10 bizarre riots throughout history
- Thread starter Lumi
- Start date
Why isn't dime a beer night at Cleveland Stadium in the late 70's on this list. The tribe, which generally drew between 10 and 20 fans per night had about 50k for this ill-advised promotion. Anyway, the fans got so drunk, that they started fighting with the Texas Rangers. Indian players joined the fraycus on the side of their fellow ballplayers. Not sure if it qualifies as a "riot", but it should.
Eddie
Eddie
- Apr 15, 2001
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It did get a mention though
It did get a mention though
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10 Utterly Bizarre Riots Throughout History
Robert Grimminck September 18, 2015
Throughout history, many riots have stemmed from discrimination, societal and political differences, poverty, sports, and drunkenness, just to name a few causes. But other times, strange events spark a clash involving unusual groups of people. These clashes escalate to levels where they turn destructive and even deadly, leading to the most unusual riots in history.
10Disco Demolition Night
In the late 1970s, disco had a sizable number of vocal and venomous detractors. One notable critic of the genre was Chicago rock radio DJ Steve Dahl, who became popular for his ?Disco Sucks? stance. Knowing that Dahl was popular and people genuinely didn?t like disco, the son of the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Mike Veeck, thought that it would be a good promotional idea to host a Disco Sucks night. On July 12, 1979, Dahl?s listeners could get into the doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers for 98 cents. They were also required to bring a disco record with them because Dahl was going to blow up a pile of disco records.
Veeck didn?t think the promotion would be that popular, so he hired enough security to handle about 35,000 people. But Veeck underestimated people?s hatred of disco. Over 60,000 people showed up. Some even brought ladders and climbed fences to get in.
During the first game, the crowd seemed rowdy. The Tigers won, but that wasn?t the spark that set everything off. That happened when Dahl blew up the records as planned. After the explosion, people poured out onto the field and started trashing the stadium. Both Dahl and Veeck tried to calm the crowd, but they failed. The rioters literally stole bases, tore apart batting cages, and set fire to banners.
Amazingly, during the riot, only one person was hurt: a vendor who broke his hip. Despite it being a destructive riot, it was relatively peaceful. Veeck believed this was due to the marijuana that people were smoking. He compared it to the much more violent beer promotion in 1974 in Cleveland, where they sold beer for 10 cents a cup. That somehow got out of hand.
In total, 39 people were arrested for the Disco Sucks riot. Veeck considered the promotion a success because people still remember it 30 years later.
It did get a mention though
Bizarre
Next
Previous
Random List
Share
Google+
Weird Stuff
10 Utterly Bizarre Riots Throughout History
Robert Grimminck September 18, 2015
Throughout history, many riots have stemmed from discrimination, societal and political differences, poverty, sports, and drunkenness, just to name a few causes. But other times, strange events spark a clash involving unusual groups of people. These clashes escalate to levels where they turn destructive and even deadly, leading to the most unusual riots in history.
10Disco Demolition Night
In the late 1970s, disco had a sizable number of vocal and venomous detractors. One notable critic of the genre was Chicago rock radio DJ Steve Dahl, who became popular for his ?Disco Sucks? stance. Knowing that Dahl was popular and people genuinely didn?t like disco, the son of the owner of the Chicago White Sox, Mike Veeck, thought that it would be a good promotional idea to host a Disco Sucks night. On July 12, 1979, Dahl?s listeners could get into the doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers for 98 cents. They were also required to bring a disco record with them because Dahl was going to blow up a pile of disco records.
Veeck didn?t think the promotion would be that popular, so he hired enough security to handle about 35,000 people. But Veeck underestimated people?s hatred of disco. Over 60,000 people showed up. Some even brought ladders and climbed fences to get in.
During the first game, the crowd seemed rowdy. The Tigers won, but that wasn?t the spark that set everything off. That happened when Dahl blew up the records as planned. After the explosion, people poured out onto the field and started trashing the stadium. Both Dahl and Veeck tried to calm the crowd, but they failed. The rioters literally stole bases, tore apart batting cages, and set fire to banners.
Amazingly, during the riot, only one person was hurt: a vendor who broke his hip. Despite it being a destructive riot, it was relatively peaceful. Veeck believed this was due to the marijuana that people were smoking. He compared it to the much more violent beer promotion in 1974 in Cleveland, where they sold beer for 10 cents a cup. That somehow got out of hand.
In total, 39 people were arrested for the Disco Sucks riot. Veeck considered the promotion a success because people still remember it 30 years later.
