What is going on with students at basketball schools? First, WRAS witnessed the melee between UAB student "Orange Jumpsuit Guy" and the Memphis basketball team that could have been much worse. Then while watching a seemingly harmless game last night between USC and Arizona a fan decided to lob a full water bottle at the Trojan bench prompting this response from Arizona head coach Kevin O'Neill, "Who did that? I want to know who did that. Whoever did that, that's wrong. We are not standing for that here...Tim, I apologize to you and your team." After putting down the microphone, O'Neill fried an egg on his bald spot. And last month, Oregon's fans targeted UCLA freshman Kevin Love with homophobic chants and offensive messages on signs.
Don't get us wrong here, basketball fans are some of the most passionate and their proximity to the court makes for the best home court advantage of any sport but there are limits. Heckling and trying to get in the head's of the visiting team is part of the game and the fun. Duke fans have made this an art form, helped by the layout of Cameron Indoor Stadium. (Which is what WRAS wishes Auburn's new arena would be designed after, not some space-age glass house.) The students at every basketball game should be the ones with the best seats right next to the court but there's a limit to how you show your passion. No matter what the team does, don't dive over the railing into the visiting team's tunnel, and drink, don't heave your water at the players or coaches.
Here is some footage of the USC-Arizona game. About 49 seconds into the clip, the bottle hits USC’s Dwight Lewis in the foot. And at 1:47, a replay shows a fan just to the right of the backboard chucking the bottle.
2 comments:
Idiots at sporting events have been around at least as long as I have been! I'll never forget the Auburn student section bombing Tennesse when they visited us in 1980. Whoops. Pissed 'em off. We took a 42-0 shellacking, the worst Auburn football loss of my lifetime. Owww.
They did it again with corncobs, when Nebraska visited in 1982. Similar result.
Luckily, behavior these days is better than ever. There were some complaints about stuff being thrown at South Florida players this past season. I was there. Yep, they got bombed. However, for those who don't attend the games, the enemy players enter/exit the stadium right under their own fans. It was drunk folks in green (with ridiculous cow-horn-hats) doing the throwing. Anyone blaming Auburn fans is an idiot. That's the $10000 a year donated to get on the ticket list, section. Those folks don't throw stuff, and you can get tossed from the stadium just for cussing in their area!
Frankly, I'm surprised that the UAB fans cared enough to get upset when they lost by a single point to Memphis! I don't ever condone throwing stuff, though. Go home and get drunk. That's what real fans do when they're disappointed.
Mike Davis has brought some heckofa players into that program, and he definitely knows his schemes. It's been fun to watch. If Lebo can ever keep more than half a team at Auburn, we're going to be pretty awesome to watch, too!
War Eagle!
You'd be surprised how passionate UAB fans are about their basketball. They're a fun team to watch and should have better support than they do. It would be better if the administration treated the students with priority at the games, that's how you build lifelong fans and ones that want to continue coming after they graduate. As of now they average about 500 students per game and they get the worst seats in the house.
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