This is an article from the UConn paper, the Daily Campus, which is quite possibly the most retarded sports-related piece of writing I've seen. The nameless author argues that students in the Student Section during basketball games are being too loud and, more importantly, too rude--displaying utter lack of sportsmanship. The student section is guilty of things like: "[...] turn[ing] their backs to the court, yelling "Sucks!" after each player's name is announced. This creates the effect of the sentence being, for example, "Marshon Brooks sucks!" – which is not only rude, but completely false." Not only that, but we're loud during their time outs! Devils we are--filled with evil. Without making any assumptions about the basement this person lives in or the quantities of mac-n-cheese they consume, it's clearly an article written by someone who simply doesn't understand sports. Short of throwing shit at players, heckling the other team is simply part of home field advantage, and I guarantee that when people are playing in Marshon Brooks' house, they're the ones who suck, too. The "12th man" on the Seahawks is the throngs of people yelling when the other team is trying to snap the ball. Is that wrong? Focus: Is the behavior cited in this article unsportsman-like, or is it simply part of the game? At what point is it taken too far? Alt. Focus Discuss how much the author is a blathering shitpussy (great word, Geigs).
I am a huge fan of UConn (my Avatar) and it is where I graduated. I can't believe they actually let this piece run. This is what the kids from the "Everyone is great" generation are. Don't compete, everyone will get a medal. Why even have March Madness, the teams that don't make it will feel bad.
Don't really think we can have this discussion without bringing up the poisoning of a 130 year old tree on the Auburn campus. http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/artic...e-money-to-help-replace-poisoned-trees-&tc=ar Herbicide is taking things too far.
As a UConn alum as well, this is one of the most retarded articles I've seen come out of that paper, and that's saying a lot. Of course the person writing signs it "Editorial Board". Hmm I wonder why? I've been to countless games at home and on the road and the student section is more tame than many other schools. I'm guessing the author has never seen the Syracuse or Villanova students at a home game. It's nice that the paper takes a break from it's political whining to bash school spirit.
If you go to about 3:10 in the video you can hear the famous Rammer Jammer cheer. (Or watch the whole video, because it's so freaking beautiful.) The NCAA threatened sanctions against Alabama if they continued to do the cheer before games, and now they are only allowed to do it twice after a game. What a bunch of spoilsport cry babies. It's not vulgar. No one is throwing chairs at reporters or punching players in the neck. And, it's not even during the game, it's before and after. It's just a freaking cheer. There's a lot more unsportsmanlike conduct that goes on with coaches during the game that people don't give two shits about so long as there's a winning record. The character of the game trickles down from the coaching staff, to the players, and then to the fans. Not the other way around.
Perhaps the best way to conduct oneself at any competitive sporting endeavour is to show displeasure with the opponent's sporting club by peering grimly out from beneath one's bowler, thusly: Although these solemn gentlemen engaged in far worse fan behavior than turning their backs on players:
Speaking as a sports play-by-play guy, and as somebody who has observed some nutty stuff over the years from Junior hockey fans, I fully support the paying fan who wants to be loud, obnoxious and passionate. Hey, if a fan is willing to pay hard-earned money to watch a sport, they deserve to be entertained. If having a few pops, and going crazy can help accomplish said entertainment, go right ahead. In saying that, there are certain things that a sports-fan should NEVER do: - Physically fight with other fans. I think the "My team is better than your team" fist-fight is retarded. Nobody truly wins. - Physically or verbally initiate direct confrontation with players/coaches involved in the game. *A year ago I was calling a game up North. A drunken fan of the home-team was constantly heckling one of our players. He ended up throwing a full-beer over the window and onto our bench, and for one stupid reason or another was not removed from the premises. Our tough-guy got kicked out of the game for his second fighting major, showered, and then went into the crowd in his street-clothes and quietly pulled the fan aside and came within an eye-lash of beating the shit out of him. Thankfully he didn't and cooler heads prevailed. Fat drunk fans in their 30's should not fight junior hockey players. Pretty simple concept no?
Focus: When it comes to trash talking, you've only taken it too far when even people you're cheering with turn on you. So things like racial slurs, Hitler stuff, etc. Other than that, anything goes in my books. You fucked his mother? Let him know. Until the ushers drag you out, you haven't crossed the line.
We're known for throwing bottles at Carlos Boozer's mom and burning our campus down, win or lose. Go Maryland, Fuck Duke.
Personally I think the fans are not raucous enough. The old stadium for the Pro NFL Team the Eagles had a Court Room and Sitting Judge INSIDE the stadium, before, during and after all games. The judicial process was needed during eagles games. They determined that it was too cumbersome and inefficient to arrest Eagles Fans, keep them locked up for several days, then arraign them later. The new Eagle's stadium has no Court Room. The nancy boys claim this is a step forward. Though I'll forever remember knocking out Santa with Snowballs with a single tear of pride slowly rolling down my cheek.
