by Brian Williams

Created on: September 24, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

In the game of football, the 12th man is a vital element for a playoff contender, the decibel levels of a football stadium is deafening! It doesn't matter if it's amatuer or professional, the 12th man has the strongest presence on the field.

In this game, the sport of football is so popular, dozens of college stadiums like USC, Notre Dame, and Michigan, just to name a few seat over 100,000 fans, WHOA! In Pasadena, home of the UCLA Bruins, this stadium seats 102,000 people, a site so large that the NFL has hosted over a half dozen Super Bowls on this college campus alone. So why so many people to attend a football game? The deafening noise of joy! Now in college football, the school-like atomosphere of the student body brings the excitement you see in Bowl games, but in professional football, the adult discipline of fan fare is no exception!

Cities such as Seattle, Oakland, Buffalo, and Miami to name a few have been absolutely menacing to opposing teams. The respected cities of Seattle and Buffalo had actually retired the 12th man in reconigtion of decades of loyal support finacially and vocally! In other cities, the fan fare is much more volitaile. When you think of the term "Hostile Environment", that means the fans are loud and angry! Unfortunately in cities like Oakland, the Raider fans bring new meaning to the word hostile!

In Oakland, the fans are a freak of nature! As a Raider fan I will tell you first hand, DO NOT BRING YOUR CHILDREN! I witnessed a game where The Raiders lost at the last second and ten of thousands of fans stormed out of the building stark raving mad! The Oakland Police Department was bombarded as fans literally walked into the I-880 interstate! All I heard was police officers arguing "I am not stepping in front of that angry mob!" Now don't let this confuse you, in the 60's and 70's it wasn't this bad, some Raider fans would tell you that these "new breed of fans" came from L.A. during the Raiders stint there, but truthfully it's their unshaken passion for their favorite team. Say what you will about them, the fans have suffered through television black outs, due to slow ticket sales, but the remainder of the seats available get sold out by game day.

Some cities whose team has never either participated or even won a Super Bowl, sell out weekly. Believe it or not The Detroit Lions, in a game agaisnt the Packers, were on the verge of their first black out at Ford Field. Even though the franchise, since 2001, went 31-84, Ford Field sold out every week, an impressive display of loyalty! The Arizona Cardinals get support from a college town, support that is so enormous the city hosted 2 Super Bowls and built a brand new stadium.

In conclusion, the 12th man is like a weapon of mass destruction, ready to explode! If the visiting team can get off to a good start, you can silence the crowd. However, if you turnover the football, you will witness the gods of noise roar! Some stadiums, especially domed stadiums, have been measured at 150 decibels! 150! That is equivalent to a jet engine inginition, or a front seat at a NASCAR event! Keep in mind this is at a football game! With everything from painted faces, costumes, or even several guys half naked with "GO TEAM" written on their chest, the 12th man, is one of the greatest spectacles in sports!

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