# Reasons to [Bar] Fight?



## Monster (Jul 26, 2013)

I made it to the bar fight scene of my story and I have no idea what I'm going to do.
I don't know what typically spurs a bar fight between two complete strangers (aside from a girl).
I've never witnessed a bar fight, so if you would, sling me out even the smallest tick-tack of a suggestion for me to run with, even if it's silly. Heck, the sillier the reason, the better. I already have the fight handled, I just need that little bang to set it off.

What reason do guys have to get into a bar fight?


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## AzhureHeart (Jul 26, 2013)

How drunk are they? lol.  And how funny do you want it to be.  Without knowing I think that my suggestions may be off.

Suggestion #1 - A homophobe walks into a bar followed by a man that has brought a banana to eat later as a snack.  So as not to appear strange, the hungry man puts the banana in his pocket, just as the homophobe stops abruptly, therefore causing the banana man to run into the other...and I think you know where this is going to go....

Suggestion #2 - The bar runs out of alcohol - thus ensues an epic brawl!

Suggestion #3 - An avid fan of a certain sports team gets pissed at the apposing team's fans.  This is probably the most likely of the three.


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## Monster (Jul 26, 2013)

All three of those are funny as heck.
(The one guy is drunk enough to stumble a little, gets into a fight with another man and his friends, all that amount of drunk to where they feel tough. The last man that jumps in to save his friend (the first drunk guy) has only had one drink.)


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## AzhureHeart (Jul 26, 2013)

All it takes is one overly drunk idiot to start a fight.  Don't have to have a clear reason.  Best of luck!


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## shadowwalker (Jul 26, 2013)

All it takes is one person "looking at me funny". Or a poor loser at pool. Or somebody trips over someone else's foot. Or somebody just doesn't like the looks of somebody else. Bar fights start because they start. Choose any reason you want.


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## Lewdog (Jul 26, 2013)

It can be as simple as two guys bumping into each other.  If someone steps on some new shoes or spills their drink on them.  I've seen two guys fight each other because one guy said the other guy urinated on the other guy's shoes in the bathroom.  Jumping line to get inside or at the bar buying a drink could start it.  There are a million possibilities here.


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## Sam (Jul 27, 2013)

Alcohol. 

A barman gives someone their order before yours; a guy looks at another guy for too long; a guy look at another guy's girlfriend for too long; etcetera. Under the influence of alcohol, the most innocuous of things can start a bar fight. 

A bar fight is in no way fair. Pool cues, empty (and full) bottles of beer, pool balls, chairs, and any weapon that a person can get their hands on to even out the odds will be used.


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## Deleted member 49710 (Jul 27, 2013)

Most of the time when I've seen barfights happen, it's seemed like one guy just wants to fight somebody. I think it's less about concrete reasons and more about finding an excuse.

"Did you just step on my foot on purpose?"
"What? I didn't step on your foot."
"Oh, so I'm a liar now?"
etc.


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## Myers (Jul 27, 2013)

I've only been in one bar fight, over one the reasons mentioned. Apparently, I was looking too long at some guy's woman. He confronted me, and I guess my denial was too strong, because he somehow took it to mean, "No, I wouldn't stare at your woman, because she's heinous looking." I implied no such thing, (she wasn't anyway) but it didn't matter to him, because he just wanted to fight. It didn't help that we'd stumbled into a place where we clearly stuck out as strangers, which is why I was targeted in the first place. He got in one good swing which sent me flying. He was huge and would have probably killed me if his friends hadn't held him back, so I escaped with nothing more than a sore face and a slightly bruised ego. So I have to agree. There doesn't need to be reason.


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## Kevin (Jul 27, 2013)

One time, I touched this guy's girlfriend's back pocket. I don't know what her problem was...or his.
There was this other guy who insisted that his team was better. He was just wrong, so...
A guy looked at me and he reminded me of someone...can't remember who, anyway, next thing I know...He shouldn't have looked at me.


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## Gargh (Jul 27, 2013)

I knew a woman who collected men and fought them like dogs. She'd pick up 'bait' - a guy with principles but no common sense who would feel obliged to defend her - and then give the come-on to a local hoon or two who would tap their inner primeval reserves to mess up the other guy when he tried to intervene. There were an infinite number of variables and she was pretty subtle, considering, but it was always all about swagger and posturing for small, otherwise unimportant people. She had a husband too. She would set these guys off fighting while he watched and then they'd leave together when it all got a bit hairy. Needless to say I didn't hang out with them any more than I had to (work colleagues). I do remember watching the husband one time when it looked like she'd gone too far. He slowly backed up to a table near him, never taking an eye off the wife, and surreptitiously grabbed a bottle behind his back to ready their exit strategy. Just that one detail really stuck in my mind.


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## Monster (Jul 27, 2013)

lasm said:


> "Did you just step on my foot on purpose?"
> "What? I didn't step on your foot."
> "Oh, so I'm a liar now?"
> etc.



I can actually see this one happening.


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## midnightpoet (Jul 27, 2013)

If a scene is in a story, as far as i am concerned, there should be a reason why it is there.  Why did he go to the bar in the first place?  Now, why the fight itself started may not matter, but does the scene move the story forward?  If not, why is it there?


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## Kevin (Jul 27, 2013)

midnightpoet said:


> If a scene is in a story, as far as i am concerned, there should be a reason why it is there.  Why did he go to the bar in the first place?  Now, why the fight itself started may not matter, but does the scene move the story forward?  If not, why is it there?


 We'll just have to assume there's a reason...but that's a different thread.

