The world is separated into two types of guys: those that love beer, and those that really love beer.
(Okay, then there are those who are allergic to beer, and those who prefer wine coolers, and those who can't legally consume beer because of some pesky court order ... but you catch my drift.)
I loved beer when I used to sneak my father's Reingolds (slogan: "My beer is Reingold, the dry beer.") from the fridge, drink them, crush the cans and keep them in my bedroom desk ... just in case my father saw an extra empty or two in the garbage. (No, it never occurred to me he could just count the beers in the fridge ... c'mon, I was like 15!)
I loved that cool Heineken I had while suffering through a sweltering D.C. summer afternoon on the day I moved out of my freshman dorm. I loved discovering Belikin beer down in Belize; a brew that, when fresh and depending on whether you're sipping the light or the dark, can put either Sam Adams or Guinness to shame.
Can you tell I love the beer?
Furthermore, can you tell I REALLY REALLY love the chili turkey dog with spicy mustard and cheese from the Vienna Inn in glorious Vienna, Virginia?
My first "legal" beer came at a New Jersey Devils/Washington Capitals game in DC's hockey arena ... meaning it cost about as much as a Ford Fiesta. And while both contain a good amount of water ... aw, screw it, I'd still pick the beer.
That beer was sold to me not by the MCI Center, but by ARAMARK Corp., a management company that does everything from running concessions at sporting events to cooking up school lunches to selling uniforms for catering operations.
Oh, and their nachos taste like ass.
ARAMARK has been in the news lately for doing exactly what it did for me nearly a decade ago: selling a cold one. Unfortunately for Ronald and Fazila Verni, it was actually six cold ones, sold to Daniel Lanzaro in one transaction. That's four more than Giants Stadium allows its vendors to sell; Lanzaro tipped his beer man/woman $10 to sidestep the law.
His blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit, Lanzaro drove home from a Giants game in 1999. The Verni family was driving back from a pumpkin farm when Lanzaro plowed his truck into their car. Seven-year-old Antonia Verni was paralyzed from the neck down in the crash.
Lanzaro is serving a five-year prison sentence for vehicular assault. Last week, the Verni family was awarded $60 million in compensatory damages, assessed equally to Lanzaro and ARAMARK. One day later, a jury awarded $75 million in punitive damages to the family, finding that ARAMARK was liable for selling beer to Lanzaro "even though he was clearly drunk, and that ARAMARK fostered an atmosphere in which intoxicated patrons were served," according to the Associated Press.
The NFL doesn't sell beer after the third quarter, mainly because if you're not tanked by then, you're probably not drinking beer anyway. The Giants actually go one step further, ending beer sales at the start of the third. (Is that fallout from SnowballGate a few years back?)
Fans are already feeling repercussions of this $135 million suit — which is being appealed by ARAMARK. At last weekend's AFC Championship Game, no beer was sold in the stands during the second half of the game. Fans could go to the inside concession areas to buy some brew — if they were willing to miss chunks of the title game to do so. The NFL and Heinz Field both claimed this wasn't in response to the jury's ruling against ARAMARK, which operates concessions at the Steelers' stadium.
(Riiiight ... and the hotels in Jacksonville were planning to raise their prices next weekend even before the city was awarded the Super Bowl. Uh-huh.)
If the award to the family stands, this could be the kind of sports legal case that leads to sweeping changes. The NHL put up mosquito netting after a child was killed with a puck; will the NFL go dry after a child was crippled by a drunken ticket-holder?
Both the league and the Giants were not found liable in the Verni case. But should this scenario play out in another region, with another jury, and perhaps a death instead of paralysis, who knows?
We're living in Cover Your Own Ass times. No one told Gary Bettman he had to throw up nylon mesh in front of the stands behind the goals; the NHL chose to do so because it figured that, next time, the league could have been hit with a enormous lawsuit. (The young girl's family was awarded just $1.2 million in a settlement.)
It's conceivable that the NFL and ARAMARK could similarly overcompensate.
There are two very distinct ways of looking at this issue. The first is clearly going to be a majority opinion, which is that a few bad apples/eggs/drunks shouldn't spoil the bushel/dozen/game. Stadiums and arenas are filled with fans that can drink responsibly, before and during the game. Those fans would see the cost of attending games dramatically rise if alcohol was no longer sold; hell, they'd probably see their favorite team cut a salary or two, as well.
The second view is a bit more complex. Should a company like ARAMARK ensure that employees who serve alcohol at games are, in fact, the type that could literally be the last line of defense against dangerous inebriation? By the letter of the law, they are: most states hold commercial alcohol vendors liable in a number of legal scenarios, such selling booze after hours or serving a clear-intoxicated patron.
But tell me, friends: in our many trips to the concession stands at an arena or a stadium, what priority do you feel customer service is to these food and drink workers?
I know in my travels, I'm lucky if I get a bun with my hot dog.
I'm not saying these people aren't supremely intelligent individuals with extensive education and training.
Oh wait ... yes I am...
In fairness, these people deal in volume, so taking a few moments to administer a sobriety test really isn't a viable option.
But perhaps it should be.
Perhaps concessionaires like ARAMARK should hire some folks with a trained eye for intoxication, either to sell beer or to simply observe patrons buying it. Ex-cops maybe. Or at least current bartenders.
Furthermore, perhaps stadiums and arenas should work with local law enforcement to flag drivers that leave the arena in a manner in which their level of alcohol consumption appears to be an issue. There's probably as much booze consumed before, during and after a football game as there is on New Year's Eve, and most local roads are practically in a police lockdown every Jan. 1.
All that being said, you may have noticed that I haven't mentioned the 'T' word yet: tailgating. That's because, in the NFL, there are only Four Undeniable Truths:
1. Alcohol will never be eliminated from tailgate parties.
2. Gambling will never be eliminated from football.
3. The Super Bowl will never be held in Lambeau Field.
4. Even if it was, the Seattle Seahawks wouldn't win it.
Greg Wyshynski is also a weekly columnist for SportsFan Magazine. His columns appear every Saturday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Greg at [email protected].
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