Welcome to Episode #109 of the Fight for a Happy Life podcast, “Panic and Pandemonium.”
In self-defense, facing a single attacker is never easy. Now imagine defending yourself from 80,000 people! That sounds crazy, but that’s basically what happened to me.
In this episode, I’ll share the story of a young, inexperienced security guard (that’s me!) who suddenly found himself in a panic during a football game. If you happen to be a fan of the Buffalo Bills, I’m talking about the AFC East championship game that turned into the “Fandemonium” of 1988.
Yes, I was there!
This historic event taught me three important self-defense lessons, which I still repeat to myself to this day. I hope you’ll join me as I repeat them for you, too!
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Panic and Pandemonium
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TRANSCRIPT
Howdy, Ando here from Happy Life Martial Arts. Welcome to episode #109 of Fight for a Happy Life, the show that believes even a little martial arts makes life a whole lot better.
A lot has happened since the last time we got together. Actually, it all happened on the same day. It was my birthday. I turned 52 and I realized there are 52 cards in a playing deck. So I now believe for the first time in my life, I’m finally playing with a full deck.
Second, same day, I started feeling ill. Turned out COVID had finally struck. After two years of dodging our favorite virus, I finally fell to it. And it wasn’t easy, but I certainly feel blessed that it wasn’t as horrible an experience as it was for others. And other than giving it to my wife, I’m happy to say that it went well.
So a little congestion left, but dare I say I have come out of it stronger. But it did lead to the lesson, right off the bat, to do what you can while you can. I was feeling very healthy and strong and virile before I got the virus, and being knocked down that fast, in bed, unable to swallow, just feeling sorry for myself, unable to do as much as I normally do. Boy, that’s rough.
Just remember, we’re always one stroke, one slip and fall, one accident away from having a completely different life. So do what you can while you can.
The third thing, the same day, my birthday, COVID, I hosted a Zoom seminar on takedowns using traditional stances. It was a live seminar on Zoom. Had a great time. And if you missed it, sign up for my email list and you’ll not only know when I release new videos and podcasts, but you’ll be the first to know when I offer the next Zoom seminar.
Hey, maybe you could be there live. That would be great. I’d love to see you there.
All right. Onward. Today’s topic. I’m going to tell you a story, as usual. Behind the scenes, I can tell you, I usually write down two or three pages of notes–points I want to make or details I want to make sure I share.
This one, this is a one-pager. I’m just going to tell you this story. It’s deeply ingrained in my head and I think it will speak for itself. So I won’t need to wax philosophical for very long about this one. I’m just going to tell you this story. Here it comes.
The date of the story, I can give you the date, was November 20th, 1988. I was 18 years old at the time. Now, what happened was, I was working as a doorman at a club at that time. And not a bar, I don’t mean like that. It was a private club in Buffalo where I was born and raised.
The security guard who worked there asked me if I wanted to make a little extra money. And I said, sure. He said they were looking for extra security guards for the upcoming Buffalo Bills football game, which was very exciting. I didn’t have tickets for that game and we’re talking about a championship game.
This would be the game where the Buffalo Bills played the New York Jets for the AFC East Championship. Now going into that game, the Bills, who historically had not been a winning team, had an 8-0 record, if I recall. They were undefeated at least at home. And this was a championship game.
So, the feeling was the Bills are going to win finally a championship right there at home. And of course, from a security standpoint, this is an 80,000 person stadium. At the time it was called Rich Stadium and the capacity was over 80,000 people.
So, they were looking for a few extra bodies in case things got out of hand. Now to spoil the end of the story, let me just get to it in case you already know where this is heading. This is also the date that in Buffalo is now known as Fandemonium. Fandemonium because we won that game and 80,000 people in that stadium went nuts.
But let me back up. We’re about a week out and he said, you want to work security? And I said, sure.
Is there any training for this? No, not at all. All you had to do to be a body was show up at the stadium on game day. I think there was like a one page sign away your rights type of paper and they gave me a jacket. I think there was a baseball cap and I’m on the job now.
Okay, first assignment at the stadium. They put you at a gate where the people enter and the rule was just really simple, no booze, no bottles. They want to make sure you’re buying their concessions inside the stadium and no one should be throwing bottles around. That’s dangerous.
Now, I like rules and I don’t drink. So this was fun for me. And the first lesson I learned was power goes to your head fast. I can see where historically people get out of control once they’re given a little bit of authority. I get it.
