The notable (new?) reality of tokers and NFL tailgating in Denver
Regular readers of this blog may surmise that I think (as do perhaps some other blog contributors) that the ways in which the National Football League formally and informally deals with marijuana issues in the months and years ahead could play a huge role in how much of the nation formally and informally deals with marijuana issues. Consequently, I found notable this new New York Times piece by Michael Powell, headlined “Football’s in the Air, and in Denver, So Is the Sweet Smell of Herb: Marijuana Seeps Into Tailgating Rituals at Mile High in Colorado.” Here is an excerpt:
I’m standing in a parking lot overlooking the stadium known prosaically as Sports Authority and poetically as Mile High. That handle is metaphorically apt, too, as I’m engaged in the all-American sport of tailgating, with Corey and the Wookie and four friends….
The tall, red-bearded professional chef with excellent shades who insists his friends know him as the Wookie fires up the pipe and, amid clouds, talks legalized weed and the world that has followed on its heels. “Why do you think Peyton Manning invested in pizza places after legalization? Boom! Stoners love pizza.”…
Herbaceous tailgating, truth be told, is in its infancy. The Mile High Cannabis dispensary stands across the street from the stadium, and watching its game-day traffic of orange-clad customers calls to mind the week leading up to Christmas. “We’re glad to do our part in getting people amped for the game,” says budtender Erin Catalano….
But the Broncos, following in the prim footsteps of the N.F.L., have taken a position of sniffy disapproval. Go to the team’s website under the heading of marijuana. “Any form of marijuana consumption,” it says, “is prohibited on Sports Authority Field at Mile High property during public events, including in stadium parking lots.” That goes for edibles; you must leave the gummy bears at home.
The N.F.L. insists it is enforcing Colorado law. Whatever. The Colorado Symphony has taken a laid-back path of no resistance whatsoever. It has “Classically Cannabis: The High Note Series.” (This is not to argue that all has gone well with legalization. Meth heads have embraced the herb and hash oil explosions have become a clear and present danger in Colorado, proving that stupidity grows apace with social change.)
Less comprehensible is why the N.F.L., that most gladiatorial of our major sports, continues to embrace reefer madness. It tests for pot in infinitesimal quantities and suspends repeat offenders for entire seasons….
A linebacker in Colorado can limp into the locker room with dislocated fingers, twisted ligaments and bruises like leprosy splotches. He will get legally shot up and prescribed various and many opiates. Or he can grab a 12-pack of the N.F.L.’s official beer and drink himself into sweet oblivion. But if he goes home and dips into his legal stash of cannabis indica and dozes off in front of his television? He is a threat to American sport, not to mention that one-armed bandit of an industry known as the N.F.L. The players union is trying to force the league to negotiate a more sane policy on marijuana as part of a new drug testing program.
Colorado fans, let it be said, do not put herb in your face. No one gets gnarly…. The fans insist that pot leaves them mellower. They get their orange jerseys and scream fiercely and all that. But this isn’t New York or Philadelphia. Fighting is extremely unchill.
My colleague Ken Belson was in Seattle on Thursday for the Seahawks’ opener. Parking spots there go for $80 a pop, which is a buzz kill itself. And cops enforce the same sanctions against public consumption of weed. That said, he reported that stoners tended to persevere. The sweet smell of herb mixed with the tang of organic, grass-fed, much-loved cows as they became burgers on the grill. After the game, he shared a Trickster IPA or three, and he reported having to first sweep a few grams of loose buds off his table.
As the title of this post suggests, I would be surprised to learn that use of marijuana at some tailgating locales is truly a new reality. But prominent articles about marijuana tailgating in the New York Times surely is.
Some prior NFL related posts: