LA_MERC_Andyconda
February 4th, 2007, 03:25 PM
After reading this article on how bears fans were completly classless ay the NFDC championship game, I'm a big fan for Indy today. Go Payton Manning
Adding insult to calamity
Saints fans disgusted, alarmed by Bears fans
By AL JONES
[email protected]
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A sign outside Soldier Stadium on Sunday before the New Orleans Saints played the Chicago Bears for the NFC championship.
GULFPORT - David Shoemake has been to the Super Bowl, the World Series, NASCAR races as well as NFL games at Atlanta, Oakland and Denver. But nothing holds a candle to the abuse he said he and his friends from South Mississippi took during the NFC championship game in Chicago.
Shoemake, a Gulfport businessman, was appalled with Bears fans and felt threatened throughout the Saints' 39-14 loss.
"It put fear in our hearts," he said. "If the Saints had won, we might not have made it out of Soldier Field. Sadly, for the Saints fans, the loss was the best thing in terms of our safety."
Shoemake and his wife, Dianne, joined Tim Stenum, Gene Stenum and Gene Paul Stenum of Biloxi on the historic trip to support the Saints.
For David Shoemake, a longtime season-ticketholder back to the days of Tulane Stadium, it turned into a nightmare. The nightmare ranged from signs hung inside the stadium to verbal insults and threats.
"I've been to a lot of places," he said. "This was unbelievable. By far, the lowest class of fans are definitely the Chicago Bears fans.
"It all started when we walked into the stadium. They taunted us from the beginning by throwing yellow-colored snowballs at us. My initial thinking was the snowballs were made out of beer. I hope it was beer because the fans threatened us by saying they were not going to the bathroom. Instead, they told us they were going to p--- on the Saints fans.
"My wife was scared to death. We were outnumbered and we could not really say anything. If you fought one, you had to fight them all. To get out of the stadium, Saints fans had to turn their jerseys inside out."
With threats coming from every angle, Shoemake said a phone number flashed underneath the scoreboard for fans to call in cases of taunting and unruly treatment by others.
According to Shoemake, if you had a 228 or 504 area code, calls for help were not answered.
"They never answered any of our calls," Shoemake said. "It was horrible. The vulgar language we heard was worse than at any NASCAR race. Not only was it vulgar, the fans were very aggressive to us. The things they taunted us with could never be written in the newspaper.
"I will never go back and spend my money in Chicago again."
Roger Hacker, the media information manager for the Bears, acknowledged there were problems at the game.
"Personally I didn't see or witness anything like that," Hacker said. "If it did, it's disgusting. I had a call from a lady in New Orleans about the same thing happening to her, and we apologized to her. Nobody needs to leave our city feeling that way. No one deserves to be treated like that.
"We are real disappointed our fans treated our visitors like that. We apologize."
As far as posted signs, Shoemake said two hit home in a very sad way.
The signs said "Ride your boat back to New Orleans, Katrina victims" and "We're going to finish what Katrina didn't."
Even the famous Who Dat chants by Saints fans were stopped short by Screw Dat chants by Bears supporters.
"It was all young males," Shoemake said. "The crowd was overwhelming young males. It was disgusting and we didn't talk to one Saints fan who didn't have the same opinion that we had.
"The sign that said 'Ride your boat back to New Orleans, Katrina victims' was really sad. There were negative remarks about Reggie Bush having the same name as President Bush.
"New Orleans Saints fans are a lot more classy and it had nothing about losing, because we all know we've lost a lot of games. In defeat, Saints fans were more gracious than the Bears fans were after they won. No doubt, we have class and Chicago fans have no idea what that word is."
Adding insult to calamity
Saints fans disgusted, alarmed by Bears fans
By AL JONES
[email protected]
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A sign outside Soldier Stadium on Sunday before the New Orleans Saints played the Chicago Bears for the NFC championship.
GULFPORT - David Shoemake has been to the Super Bowl, the World Series, NASCAR races as well as NFL games at Atlanta, Oakland and Denver. But nothing holds a candle to the abuse he said he and his friends from South Mississippi took during the NFC championship game in Chicago.
Shoemake, a Gulfport businessman, was appalled with Bears fans and felt threatened throughout the Saints' 39-14 loss.
"It put fear in our hearts," he said. "If the Saints had won, we might not have made it out of Soldier Field. Sadly, for the Saints fans, the loss was the best thing in terms of our safety."
Shoemake and his wife, Dianne, joined Tim Stenum, Gene Stenum and Gene Paul Stenum of Biloxi on the historic trip to support the Saints.
For David Shoemake, a longtime season-ticketholder back to the days of Tulane Stadium, it turned into a nightmare. The nightmare ranged from signs hung inside the stadium to verbal insults and threats.
"I've been to a lot of places," he said. "This was unbelievable. By far, the lowest class of fans are definitely the Chicago Bears fans.
"It all started when we walked into the stadium. They taunted us from the beginning by throwing yellow-colored snowballs at us. My initial thinking was the snowballs were made out of beer. I hope it was beer because the fans threatened us by saying they were not going to the bathroom. Instead, they told us they were going to p--- on the Saints fans.
"My wife was scared to death. We were outnumbered and we could not really say anything. If you fought one, you had to fight them all. To get out of the stadium, Saints fans had to turn their jerseys inside out."
With threats coming from every angle, Shoemake said a phone number flashed underneath the scoreboard for fans to call in cases of taunting and unruly treatment by others.
According to Shoemake, if you had a 228 or 504 area code, calls for help were not answered.
"They never answered any of our calls," Shoemake said. "It was horrible. The vulgar language we heard was worse than at any NASCAR race. Not only was it vulgar, the fans were very aggressive to us. The things they taunted us with could never be written in the newspaper.
"I will never go back and spend my money in Chicago again."
Roger Hacker, the media information manager for the Bears, acknowledged there were problems at the game.
"Personally I didn't see or witness anything like that," Hacker said. "If it did, it's disgusting. I had a call from a lady in New Orleans about the same thing happening to her, and we apologized to her. Nobody needs to leave our city feeling that way. No one deserves to be treated like that.
"We are real disappointed our fans treated our visitors like that. We apologize."
As far as posted signs, Shoemake said two hit home in a very sad way.
The signs said "Ride your boat back to New Orleans, Katrina victims" and "We're going to finish what Katrina didn't."
Even the famous Who Dat chants by Saints fans were stopped short by Screw Dat chants by Bears supporters.
"It was all young males," Shoemake said. "The crowd was overwhelming young males. It was disgusting and we didn't talk to one Saints fan who didn't have the same opinion that we had.
"The sign that said 'Ride your boat back to New Orleans, Katrina victims' was really sad. There were negative remarks about Reggie Bush having the same name as President Bush.
"New Orleans Saints fans are a lot more classy and it had nothing about losing, because we all know we've lost a lot of games. In defeat, Saints fans were more gracious than the Bears fans were after they won. No doubt, we have class and Chicago fans have no idea what that word is."