Because right away, once I had my shades on and I had my security jacket on, I’ve got a job, and now I’ve got all these people coming in and we’re patting them down. I really enjoyed that job. And I could feel though, I became self-aware, like, take it down a notch. You’re enjoying this a little too much.
I will tell you, however, each of the gates had a big plastic garbage can. And those cans got full of six-packs, flasks, bottles, an occasional forgotten pocket knife. People try to play around the rules, get around the rules, which is why security jobs have a job, security people.
Anyway, so that was the first lesson. Don’t let power go to your head.
Still be a compassionate human being. You can still do your job in a humane way. You don’t have to be a jerk about it. Now we’re going to skip ahead because really there was nothing else to do. Get everyone into the stadium safely and now the game’s on. And nothing’s going on because everyone’s in the stadium watching the game.
So basically all we had to do, this was the best part of the job, was enjoy the free ticket to the game. As long as you could find somewhere to stand, you could watch the game. And I did.
Now we get all the way towards, let’s say, five minutes before the end of the fourth quarter, or the end of the game. They bring us all down to the tunnel field level and our real job is now being explained to us. Here’s the job–
Again, there are 80,000 people in the stadium. How many security guards are there? Well, there sure as heck weren’t 80,000 of us. So I don’t think there are even a thousand of us. I can’t even tell you for sure if there were 100 or 200. But it couldn’t have been more than that.
So the ratio is nuts, okay? This is not a fair fight. But the job is given to us as follows. Here’s what we’re going to do…
We’re going to walk out on this field with a couple of minutes left and we’re going to form a perimeter around the football field. We’re going to space out every, I don’t know, five, 10 yards. And in this big perimeter, we’re going to make sure that in case someone’s had a little too much to drink, if we win the game, make sure nobody jumps over that wall and comes down onto the field.
We don’t want anyone making a scene. We don’t want anyone getting hurt. We don’t want any of the players getting harassed. Just, if anybody tries to get on the field, keep them off the field. That’s the job. Great, okay.
So sure enough, we march out and we form this perimeter and we’re facing up to the stands. We’re not facing the field. We’re all standing.
So another lesson in human nature– generally people, in crowds for sure, if they’ve been drinking, even more sure, don’t like authority figures. So even though they don’t know me, here comes a little snowball. Some yelling and swearing, a bottle. Hey, where the heck did that bottle come from?
You know, you get a little bit of attitude right away just because you’re in a position in authority. So that’s not cool. Come on, don’t be that person. We all have our jobs and we’re there technically to try to keep you safe.
All right, so anyway, we’re all around this perimeter. Now the game itself at this point is highly tense. I believe it’s a tie game and the clock’s running down. The Jets get into a position to score a winning field goal. This is it. The whole season rests on this field goal attempt.
The Bills block the field goal and sends the game into overtime. So this is super exciting. It looked like we were about to die, but no, we have another chance. Overtime starts.
The Jets get the ball first. Uh-oh, don’t like that. The Bills strip the ball from the Jets. Okay, so this excitement, the momentum, the home crowd advantage is really working. We just stopped the victory. We’re in overtime.
We stripped the ball away from them. And here it comes. We get down the field. And we– the Bills, Scott Norwood. I had nothing to do with it– Scott Norwood kicks the game-winning field goal in overtime.
Ah, the crowd, of course, goes bananas. This has been a long time coming. Buffalo is a cold town. We don’t win things. We fight. We don’t win. And here we are. We just took the AFC East Championship.
So the battle cry comes down again. Don’t let them on the field. That’s the job.
The first person makes the attempt. In front of me. I’m sure the same thing was happening everywhere. But in front of me, here comes that first drunken fella trying to get on the field. Now, here’s what I did not expect.
When I put myself in the mindset of a security guard or a bouncer or a police officer, if I’m in that mindset, I’m imagining someone who’s angry, someone who’s hostile, someone who means to do harm. Which then means on my side of things, I feel justified stiff arming that person or raising my voice or snarling back. It’s just matching that energy. I’m the protector, so I’m the good guy.
But what I did not expect was that in this case, the battle was between security guards and happy people. These fans weren’t meaning harm. They were jubilant. They were full of joy.
