Nov 21, 2007 6:22 am US/Eastern
SHOCK VIDEO: Jets Humiliated By 'Gate D Party'
Clip Shows Lewd Chants, Behavior At Giants Stadium
Reporting
Jay Dow
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (CBS) ―
They're subjected to taunting and teasing. Women are being encouraged to expose themselves.
It's happening during halftime at New York Jets football games.
A shocking video that initially surfaced on YouTube has cast a bad light on the Jets and their fans. The video shows what is known as a "Gate D Party," clearly not what most fans pay to see when they come to the team's home games at Giants Stadium.
Mostly male fans pack the stadium's spiral columns, presumably drinking beer, sometimes encouraging young women to lift up their shirts.
"The fans -- they're excited and stuff like that," said Chino Ramos of the Bronx. "They do it in New Orleans all the time. No, I don't have a problem with it."
The gathering is nothing new, but many say it has changed -- for the worse.
On Sunday, visiting Steelers fan Dawn Gottschalk unknowingly walked into the crowd where she says hundreds of men singled her out and screamed for her to show her breasts.
"People were touching me and things like that and it was very, very frightening," Gottschalk said.
When Gottschalk refused, it got ugly.
"They started yelling obscenities and throwing beer bottles," Gottschalk said. "And spitting and it was really intimidating.
"As I was looking for my husband I saw a security guard walking by. I thought 'Oh great! He'll stop this.' But he didn't. He just kind of was shaking his head. He kind of chuckled to himself. He didn't stop it. He just kept walking."
John Santangelo of West Milford, Conn., said that type of behavior has been prevalent at Jets games for a long time.
"They really get going and they start chanting," Santangelo said. "I wouldn't want my wife over there."
Added Michele Jurewicz of Fairfield: "Everybody is entitled to have a good time, but sometimes when it gets out of control things happen that shouldn't happen."
And don't for a second think the fans making up the party are all young, misguided kids. There were plenty of misguided adults involved as well.
"We think of peer pressure issues with respect to kids and adolescents," said Dr. Andrew Simon of Seton Hall University. "It seems to be true with adults too."
In a written statement, State Senate President Richard Codey on Tuesday called for the state police and New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to increase security, adding:
"Apparently, Gate D stands for drunk and disgusting. It's beyond comprehension why security personnel would tolerate such behavior. …"
George Zoffinger, the CEO of the NJSEA, said his group is having a hard time fingering guilty parties.
"It's extremely difficult to identify the people that are doing it because it's a huge crowd," Zoffinger said.
Zoffinger agrees the behavior is unacceptable, and he says fans will definitely see more security.
Even with beefed up game day security in the spiral, it's unclear if it would change some of the rowdy behavior. State police and stadium officials say while they will arrest someone for exposing themselves -- there's no public safety concern and nothing illegal about chanting during a football game. However, fans caught harassing anyone will be ejected and if they have season tickets those tickets could be voided.
And the Jets released a statement a short time ago, saying "We will not allow a small minority of people to ruin the experience for our fans and will be monitoring the situation."
To Gottschalk, that's not nearly good enough.
"You feel very demoralized when it happens to you," Gottschalk said. "Whether you're a man or woman. It's public humiliation. And someone should stop it."
CBS 2 HD's Hazel Sanchez contributed to his report.
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