one guy to do something crazy, but the police jump on them pretty quick. That deters people."

Emotional attachment

It seems nothing can separate a fan from his team if he feels he is a part of that team. Particularly in college athletics, students go to classes and socialize with the athletes. When the players win or lose, so do the students. It's what Chuck Korr, a professor and sports historian at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, calls "fan entitlement."

"The other team never wins," Korr explained. "It's always, your team lost. The referee cheats or somebody has a bad game. Once you invest that much emotional energy, why not invest everything you can to help them win? If that means being obscene or coming on the field, then that's the ultimate sign of showing how much it matters to you.

"You can't be the sixth defensive back for the Dallas Cowboys, but you can show how much it matters to you by running onto the field after the game and celebrating."

Wann, the psychology professor: "When they lose, I'm upset and angry. If a bad call is made, it's not just against the team, but also against me, and I feel the same level of injustice. The fans see the team as an extension of themselves."

The reaction can be heated, win or lose.

"We had riots after Arizona won [the national championship] and after Arizona lost," said Richard Miranda, the Tucson chief of police. "There were 3,000 people in the streets with 400 to 600 police. It really left a mark on our community."

Miranda said they've taken steps toward prevention, such as dealing with bar owners and getting the message out through various media outlets.

"In 1997, we won the game and there was a lot of celebrating," he said. "The riots were second-page news. Front-page news was that we won."

No longer is winning all that matters. Winning means taking six-foot leaps from the stands onto the field, then swaying and yanking on goal posts until they collapse – regardless of the magnitude or significance of the win.

Tulsa snapped its 17-game losing steak and brought the posts down. Baylor did the same after breaking a 29-game Big 12 losing streak. Missouri got its first Big 12 win of the year over an 0-5 Kansas team and tore down the goal posts. On the east coast, Boston College upset Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., and students back at B.C. tore down the goal posts on the practice field.

In those instances, no one was hurt. To avoid the risk, some colleges have upgraded from the $5,600 aluminum posts to the $30,000 steel posts. It takes a crane to hoist the 1,800-pound steel posts into place. That didn't prevent Kansas State fans from spending more than an hour using TV cables wrapped around the crossbar to bring them down after K-State beat Nebraska in 2000.

Much of this action is flashed on television, with fans hoping the camera pans their way. Sports radio is often an outlet for fans to express their displeasure, too.

"It's the lowest common denominator," Korr, the professor and sports historian, said. "Some of it is good, but it gets its lifeblood from angry fans."

So when does enthusiasm cross the line? And has sportsmanship been replaced by stupidity?

"One should not expect from this conference a definitive answer that will solve the problems," Brand, the NCAA president, said. "But it is an important step in the right direction. We can't do it in one conference, but we have to address it seriously. We have to put our heads together and try to figure out the best approach."

FAN FRENZIES

When fans stormed the field in Columbus, Ohio, after Ohio State's victory over Michigan on Nov. 23, it wasn't an isolated incident. In at least six other locations on the same day, fans caused problems.

Ohio St. 14, Michigan 9 (Columbus, Ohio): Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd

Oklahoma St. 38, Oklahoma 28 (Stillwater, Okla.): OSU fans tear down goalposts after beating Oklahoma for the second year in a row

Oregon St. 45, Oregon 24 (Corvallis, Ore.): Security guards surrounded the goal posts as fans rushed the field

N.C. State 17, Florida St. 10 (Raleigh, N.C.): Fans rushed the field before the game ended

California 30, Stanford 7 (Berkeley, Calif.): Cal fans threw QB Kyle Boller around, mosh-pit style

Utah 13, BYU 6 (Salt Lake City): Fans carried Utah coach Ron McBride around the field chanting, "Keep Coach Mac!"

Hawaii 20, Cincinnati 19 (Honolulu): After players brawled, police used pepper spray on fans in the stands