Put down the beers, please

By Eddie Hughes

Here’s an idea for some specific Fresno State fans sitting in the student section: Don’t throw your beers.

It’s getting tiresome. Oregon State was upset in 2001 when they were hit with objects flying from the student section at Bulldog Stadium. Guess what happened Saturday night when the Beavers returned?

After the Bulldogs blocked a field goal attempt, a penalty gave the ball back to the Beavers. The crowd didn’t like that call, prompting some fans in the student section to pelt the Oregon State sideline with about 10 objects.

The assorted objects included plastic beer bottles (some half-full), beer cups and even a Nutri-Grain bar.

Sure, Oregon State players were taunting the student section throughout the game, but that’s no excuse to throw things onto the playing field. There’s never an excuse for that.

Fresno State fans should be ashamed of the handful of people guilty of ignorance. And judging by the numerous boos Saturday night when the objects were launched from the stands, many Red Wavers are fed up.

There’s a difference between being an avid fan and being inappropriate, rude and obnoxious. And sadly, there were fans that fit each of those descriptions Saturday night.

These people must not care about the image of their hometown. If so, making the home fans look like villains on national television is a strange way of showing local pride.

Bulldogs coach Pat Hill talked about the crowd being a big factor in the 16-14 win. Dee Meza, Claude Sanders and Bryce McGill agreed.

“ The crowd was huge,” Meza said. “I saw a couple empty seats, but the crowd was great.”

Meza, of course, was referring to the crowd’s verbal support. Being on the opposite side of the stadium, the Bulldogs were shielded from the classless beer-fall launched at Oregon State in the fourth quarter.

The fans that enjoy throwing beer bottles as if they’re pigskins better be careful. They might prompt Oregon State to stop visiting Bulldog Stadium.

It wouldn’t be surprising. Do the Beavers really want to continue this rivalry when they have lost all six games in Bulldog Stadium, had objects thrown at them in the last two and have to dress their 60-plus players in a baseball dugout made for 35 baseball players?

If Oregon State—one of the only BCS-conference teams brave enough to visit Bulldog Stadium regularly—decides it doesn’t want to come to Fresno anymore, a collective enraged finger can be pointed at these Bulldogs fans.

They’re the fans who don’t want to act with courtesy. They don’t care if the visitors ever want to spend time and money in Fresno again. They don’t care if the city’s reputation is tarnished by national media. Even though it’s their fault, they don’t care.

And, apparently, they don’t care that they will being seeing a lot more of Division I-AA Portland State instead of the Pac-10’s Oregon State in the future.

— This columnist can be reached at ehughes@cvip.net.