College court etiquette
November 14, 2006 12:28 pm by donaldThe Marquette bloggers over at Cracked Sidewalks speak some wisdom about home court etiquette:
“What I do want to comment on is an aspect of crowd behavior tonight. