SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 42

LENGTH: 403 words

HEADLINE: BLEACHER SUDS STUDS VOW TO FUEL UP EARLY

BYLINE: BY TARA GEORGE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

BODY:
You can take the beer out of the bleachers, but you can't take the bleachers fans away from their beer.

Vowing to skirt the new ban on booze in Yankee Stadium's bleachers that starts today, die-hard fans said they'd get tanked before the game if they couldn't drink during it.

Others plunked down extra cash yesterday for pricier nonbleachers seats, saying it was positively un-American to be deprived of a brew during a ballgame. "You're watching the game, it's sunny outside, of course you want to drink," said Angel Linary, 36, who abandoned his regular perch in the $8 bleachers to buy a $15 seat in the upper deck. "It's crazy what they're doing."

Last week, Yankee officials announced the 5,500-seat bleachers would become a dry zone, beginning with today's game against the Boston Red Sox, in an effort to root out the rowdy element.

Rick Cerrone, the Yankees' spokesman, said that with attendance surging, there's more of a demand among families and youth groups for the cheap-and-cheerful backless seats.

He denied the move was in reaction to a beer-fueled fight that erupted at Wrigley Field in Chicago this month.

Some fans approved, saying a beerless environment might banish brawls and make it safer for kids.

"Some people get abusive or abrasive," said Jerry Duncan, a 55-year-old Bombers fan. "I've seen fights break out."

But many predicted the prohibition order would prompt fans to get even more drunk as they pound down beers beforehand.

"People are just going to get loaded before they come," agreed John McLaughlin, 22, who planned to meet his friends at Stan's Sports Bar across the street from the Stadium.

Cerrone said stadium security would take measures to prevent inebriated people from entering.

The hard-core regulars known as the Bleacher Creatures charged that blue-collar fans were being discriminated against while corporate execs in the box seats could chug down brews at will.

"We're not even mad at the ban so much as that they're picking on us," said Anthony Griek, a 21-year-old college student. "It's totally discriminatory."

Fellow Creature Milton Ousland, 28, of Brooklyn, said that many of his group don't drink, and that they'd been unfairly stereotyped as rabble-rousers.

"It's not always the people who sit in the cheap seats who are bums," said Ousland, who rings a cowbell. "It's amazing how people label you just because of where you sit."

LOAD-DATE: May 26, 2000