There’s Plenty of Blame to Share For This Debacle

“Pathetic,” was Shane Conlan’s word for it.

“Stupid,” Chris Chandler said.

“Ridiculous,” Todd Lyght muttered.

And in another corner of the locker room, Jackie Slater sadly shook his head and noted, “A little bit of dishonor was involved here.”

Surprisingly, these Rams weren’t talking about the Rams’ playbook.

Or the Rams’ play in Sunday’s dreary 20-17 loss at home to the Raiders.

Or the Rams’ playoff chances after dropping to 4-6 with road games at San Francisco and San Diego next on the schedule.

These Rams were talking about Ram fans. And Raider fans. The two of them, mixed together in the Anaheim Stadium aisles like some breathing, heaving Molotov cocktail--igniting every few minutes into bare-knuckled brawls that sent bodies spilling over seats and Anaheim police units charging from section to section, making more sweeps than Jerome Bettis and Harvey Williams.

“Every time I looked up,” Ram safety Anthony Newman said, “another fight was breaking out. They just kept fighting and fighting and fighting. . . . These people were out of control.”

Fourteen arrests. Fifty-five ejections. An estimated 20 to 25 separate altercations, according to Anaheim police Sgt. Gerald Stec, who heads the department’s stadium detail. Most of the fights erupted during the second half, after enough beer had fermented inside enough bellies.

Tight end Troy Drayton, a second-year man from Penn State, said he had never seen anything like it. Before Sunday, Drayton thought Pitt-Penn State was the epitome of pigskin-related intensity.

“In college, we had our rivals,” Drayton said, “but we never had fans fighting in the stands. In high school, you’d see some scuffles here and there.

“Unfortunately, the people here seem to hate each other that much. Really, they were trying to kill each other.”

It made for an afternoon of surreal spectacle. Ram and Raider players hugged on the field after the game, after Ram and Raider fans had slugged their way through it. In the press box, binoculars trained not on the action on third and one, but on the action in Section 271. Anaheim Stadium’s beefed-up security force featured more yellow jackets than you’d find at a Georgia Tech game--most of them on the move most of the time.

Newman blamed it on the undesirables who moved on down the freeway Sunday to spend a few hours in Orange County with their fists clenched.

“You look up in the stands and you see nothing but Raider shirts, people drinking and carrying on,” Newman said.

“I’ve played in every stadium in the league and the only place this kind of thing happens is at the Coliseum--and here, when we play the Raiders. A lot of Raider fans come here looking to fight people, not watch a football game. That’s why a lot of people don’t go to Raider games . . .

“You have family here. Kids. It’s a danger. I had friends and relatives in the stands today, but they were scattered. You’re worried every time you see a fight break out. You hope it’s not in the section they’re in.”

Slater concurred.

“It seems like we get that every time we play the Raiders,” Slater said. “It’s pretty unfortunate. But I’m sure if you ask the Raiders, they’re saying the same things. Just like us, they’re looking over their shoulders, hoping one of their friends isn’t getting hurt or thrown out of the game.”

Raider fans, as Lyght diplomatically worded it, “are different. They’re a little more intense than those of most NFL clubs. That’s the way they do it.”

But, it takes two to tangle, no?

If those were Raider fans delivering the first punch, who were those blue- and gold-shirted mugs behind the second, fourth and sixth punches?

“I think Ram fans and Raider fans alike should be ashamed,” Slater said. “A little bit of dishonor was involved here.

“You see someone you recognize as a Ram fan and he’s all pumped up and he’s telling you he got in a fight. What are we teaching our kids? What did you teach that teen-ager sitting next to you? That preteen-ager?”

Defensive tackle Sean Gilbert said, “I would hope that we have mature fans who just come and watch the game. The Raider fans don’t like the Ram fans, but there’s got to be a better way to work it out other than violence.”

Any suggestions?

Maybe we can move one of the teams out of the area. Or maybe both of them. To some place safer than the View level at an NFL game in east Anaheim.

Some place like, say, St. Louis.

Or Oakland.

Where else? Detroit? No, Detroit already has a team.

“There should be enough violence on the field to satisfy everybody,” Lyght surmised. “Just sit back, relax and enjoy it.

“But so many of these guys want to knuckle it up. We ought to have them show up at two-a-days. Give them some pads and let them go at it. Come on out.

“We have enough uniforms for everybody.”