Booze on Board

It’s the football season and football means beer. A new study found that 8% of fans who agreed to be tested after attending professional football and baseball games were too drunk to legally drive, and 40% had booze in their bodies.

Researchers approached fans as they left 13 Major League Baseball games and three National Football League games in 2006. They didn’t test or survey any fans under age 21, who cannot drink legally, or from approach people who obviously were drunk, although they said that they did not see anybody in that category. Researcher Darin Erickson says, "It may not seem like a lot when you say 8% leaving a game were above the legal limit, when you look at a big stadium that has 5,000 attendees," but over time, "if you look at the hundreds to thousands of games, this is a lot of intoxicated individuals."

Researcher Ruth Engs supports "responsible drinking" and suggests LOWERING the drinking age can be a way to promote it more effectively. As for the idea of banning booze at sporting events, she says, "Most adults in the United States do drink responsibly. Preventing adults from drinking a beer with their brats and hotdogs before a football game is not likely to succeed." Meanwhile, maybe it’s safer to watch the NFL playoffs on TV. It’s safer to drink beer at home too, especially if you drink it out of one of our beautiful Dreamland mugs!