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In the stands of professional football games, we’re conditioned to expect and appreciate behavior that is not typically allowed in other public venues. Severe drunkenness, shirtless men tapping into arts and crafts, and lewd insults hurled by grandmothers and pre-teens alike. During Saturday’s NFL playoff matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and Dallas Cowboys, fans added a new extracurricular to the spectator’s playbook: Openly smoking copious amounts of cannabis as the Rams coasted to a first round victory.
According to a report from The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis — and various observations from social media smell detectors — the LA Coliseum was awash with the stench of weed from the tailgate to the final whistle, with both Cowboys and Rams fans sparking up at will from the comfort of their sold out seats.
Looks like there are more cowboys fans tailgating at the coliseum than rams fans. Also smells like weed and bacon wrapped hot dogs.
— Spread-o-pedia (@Spreadapedia) January 12, 2019
“I’m not saying you catch a whiff of pot at the Coliseum,” Curtis wrote after Saturday’s game. “I’m saying that, last night, Section 26L was like sticking your head in a pot campfire. It was amazing!… At the Coliseum, everyone just lit up — joints, cigars, everything.”
Of course, cannabis has been legal in the Golden State for more than two years, but that doesn’t mean you can get high wherever you’d like. Outside of private residences and a few designated consumption lounges, smoking pot is still banned in a majority of outdoor spaces. Moreso, the Coliseum’s Fan Code of Conduct asks “that fans refrain from Smoking (including vaporizers, e-cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco).”
The Coliseum auxiliary press box smells like weed right now. Then again, it is halftime.
— Joe Lago (@joelago) January 13, 2019
Still, it appears that fans at last weekend’s playoff bout never not get that memo. And, apparently, security either couldn’t distinguish between clouds of fireworks emissions and dank bud, or didn’t care enough to enforce the stadium rules.
National Audiences getting to see that weed is legal in California with all the smoke in the coliseum am i right?
— DreSmithJr (@DreSmithJr) January 13, 2019
Who knows, maybe we can convince the Rams to open up a dispensary next to the hot dog stands when the team’s new Inglewood stadium opens in 2022. Hey, a sports fan can dream, right?
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