Why don’t you get pitch invasions in American sports

I’d imagine it’s just a cultural thing

just like we don’t get people in the stadium car park in lawn chairs running a BBQ pit and dishing out beers. Instead we have a burger van
 
Fan culture in general is so different in US sports to the UK, specifically, football culture.

I went to an Oakland Raiders game with a few American mates and they spend weeks telling me how intense it was, how scary "the black hole" at The Coliseum is, how I'd be terrified etc. I reassured them that I'd been in Rome with The Carabinieri following us around, I'd been teargassed in Zurich or chased around Moss Side by Man City and I reckoned it would be fine. So I went to the game, and I'm not lying when I say I'd been to more intense and scary pre-season friendlies (Hull away for one). Everyone from both sides having a great time, some light hearted banter and some people dressed as Hellraiser were as scary as it got. They wouldn't have it that this wasn't the most intense thing I'd ever seen.

I've also been to 49'ers games where the 1st day of a test match looked like Boca V's River Plate in comparison.

From a soccer / football perspective I took myself off to Reno for the weekend, and took in a game between Reno1868 & Tulsa Roughnecks, in the USL Championship (the division below MLS). Ignoring that the standard of football was dreadful, what got me was:-

1) Their equivalent of Roary the Lion was dropped off in a helicopter 5 minutes before the start of the game into the centre circle, this to entertain a crowd probably less that what I used to see at Hitchin Town.
2) The stadium announcer was work than Mark Page, and announced corners with all the enthusiasm of a last minute winner in a FA cup final
3) The fans spent most of the game with their backs to the pitch as they focused on their choreographed singing and dancing, and when Reno scored it was almost an irrelevance that got in their way of the 3rd verse of the chant they were on at the time.

I love the US, and love baseball, but other than that American sports, and the lack of fan culture, leave me cold.
 
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The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Fan culture in general is so different in US sports to the UK, specifically, football culture.

I went to an Oakland Raiders with a few American mates and they spend weeks telling me how intense it was, how scary "the black hole" at The Coliseum is, how I'd be terrified etc. I reassured them that I'd been in Rome with The Carabinieri following us around, I'd been teargassed in Zurich or chased around Moss Side by Man City and I reckoned it would be fine. So I went to the game, and I'm not lying when I say I'd been to more intense and scary pre-season friendlies (Hull away for one). Everyone from both sides having a great time, some light hearted banter and some people dressed as Hellraiser were as scary as it got. They wouldn't have it that this wasn't the most intense thing I'd ever seen.

I've also been to 49'ers games where the 1st day of a test match looked like Boca V's River Plate in comparison.

From a soccer / football perspective I took myself off to Reno for the weekend, and took in a game between Reno1868 & Tulsa Roughnecks, in the USL Championship (the division below MLS). Ignoring that the standard of football was dreadful, what got me was:-

1) Their equivalent of Roary the Lion was dropped off in a helicopter 5 minutes before the start of the game into the centre circle
2) The stadium announcer was work than Mark Page, and announced corners with all the enthusiasm of a last minute winner in a FA cup final
3) The fans spent most of the game with their backs to the pitch as they focused on their choreographed singing and dancing, and when Reno scored it was almost an irrelevance that got in their way of the 3rd verse of the chant they were on at the time.

I love the US, and love baseball, but other than that American sports, and the lack of fan culture, leave me cold.
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Don’t forget the obligatory chant

LETS GO.... insert name of team here

I’ve heard it at the Yankees at the mets at the islanders rangers etc
 
The_Lizards_Jumpers said:
Fan culture in general is so different in US sports to the UK, specifically, football culture.