UConn Boy would really flip a shit at any Maryland game. "Fuck Duke" being yelled during the meaningless guarantee games at the start of the season is only the tip of the iceberg. And to be fair, the "burning the campus down" part of Maryland lore is really behind us. The "riots" last year were really just police overreacting anyway. Then again, I wouldn't mind horse-stomping a couple students if I had the means to do so.
The author doesn't seem to grasp the concept of "homefield advantage" which is very much a part of the game. The Colts and the Patriots had much better odds of reaching the Superbowl if they were home teams through the playoffs. The old Boston Garden had several "soft spots" to the parque floor, and Larry Bird seemed to know every one of them and used them to the Celtics' advantage. Fan participation is just as much a part of it, as long as it stays non-physical. Chucking D-cell batteries at the opposing outfielder crosses the line--the intent is bodily harm (you might as well call Tonya Harding and set up a tireiron hit in the visitor's lockerroom). Taunting and heckling? I don't have a problem with that. The fan is looking to psyche the player out, throw him off his game, like Spike Lee to Reggie Miller at MSG: "Hey Reggie! Did you cut yourself shaving? You got KNICKS all over you!" Every time the Pacers came to NY, Miller knew he was also going to have deal with Spike Lee. Maybe this Editorial Broad is just unhappy UCONN fans couldn't come up with something more creative than "sucks."
For me, the most confusing part of the Auburn trees case was that the defendant named his kids "Bear Bryant" and "Crimson Tyde." You'd think that sort of person could at least spell "Tide".... I think the most amusing thing at a Georgetown game was when two girls in the front row of the student section showed up at a Cuse game with fake black eyes and T-shirts saying "Mrs. Devendorf" (SU point guard Eric Devendorf had been accused of punching a woman in the face).
Ok, just for the sake of discussion, a few years back (don't remember exactly when) Duke was at Maryland and there was a big controversy about a sign that was held up saying something like "J.J. I raped your sister." It started a bunch of discussion and I'm pretty sure there was a Barbara Walters interview where Redick cried about his sister only being 16 years old (and mean fans, and how he lost his blanky). Personally, I hated Redick, and I thought that the sign, while harsh, wasn't advocating the rape of underage girls and definitely didn't warrant the attention it got. In fact, I'd be surprised if the fan even knew JJ had a sister, nevermind that she was a minor. Anyway, what's your take--or, for you southern folk, what're y'all thinkin?
I hate Redick as much as the next person (scratch that, way more than the next person), but that sign is...fucked up. Whether he has a sister or how old she is sort of secondary. The fact that the person thought that saying "I raped someone" was funny is disturbing. It's not much better than "Shelden Williams, my grandfather enslaved your grandfather."
I went to Rutgers, and maybe 2-3 years ago (it was after Ray Rice left, so we were irrelevant again) there was a big uproar over student/fan behavior. But that's because the students booed and heckled the ever loving shit out of Navy. Then chanted "Fuck you Navy." Fucking NAVY. I'm all for trash talking, booing, and being as crude as possible, but goddamn. The service academies deserve a different level of respect than West Virginia. Applaud those kids, boo the shit out of everyone else. <a class="postlink" href="http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2007/09/obscene_fans_at_rutgers_draw_a.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/200 ... raw_a.html</a>
Y'all don't know hate until you've attended a basketball game in North Carolina. Even in high school, the student sections are merciless. You gotta have a thick skin to play an away game, because you can bet your ass all the fans in the other team's student section are aware of every embarrassing fact there is to know about you. I distinctly remember one player having to leave the arena because he couldn't handle being taunted about getting a fat girl pregnant. I've heard uncountable chants of various gay, fat, short, tall, and ugly slurs. One kid who'd just broken up with his long-term girlfriend had to play an entire game surrounded by posters of her kissing some other dude. It's even worse (or better) at the college level. I can't even imagine what kids are coming up with nowadays, what with Facebook and all.
Am I the only one that thinks the more extreme heckling of players is just kind of crude and off-putting? I mean, I'm not going to get all butthurt about it and write articles or try and enact rules surrounding it, but I don't get the kind of joy that some of you seem to get in seeing the vicious, directed heckling like posters saying "I raped your sister." I am all for cheering, team chants, screaming during plays, the so-called "12th man" - all of that. Cheer your team on, cheer on the players. Scream to your defense to tear the receiver's head off. Laugh at the quarterback during an interception. Get pissed off when something goes wrong. Hearing the fans around you get excited heightens the game and the excitement level. For me, though, it doesn't add to the game to hear some dickhead next to me screaming about how the point guard fucked a fat chick or had his girlfriend cheat on him, or listening to the audience yell "...SUCKS" after each player's name. Red dot away...