This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it FanHouse in the Stands.
Right in front of me, I saw something happen at the Texans 29-6 win over the Raiders that I've never seen at a NFL game. A Raiders fan jumped onto the field, got tackled by security in the Raiders end zone, and the Raiders ran a play as the guy was getting handcuffed. Either the refs didn't see it happen, or they figured the guy wasn't in the field of play because the Raiders weren't going to be visiting the end zone with that offense. Zing!
That couldn't have felt good. The security guy in the yellow shirt moved pretty good for a big guy and tackled the Raiders fan down on the pylon. (Update: The video show the green shirted security guy got to him first. Still didn't look comfortable)
I always wonder what possesses a person to do such a thing when the likely end result is a trip to jail. Some might blame it on the a-a-a-al alcohol but a ton of people drink and don't sag-pants their way onto football fields. I was able to track down the actual conversation between the police officer and the Raider fan (second-hand version as told by officer):
Officer: What were you thinking?
Raiders fan: The Raiders just make me so upset since they keep losing...
Officer: So you have been upset for a long time.
Raiders fan: (head down) Yeah...I guess so...
I have a lot of sympathy for that. I paid to watch David Carr "quarterback" for five years. I guess running onto the field is less drastic than eye bleach, for instance.
Another Raiders fan had a different way to cope with his team's wretched performance. Taking a nap. An extremely loud cannon goes off every time the Texans score, and this guy didn't even flinch when it went off:
The north end zone at Reliant Stadium is called the Bull Pen. It's the part of the stadium with particularly enthusiastic fans who stand up the entire game.
The Bull Pen isn't a place I'd recommend for a visiting fan, especially one who decides to snooze.
Raider Fan didn't get the Sharpie treatment, though his head would have made a perfect canvas for some crude drawings if someone were so inclined. Instead, some Texans fans were hospitable and gave him a Texans banner blanket and then everybody took cell phone pictures of him:
Unfortunately, Raider Fan woke up and decided he was hungry, and then proceeded to get nachos all over the fans around him.
Witnesses say that when those fans asked him to stop, he used choice profanities, including ones directed at kids.
He was escorted out of the Bull Pen by the yellow shirts -- the fan name for the security/usher guys that roam the stadium. I have to say that the Raiders fans in my area of the stadium were pretty good people.
It's hard to get too obnoxious in a road stadium when your team is playing so poorly.
(Special thanks to Andy Martin of BullPenPhotos.com. He has many photos of the Texans-Raiders game, including special section he included for just this game involving *special* Raider fans).