I went to an Oakland Raiders with a few American mates and they spend weeks telling me how intense it was, how scary "the black hole" at The Coliseum is, how I'd be terrified etc. I reassured them that I'd been in Rome with The Carabinieri following us around, I'd been teargassed in Zurich or chased around Moss Side by Man City and I reckoned it would be fine. So I went to the game, and I'm not lying when I say I'd been to more intense and scary pre-season friendlies (Hull away for one). Everyone from both sides having a great time, some light hearted banter and some people dressed as Hellraiser were as scary as it got. They wouldn't have it that this wasn't the most intense thing I'd ever seen.

I've also been to 49'ers games where the 1st day of a test match looked like Boca V's River Plate in comparison.

From a soccer / football perspective I took myself off to Reno for the weekend, and took in a game between Reno1868 & Tulsa Roughnecks, in the USL Championship (the division below MLS). Ignoring that the standard of football was dreadful, what got me was:-

1) Their equivalent of Roary the Lion was dropped off in a helicopter 5 minutes before the start of the game into the centre circle
2) The stadium announcer was work than Mark Page, and announced corners with all the enthusiasm of a last minute winner in a FA cup final
3) The fans spent most of the game with their backs to the pitch as they focused on their choreographed singing and dancing, and when Reno scored it was almost an irrelevance that got in their way of the 3rd verse of the chant they were on at the time.

I love the US, and love baseball, but other than that American sports, and the lack of fan culture, leave me cold.
Click to expand...
totally agree been to Ravens new and old stadiums, the stands are often half empty as people congregate under the stands for some horrible bland weak lager, or a hot dog. The stadium, there was noise, but mostly just people chatting.

Baseball, there was a bit of spikeyness when the yankees were in town, I even saw someone get punched.

Basketball and hockey, meh, I've been at more intense kids football matches.

MLS, I used to have a DC United ST years ago, I got invited to stand in the south americans section that was good fun, but amongst the local american born white middle class fans it was boring.
 
BoroMart said:
totally agree been to Ravens new and old stadiums, the stands are often half empty as people congregate under the stands for some horrible bland weak lager, or a hot dog. The stadium, there was noise, but mostly just people chatting.

Baseball, there was a bit of spikeyness when the yankees were in town, I even saw someone get punched.

Basketball and hockey, meh, I've been at more intense kids football matches.

MLS, I used to have a DC United ST years ago, I got invited to stand in the south americans section that was good fun, but amongst the local american born white middle class fans it was boring.
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Ravens games are waaaaay more atmospheric than Washington ones (unless you count booing as atmosphere?!) and hockey is the closest I've been to experiencing a footy crowd tbh, seen a few fights in the stands at games (mind you, usually not between rival sets of fans).
 
If you look, a lot of the stadiums aren’t at pitch level like ours. I imagine they’re raised because of the amount of people they have on the sideline. So that would make it quite hard to get on.
 
Ben_Jamin said:
If you look, a lot of the stadiums aren’t at pitch level like ours. I imagine they’re raised because of the amount of people they have on the sideline. So that would make it quite hard to get on.
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Often had a moat as well in the older ones to give even less chance
 
Comparing US sports crowds with what you see in England is apples and oranges. Baseball teams play 162 games in the regular season, typically a game ( or two) every day, with three or four in a row against the same team. Away fans - the distance between teams is typically thousands of miles, even local rivalries like (in football) between the Bills and Jets is over a 600 mile return trip. That's Boro versus Brighton distance. So you just don't get lots of away fans at a Boston Celtics v Phoenix Suns basketball game.

But you do get great atmosphere at end of season games, or post season games. Don't expect to get that when the Orioles take on the Mariners in September when they've lost 200 games between them though.
 
Low_Key said:
we should start tail gate parties here. Although we would need a lot more trucks about!!
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The closest I’ve been to it was twickenham. I used to work in the automotive industry and got tickets to an England match with one of the dealers, they had a full spread out with beers pre match and then hot chilli con carne post match with more beers, all on pop up tables.

Plenty of others “tailgating” but it’s not quite the same when it’s mainly champers and cucumbers sandwiches out of a Range Rover!
 
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