So this first guy comes over that wall and then a second, a third with big smiles on their face. Their arms are wide open like they’re going to give me a hug and he’s running right at me like, ahhhhh! Now I have this dissonance in my head. I got the other guy yelling down the line, don’t let him on the field and I’m getting paid to keep them off the field.
At the same time, I’m very excited that the Bills won. That was a long time coming, so I’m excited. And this guy just wants to celebrate.
But a job is a job, my friend, a job is a job. So I stiff-armed this guy. Boom! Okay, you can’t be on the field. That’s wrong.
But it’s an odd feeling. Just wanted to make that point.
Anyway, so here’s guy number one. Here comes guy number two. Uh-oh, guy number three slips between myself and my other security card brother over there. Very quickly, I can’t tell you how long because this is all happening very quickly, but we’re overwhelmed. There are too many people.
The confidence that the crowd has now gained from seeing the first few people get on the field successfully is spilling over and now everybody’s coming down. Now we’re back to our 80,000 people versus 100 or two and we are quickly overwhelmed.
So at some point, another scream comes down the line. I hear, Let them go, let them go. Well thank God for that because it was not pretty. So that just meant we finally got to turn our backs and look towards the field instead of at the stands and now there were just thousands of people streaming onto the field.
Okay, so for a moment you feel defeated like, ah, of course the dice were loaded. There was no chance we were ever going to stop the stadium from taking the field, but it’s still for a moment it felt like, oh, that’s a bummer. I didn’t do my job. I failed here.
But then another voice, and I honestly can’t tell you whether it was a voice in my own head or whether it was an actual command from the security people, but the next goal we came, don’t let them take down the goal posts!
On either end of the field, you got the big yellow goal posts and of course the people are swarming out of the field. They’re now surrounding underneath the posts, starting to shake them, people are starting to help each other, boost them up so they can climb up and get on top of the field goals, which seems dangerous.
It also seems like vandalism, seems like it’s going too far, those things could fall, hit someone on the head, seems like a bad idea. So I make my way, I start swimming through the people to carry on my job.
By the way, I’m probably getting paid minimum wage, but there’s a sense of duty here. And safety, right? You don’t want to see anyone getting hurt.
So anyway, I swim through the crowd, best as I can, get under the goalpost and they’re right there. And I’m trying to pull people off the goalpost.
I am such a killjoy, right? I recognize that. I am that guy. I’m sorry, at least at the time.
Anyway, there I am under the goalpost and I realize that’s a lost cause as well. So now let the goalposts go. We’re losing that battle too. Which is another life lesson, okay?
The life lesson here is you got to know when to cut your losses. You have to know when to just yield. When it’s overwhelming and you’re just going to get hurt in the process of trying to enforce something, you got to just let it go.
Whether it’s a grip on a collar when you’re rolling, whether it’s storming in with some combination, but you’re taking hits to the face. At some point, you have to just change your strategy. Fight another day. That is what you’re looking to do.
I’m not looking to die under that goalpost. I’d like to carry on with my life. So know when to cut your losses so you can fight another day. It’s okay if you feel that defeat. Learn from it. Move on.
Now, up till now, perhaps parts of this story are interesting to you. Maybe even a little entertaining, I hope. But if you’re still here, now I’m getting to the point of the story, the reason I’m sharing it with you. Because now I think things get important.
Unexpected consequences.
That’s what I would call this. Unexpected consequences.
Again, these people who are storming the field were happy. Nobody, I don’t believe, was intending to hurt anybody. However, it was chaotic. It was pandemonium. Everything was out of control. No order.
And what happened was, on TV, it all looks fun. And I’m sure the commentators were saying things like, wow, what a great celebration, boy, this city deserves it. Look at them having a blast down there. This is great. What a party.
However, all around me was panic. What I saw was panic. Those smiles that had started on the field were now just pale, stone-faced, full of terror faces because there were too many people. That was the cliched crush of humanity. There were so many people now crushed onto the field that you could not find your feet.
Myself, personally, I got squeezed in so that my arms were stuck at my sides, my feet were crushed together, and it became, if you remember the video, a smooth criminal with Michael Jackson or the Tin Man when they find him in The Wizard of Oz, where the body is swaying and swaying and round and round and they’re not really on their feet.
My, literally, the soles of my feet were off the ground, back and forth. I was off my feet. The only thing holding me up was the pressure of the people next to me. And that’s what was causing the panic. Because you couldn’t move your arms, you couldn’t move your feet. And we were just at the mercy of this swaying pressure.
