December 30, 2008 - Count Washington Redskins season-ticket holder Rick Cable as a big supporter of the NFL’s new Fan Code of Conduct.

During the Redskins’ 23-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on November 3 at FedEx Field just outside Washington, Cable says, an obnoxious Steelers fan kept waving a “Terrible Towel” in the 47-year-old Cable’s face and screaming, “Redskins suck!” Rather than escalate the confrontation, the Lusby, Maryland, resident quietly sent a text message to the stadium’s security command center. Security people responded quickly. When the Steelers fan gave them a hard time, he was ejected.

“It worked great,” Cable says.

It also reflected how fans are embracing new text-messaging systems that allow fans in NFL stadiums to inconspicuously report drunk or disorderly neighbors without confronting them, a provocative tactic many of the league’s 32 teams are using to enforce the conduct code announced by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on August 5.

Goodell’s rules - the result of rising concern that fan misconduct was driving some people from games - say that patrons who are drunk or disruptive, who use foul language or make obscene gestures or who verbally or physically harass other fans can be refused admission to games, or kicked out of them without refunds. Such fans also can be stripped of their season tickets.

The sweeping attempt to decrease misbehavior in stadiums and parking lots is a “work in progress,” says Milt Ahlerich, the NFL’s vice president of security. But the initiative, he says, “absolutely is working.”

As part of the program, teams are asking the 22.2 million patrons they predict will attend 333 preseason, regular season and playoff games this season to help identify bad apples in the stands.

Fans still are urged to complain to an usher or call a security hotline in the stadium to report unruly behavior. But text-messaging lines - typically advertised on stadium scoreboards and on signs where fans gather - are aimed at allowing tipsters to surreptitiously alert security personnel via cellphone without getting involved with rowdies or missing part of a game.