How to ignore

[simpson]

First of all, you don't have to whisper your pre-snap ritual to yourself, yell it to your crew mates. On Friday nights, they can't hear you in most cases, but it helps keep your head where it belongs -- in the game. I know we all use hand signals, but verbal reinforcement is OK and the coach knows you are working. I work LJ on Friday nights, I say, "Second Down Jared (WH)" while I signal to him, then "Second Down, clock's running, Tyler" (BJ) while I'm signaling to him. Then, "We got 11," when I put my fist out to the BJ. "You're on the line," to the wideout who is on the line and then tip my cap to the HL to signal my half of the line of scrimmage has 3 guys plus the center.

I've found that works better to keep your head in the game and frankly, coaches tend to realize that between downs you actually have a job that is more than listening to him complain about a play that happened last quarter.

As for the disruptive fan, if it's too bad, you can always have game administration remove him. Once had an administrator ask me if I would tell him to remove a fan so he could tell his school board member he'd been asked to shut up or leave. The administrators are usually happy to deal with unruly fans, remember they have to hear the same jerk every week, you only get them once.