At any moment, that pressure could have just opened up one way or the other, and you could easily have just slid right to the bottom. And now you’re being trampled or maybe people are falling on top of you.
So, if you have an issue with claustrophobia or just being out of control in general, this was now a nightmare, which is kind of where my head was at. And I’ll never forget, it wasn’t just me. I remember staring right into the face of a middle-aged fellow whose face was full of terror and he was just screaming, Where’s my daughter? Where’s my daughter?
So, this wasn’t even just a bunch of able-bodied dudes bumping into each other. There were families on the field. Kids.
Unexpected consequence. Everybody’s celebrating. They’re thinking, hey, that’s where the party is. Let’s go on the field. And then, unexpectedly, it’s turning into danger zone.
That’s basically the end of the story. I mean, I survived, obviously. I don’t believe there were any deaths that day. I can’t account for if there were some first aid situations. I don’t know. I didn’t get that information. But I can tell you that eventually, when everyone was cleared out of that field, Rich Stadium, you couldn’t see basically the turf, the green of the turf there.
It was just littered with scarves, hats, gloves, flasks, eyeglasses, broken eyeglasses, shoes been kicked off. It was just looked like mayhem had taken place there, because it had. Pandemonium.
But it really put in my head the message that I still preach, the most basic self-defense lessons. I don’t care what style you do, I don’t care where you are in the world.
Here are the top three lessons of self-defense that you should never ever forget…
One protect your head. That means keeping your hands up in most cases.
Do you wear a helmet? Are you wearing a helmet right now? Most of us don’t. If you get hit in the head, the whole thing is over, right? If you get knocked out or if you get cut on the throat and you bleed out, you lose all of your chances to do anything. You have no choices left.
So number one, when there is panic and pandemonium, I would highly recommend you get your hands up and make a helmet of some kind to protect your head. Whether you’re on your feet or you end up on the ground getting trampled, protect your head.
And by the way, it’s not just because someone’s punching you in the face directly. People start throwing stuff around. People start swinging their arms around. People are falling. Structures are collapsing. You just don’t know.
But number one, I do know, is if my head gets hit, I’m out. So I need to protect my head. In any type of crisis, when you hear a scream, a gunshot, something’s going wrong, free up your hands and get ready to make a helmet around your head. Don’t let them get stuck in your pockets or by your side. That’s number one.
Number two, stay on your feet. Or thinking in a different way, stay mobile.
Because sure, maybe you hear a gunshot and the best thing to do is to get down and find cover. Okay, technically, maybe you’re not on your feet, you’re on your knees, but you should be leaving yourself in a position to move, be able to move. In most cases, that means stay on your feet.
If you think that’s being dramatic, the next time you spar with someone, tuck your hands in your pocket and tie your feet together and see how well you do. See how long you can stay on your feet. That feeling of helplessness is a horror show. You’re in your own house of horrors.
When your hands are trapped and your feet are trapped, can’t protect your head, can’t move. It’s a nightmare. So number one, protect your head. Number two, stay on your feet, stay mobile.
Number three, find exits. Know where the exits are. Know how to escape a bad situation as quickly as you can. Know where to go.
Like on an airplane when they say the emergency exits are over here and there’s also some exits up there. You should know which one you’re closer to. That cabin fills up with smoke or everything goes dark or you’re under water. You got to know where that exit is. If there’s a crush of humanity that way, then you might need to go the other way. Options are always nice.
How many times do you hear about some club packed, there’s a shooting, or there’s a fire, or something happens and everyone crushes towards the same door and it makes it worse? Not just because sometimes those doors turn out to be locked or barricaded somehow, but it’s just too many people.
It’s always nice to know, can you get out through the kitchen? Is there a back door to the alley? Is there a side door? Is there an exit over there? Fire escapes? It’s just good to know.
That’s not being paranoid. To me, this is self-defense basics.
Where do you sit in a restaurant? Where are you walking in the mall? Just what’s up?
Protect your head, stay mobile, and know where your escape hatches are, paths to get out of places. Because it can happen anywhere. I said I wasn’t going to wax philosophical and I’m going to keep my promise, but this is just practical thinking.
Whether you’re at a supermarket, at a restaurant, you’re at some kind of rally, you’re at a concert, you’re in a club, anywhere there’s a group of people, please recognize that that in itself is a threat to your safety.
And again, I’m not saying because the people themselves are looking for trouble. You might go to a rally that is looking for trouble, okay. But let’s say most, if you’re in a church, that’s a group of people and we know now that terrible things can happen inside a church. Someone walks in with a gun or a machete, bad, horrible things happen everywhere.
So recognize that the other people, even if they’re not your enemy, are still a threat because they all want to get to that exit the same as you do, or they all want to get behind that barricade the same as you do. They all want to protect their families as much as you do. It’s just a question of resources and opportunity and a fight for those things.
That’s why, just like when that guy came running down in the field, a smile on his face, he’s not my enemy, but strategically, he’s in my way. He’s opposing my goal. And it’s the same here. If you have to fight the crowd or fight the mob, it’s unfortunate. But self-defense means you have to defend yourself no matter what.
It doesn’t mean you can’t offer the life raft to someone else, or let someone get through the door before you, or help other people to safety. But if your intention is also to survive, protect your head, stay mobile, and know where the exits are. You just have to do this.
As an exercise, I’m always trying to think about, well, how could I simulate these feelings again? If I am afraid of being confined and tied up. Your closet. Maybe you have a closet with lots of jackets and boots and a crowded closet. Just throw yourself into that closet and feel what it’s like to have your arms next to you, just rolling around on the fabric, and just get used to that feeling, and say, wow, okay, that’s what that feels like. And then try to wiggle your hands up, try to get back to your feet.
You could do this in a crowded forest, right? I go for hikes sometimes. On the path, you’ve got space, you got an exit. But sometimes you come up to a nice patch of thick hedges, sticks, no path. It’s really fun just to kind of run through there or move through there. Because you know, all those sticks come swatting in the face, there’s always something caught catching your clothing.
But what a great awareness drill and what a great dexterity drill just to kind of figure out how to move differently instead of always in your form or your favorite combos. Just to have this spontaneous style of movement to get through that thorn, get out of that hedge. Just trying to give you ideas of ways to play around.
Of course, you could just go experiment when you’re in crowds. If you’re at the mall, unavoidable, you’re at the supermarket, big long line, you’re at any place where you see a group of people, move through it as an exercise. Move through the crowd, being aware of where your hands are, how you’re spacing yourself, how you turn to regard people, just to keep that awareness of where am I? Can I find the space?
I remember running through an airport. I’ve never run faster than when I’ve been late for flights and sprinting for that plane and trying to get through the crowds of people. Boy, your brain is just functioning on such a high level, physically, mentally, you’re just in that zone where I got to get through and find the space, find the space. Same thing here.
Whether you’re sparring or you’re trying to get out of a crowded, panicking crowd, that’s what you’re trying to do. Find the space, find the exit, find a way to breathe, find a way to get your hand back up, find a way to get your feet spread out, move.
Anyway, like I said, I won’t get philosophical. That’s the practical part of it.
That was an experience when I was a young man, which really, I’d already been training in martial arts at that point, right? I could kick high, I could punch fairly hard, thought I was cool. But completely unexpectedly, the greatest threat to my safety and others around me was something no one could have foreseen, nobody wanted to foresee– a happy occasion when everyone wanted to come together and celebrate, but turned into a nightmare.
Fandemonium definitely taught me to protect your head, stay on your feet, and make sure you’re always aware of how to get out. It’s one thing to throw yourself into a situation, it’s another thing to find a way out. That’s what self-defense should be.
Go after whatever you want in your life. Like I said, do what you can while you can. That’s the exciting part of life, throw yourself in there. The self-defense part of your brain should then say, and what’s the way out, just in case. Don’t burn the bridge, don’t burn the boats.
I’m going to throw myself into this, take a chance, take a risk, do something. But I should also leave a little trail of breadcrumbs for myself to make sure I can get back out in case things go badly. Not through any bad intention of anyone else, sometimes just because life turns against you. It’s just the way it is.
So that’s my advice for today. Prepare for the Panic. Prepare for Pandemonium. Prepare to Protect Your Happy Life.
There you go, that’s the story I wanted to tell you. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the world is a horrific place. The fact is, the world can bring you unexpected beauty and unexpected joy, as much as it can bring you unexpected horror. So the trick is to be ready to face both.
And what’s the best way to do that? Well, you already know the answer.
Smile’s up, my friend. Let that smile be your shield and your sword. Keep fighting for a happy life.
