NO DRINKING ON SUPERBOWL SUNDAY?

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee would like to ban hard liquor for the Superbowl.

Oh the FOOLISHNESS

Really.

Answering the Mayor’s drastic call for sobriety, Tucker Carlson, on Fox News, answered. “It’s possible that your team can play in the super bowl AND you can have a drink without setting fire to anything.”  Mind blowing!

 I am not particularly sure how in today’s economy tying the hands of business owners on, of all days, Super Bowl Sunday, is the most prudent way to handle the nuts who feel setting fires and flipping cars is the appropriate response to your team Winning.  (Although I admire The Mayor’s presumption of such.)   I admit, as a Jets fan I do not have a lot of experience with this, winning. But I would like to believe that a predisposed ounce of sanity along with a fear of large uncontrolled fires and a bad back would provide some hiccups to a championship celebration run amok.  It helps that I am most certainly not a certifiable nut, hell bent on destruction of property.

 What happened to the days of popping a bottle of champagne, cheering loudly for your team as they parade around in their new, made-a-week-ago, championship caps, and celebrating with a pile of wings and chips? And why can’t I be trusted with a real drink?

 It sounds as if the mayor has some impractical, if not delusional, advisors.  Banning “hard liquor” is not going to stop your average football fan from consuming enough beer to both set fires and flip cars, if that is what they really want to do.  I imagine his fear of the same headline craziness we’ve been reading after so many championship games in so many cities for so many sports is at the root of his desire for a sober Superbowl.  Yes Mayor, we also remember “The San Francisco Giants Riot”. Still, I admit I really don’t get it.

 The San Francisco Giants World Series win debacle ended with 36 people arrested during post game “celebrations.” 23 of those were deemed felonies.   So, according to Lee, I shouldn’t be able to have a glass of Patron on the rocks because 36 people in his city – the second most densely populated, major city in the United States after New York City – went nuts?

At my last look, Mayor Ed Lee had the following suggestion. “I suggest that they serve something (other) than heavy alcohol during the times of celebration cause that inebriation sometimes doesn’t help with people who might go beyond the bounds of acceptability in their celebration.”

 (YES, he said “cause”)

He says his concern is for the small businesses that got HURT during the baseball celebration.  So, of course, the answer is to punish all businesses that serve alcohol – along with all responsible adults.

 This seems to be a common theme these days. Punish the majority because of a small minority of law-breakers.

 But you have to love the American Beverage Institute for putting their 2 cents in.  In a statement on Monday, they asked the city “to avoid demonizing a perfectly legal product.”  Good point. But it leads to the question of why would the Mayor want to “demonize” and punish only “hard liquor” drinkers? I consider myself a pretty tame Tequila drinker, but I have known my fair share of well…let’s just call them rambunctious beer drinkers.  I do find it interesting that NO one seems to think WINE drinkers watch football… (Just an afterthought.)

 Well, I am pretty darn sure the Mayor’s idea is a foolish, unenforceable concept.  And, who knows…. Maybe the Ravens will win.  Or, perhaps the biggest fight will just be between the Harbaugh brothers.

red@dealingwithfools.com