I once was accused of stealing a purse from a 'lady' at the bar. That was an almost-fight. She found it.
Bumping into people, whether stumbling-drunk or by accident.
Taking someone else's drink.(well, it looked so lonely)
Hitting on their girlfriend. ( well, she looked so lonely.)
Having the wrong 'look'. Yes, some people don't appreciate alternate fashion... like wearing a cardigan to a biker-bar. ("What're you lookin' at?" "Is that alpaca?" )
Anything to do with looking...


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## FleshEater (Jul 27, 2013)

The main reason for a bar fight is (as said before) that one person is looking to fight. This doesn't mean he's looking for a reason or an excuse, it means he just wants to fight. 

I've gone to bars before thinking, "I want to fight," but within the first hour and after two or three shots of Three Wise Men, a flaming Dr. Pepper, and countless beers, that attitude always left. The only time I got into a fight was at a house party. We went outside, the ground was a sheet of ice, I looked behind me and the dude sucker punched me in the back of the head. All I remember is waking up on a pile of large rocks with him on top of me. I reached up and grabbed a hold of his esophagus and Adam's apple as hard as I could and he stumbled off of me. He started talking about us hanging out when we were kids, and wanted to shake my hand like nothing had ever happened. Needless to say, I found out later that he liked to fight and no matter what, we were heading outside at one point or another.

The group I used to drink with had one guy that after a certain point in the night would start a fight (usually with his brother). He'd run his mouth and then get his butt handed to him. My dad even lost it on him one night we were all drinking together. Again, he just wanted to fight.

My uncle and a bartender one night got jumped by two guys shooting pool. I guess they said my uncle's wife was running her mouth and the two guys playing pool went after the only other two guys in the bar. The one beat all the teeth out of my uncle's mouth with a madball (a cue ball), and the other beat the bartender with a pool stick. Both my uncle and the bartender landed a night in the ER. There wasn't much reason for these two doing what they did because they fought in every bar they drank at...just because. 

I have way more stories about drunken fights than I should.


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## OurJud (Jul 27, 2013)

shadowwalker said:


> All it takes is one person "looking at me funny". Or a poor loser at pool. Or somebody trips over someone else's foot. Or somebody just doesn't like the looks of somebody else. Bar fights start because they start. Choose any reason you want.



This.

There are countless reasons, in fact. Needless to say, though, as others already have, you can bet your bottom dollar that whatever the reason, it will be fueled by alcohol. Aside from the ones shadowwalker mentions, there's...

Man sees another man who owes him money and challenges him about it
Looking at another bloke's girlfriend
Looking at another bloke
Having a silly haircut
Having an alternative fashion sense
Pushing in at the bar
Laughing and speaking too noisily which annoys someone enough for them to ask you to quiet down - argument/fight ensues

In all honesty, you shouldn't be finding this a stumbling block.


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## Robert_S (Jul 27, 2013)

purged


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## Shadoe (Jul 28, 2013)

I've only ever hung out at biker bars. Those guys would fight because it was Tuesday. Some guy would just start swinging and everybody else had to join in.

Bar fights don't usually make a lot of sense are not thinking with their brains.


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## gmehl (Jul 28, 2013)

I agree with those who point to excesses in testosterone and alcohol, but it probably depends a lot on the bar, too.  Those that cater to a certain clientele are going have much higher potential for violence, but the worst I've seen in even some blue-collar bars is tempers on the fringe and a bartender who barks a warning.  That said, pick a topic and some drunken clown would probably throw a punch over it.


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## OurJud (Jul 28, 2013)

Shadoe said:


> Bar fights don't usually make a lot of sense are not thinking with their brains.



That's cos they're too busy pummeling them


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## tabasco5 (Jul 30, 2013)

Males love to fight--it is a basic human desire.  Add alcohol and there doesn't even have to be a reasonable reason.  Sometimes the more ridiculous and petty reasons will make for good storytelling--like an argument over which Pink Floyd album or brand of power drill is the best.


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## escorial (Jul 30, 2013)

most bar fights i've been in are all about drinking to much on  both sides.


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## OurJud (Jul 30, 2013)

fenbields5 said:


> Males love to fight--



This male doesn't. I'm allergic to fighting - it gives me a nose bleed.


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## Blade (Jul 30, 2013)

OurJud said:


> This male doesn't. I'm allergic to fighting - it gives me a nose bleed.



Same here. I can't remember exactly why but it doesn't really matter since I have become a perfect performer in avoiding it.:barbershop_quartet_


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## Shylock (Dec 2, 2013)

I've never been in a 'bar fight' per say, but my unit has been banned from a certain bar near the base because of one apparently epic incident....

 Suffice to say, the unit were getting ready to ship to Iraq and were having one last night on the town. The bar was pretty crowded with frat boys from a nearby college and lots of young college girls... There was already a bit of rivalry where the women were flocking around the men in uniform, but one drunk soldier punched out a frat kid, then the bouncers were escorting him out when every soldier in the bar intervened to defend the soldier. It was apparently an epic fight between the bouncers and frats versus the soldiers. The soldiers ripped the bar apart until the cops got there and arrested half the company while the other half ran like hell.

 The whole situation was a CO's pre-deployment nightmare.

 What you could glean from this is maybe having your bar be filled with rival groups. (Wild west: Ranchers versus farmers, Urban: Crips versus white power, Military Base: Marines versus Army, Regular versus Guard, SEAL's versus everybody, etc...) And having it escalate quickly into a friendly little war. 

Hope this helps!


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