I went to the Red Sox - Yankees game tonight (Fenway Park, a great game that we won), with three female friends, and they were allowed in with their purses, while I was forced to get rid of my small shoulder bag, the size of their purses, which only contained a coat, sock cap, and binoculars.
Needless to say I was pissed, and they made it clear that it was a woman-man thing --on the very day when a female suicide bomber had killed a bunch of people in Jerusalem. They weren't willing to discuss the logic of it. The alternative was to check the bag for $10, yes, $10, so I went back to the car, a mile away, to get rid of it. This is so "American", the overreaction and the sexism. I have tickets for a Tampa Bay game in a couple of weeks, and I'm pissed enough I might just give them away. It really has nothing to do with security, does it? It's just some kind of screwed up sense of reactive legislation that is typical of the way we do things in our country.

You could check the bag? I've read about people emptying their things into plastic bags at the gates and having to THROW AWAY their backpacks and such. It's a disgrace. Like the rent-a-cops that are mostly employed would really be able to stop someone who was REALLY determined to smuggle something in.

Did you tell them you were gay ??---maybe you could have taken half of the contents in??

You think you're kidding, Copman, but I thought of doing precisely that, saying that I was a queen and needed my makeup. I had sized up the ticket taker and I knew I could have demolished him if he so much as snickered. But he probably wouldn't have believed I was gay, just like the guy in Pillow Talk who jokes about Rock Hudson
I was afraid to lose my temper, and two of my three female companions were bull-dykes who were already getting pretty heated up and ready to join me at mauling the snotty ticket takers, so I let it pass. I noticed people who had arrived alone by subway, with expensive day packs, looking depressed. It's just plain stupid.

It makes you wonder if they are using "security" as an excuse to stop people from bringing food and drink items into the ballpark, therefore "robbing" the concessionaires of added sales ......

A similar contretemps is going on on one of my Travel boards, where Delta Airlines has started requiring people going into their Crown Room clubs to show picture ID in addition to the membership cards. The thinking of many is that the policy is really intended stop non-members from "borrowing" their family or friend's card for admission (these clubs are past the screening checkpoints, so how "security" will be enhanced by people who are already cleared to board the planes is highly questionable).....

They've got signs posted at the SkyDome saying you can't bring in knapsacks, which is a drag. I used to like to take mine (bring in a bottle of water), use it to carry anything I might buy like a program. I had a heck of a time trying to use the urninal and hold onto my program and pencil (they give you a pencil with the program in case you want to score the game) at the same time.

For years, I would leave my office with my briefcase, hop the #4 train to the Stadium and just have to open it quickly for the ticket guy to look in--in those days, all they were worried about was projectiles onto the field, I guess.

That all changed last Sept. Now I just take a few essentials, stuff them into pockets of a jeans jacket (they are pretty deep and you can get a lot of stuff in them without too much obvious bulging),and I put it on beore going to the gate, no matter how hot it is, and take it off immediately after entrance. That seems to work. The briefcase gets locked in the desk drawer or the office is locked overnight. I guess we just have to get used to it, at least here in what seems to be Target Zero.

"It's for your own security" as as about as much validity as "This hurts me worse than it hurts you."

The Hassle Factor gets to the point, regardless of what the event/activity/business it is, that it just doesn't make it worth doing unless you really have to be there. The rejoinder on the part of the "experts" is "Do you want to be unsafe? Do you want someone to bomb you?" DUH! It's like hanging out in 7-11 parking lots, going over thrown away lotto tickets, just in case someone threw their Big Winner away.

If in fact there were continuous attacks in all kinds of forums, e.g. Israel/Palestine, then there should be a different reaction. If we're really worried about saving lives, we'd be better off concentrating all of this fake security funding on healthcare.

These security experts, who failed to predict anything like 9/11, set up a perfect Catch-22 for themselves: if no attack happens, it's because we did/spent what they wanted. If something does happen, it's because we weren't listening to them.

Although Veteran's Stadium here in Philly doesn't allow bags larger than 8 1/2 x 11" in the stadium (and backpacks are specifically prohibited, although I've seen a few people walking around with them in the stadium), this is not meant to discourage people from bringing in their own food. Although coolers are not allowed, food is as long as it is in a clear (or almost clear) bag. I brought in hoagie, large bag of chips and soda (in a plastic bottle, no cans/glass bottles allowed) yesterday with no problems. I used the type of disposable plastic bag you get at the supermarket.