NFL 2009-10-04 - Oakland @ Houston: Drunk Raider Fan Goes onto the Field (and gets Arrested)

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• Description : i got a chance to attend the Raider...(more)s-Texans game this past Sunday (October 4th, 2009), and was fortunate enough to be seated in the front row of one of the end zones. at the game, an incident transpired in the first half that needed to be revealed to the public. in the front row, there is a railing that separates the fans from the playing field below. home teams (like the Texans) keep some personnel there at the railing, at the bottom of the stairs, not only to prevent fans from throwing anything onto the field, but also to encourage fans to cheer on the team. the usher manning our stairs that day was an older gentleman, probably in his 60s, named Paul. towards the end of the first quarter/beginning of the second quarter (i can't remember exactly when), an Oakland Raiders fan came down to our seats and started talking to the security guy Paul. i was under the impression he was just trying to sneak down to our front row seats and watch the action from there (the two seats next to us were empty at the time), and that Paul was telling him he'd have to go back to his seat. at the time, all of the game action was happening on the other end of the field, so it didn't make much sense. what i found out later was that this totally incoherent fanatic (who happened to be wearing all of the typical Raider Nation spike garb) was actually from Galveston, not Oakland, and that the friend he attended the game with actually described him as a 'nutjob.' when he left his seat to come down to where we were sitting, he simply told his friend, "i'll be right back." when he got to Paul and the railing, he announced his intention to storm the field. no one (including Paul) thought he was serious, since it's a pretty big drop-off to the field below. keep in mind that, between the end zone and the railing, there is a track on which a lot of the stadium personnel walk (so as to stay off the field). and, from the railing to the ground, there is about an 8 foot drop. coupled with the fact that there is a 3 foot railing, it's not an easy jump/fall to make. well, not even two feet from me, the drunk fan went over the railing. as soon as he started putting his leg over the railing, everything became quite surreal. Paul the Usher tried to grab a hold of him, but ended up getting either punched or kicked in the side of his face by the drunk fan. the drunk fan landed face-first into the track, with a thud that was painful to hear and even more painful to watch. i, as well as the three of my friends with whom I was sitting, thought the guy was gone after the fall he took. surprisingly, he got up and started stumbling around. at the edge of the field, where the track and the end zone meet, the home team has its flag-bearers, who spend most of the game cheering on the team and encouraging the fans to stand up, until the home team scores, at which point they take turns running the team flag across the field. at the moment, the Texans were on defense at the other end of the field, so everyone's attention (the photographers'/cameramen's, flag-bearers') was in that direction. well, the wasted Raiders' fan, after getting up from the 8-foot face-plant, stumbles over to one of the flag-bearers, who was clapping for the Texans at the time, pats him on the back, and starts stumbling/running into the corner of the end zone. after the surreal nature of the fan going over the railing wore off on me, i got my camera out to start videotaping. i was able to capture what happened just after he patted the flag-guy on the back. the flag guy was stunned, and as he told me later, he turned around and just kept on clapping, not realizing this drunk Raiders' guy was a fan who jumped the railing. the flag guy was under the impression that the Raiders' guy may have just been someone who had permission to walk around on the track (like the Texans' mascot Toro) to pump up the Raiders' fans and rile up the Texans' fans. well, as you can see from the video, the drunk fan starts to take off his Raider nation spike garb as he's drunk-stumbling across the field. one of the Reliant Stadium crew personnel (in green) manages to take him down, with the aid of a few others. a scuffle ensued, before the drunkard was finally handcuffed and escorted out to a serenade of boos from the Texans' fans. i was later informed that, when the cop(s) asked the fan why in the world he would do something like going out onto the field, knowing he would get caught, he told the cop that he was so pissed about the Raiders and their play-calling that he was going to run over and "Punch [Oakland Raiders] Coach [Tom] Cable in the face." enjoy. (less)