1 in 12 pro sports fans drunk

I drink alcohol, although I don't drink much. In fact, I will go months without a drink if I am dieting, and then when I am not, well, I am finding that I just don't like how it makes me feel these days.

Here is a picture of me and my younger brother in Paris, I went to stay with him last year right after my July competition. We did an awful lot if this! I had a wonderful time, but it was vacation and the most strenuous event was climbing the Eiffel tower.

I don't have much enthusiasm for anything once I have a few glasses of wine, I guess that makes sense because it is a depressant. And I also find it difficult to wake up at 4:00 am and hoist heavy metal over my head several times after having a few glasses of wine.

There certainly are occasions when I love to join friends and have a couple though. Or perhaps when I am laying on the beach on vacation and have nothing to do but read a good book. Or, like in the picture above, stopping at a bar every few feet as I wander through Paris on a hot day in July.

I do notice that after consuming any alcohol, my skin is not as tight as it was, and that doesn't go away for a few days. I am sure there is a logical reason, and it doesn't matter why, I don't care for the effects it has on my body.

I read this article and it was pretty alarming. I think had I ever sat down just to think about how many people get "drunk" at sporting events, I would have guessed this, but what alarms me about it is my son, your son, friends or family could be involved in an accident with any one of these people, just be being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Keep your eyes open for drunks, or better yet, get pay per view!

January 18, 2011By Dawn Rhodes, Tribune reporter


This is for anyone who has ever encountered a drunken fan at a sporting event.
 

University of Minnesota researchers tested the blood alcohol content of 362 people to see how much folks drink when they go to professional baseball and football games.

In their study, released Tuesday, they determined that 40 percent of the participants had some alcohol in their system and 8 percent were drunk, meaning their blood alcohol content was .08 or higher.

"Given the number of attendees at these sporting events, we can be talking about thousands of people leaving a professional sporting event who are legally intoxicated," lead author Darin Erickson said. The study did not address what percentage, if any, of those fans intended to drive.

To collect the data, research staff waited outside 13 Major League Baseball and three National Football League games and randomly approached fans as they left. Those who consented took a breath test and answered questions about when, where and how much they drank on game day.

The study also found that some groups were several times more likely to be drunk after a game, such as fans age 35 or younger and those who had tailgated before the game.

Erickson said more research is needed but that the results warrant a closer look at alcohol-serving policies and police patrols during and after games.


"People just need to be aware of their alcohol consumption," Erickson said. "This is not just an issue where people are putting themselves [at] harm, but it's really an issue where we're putting others at harm too."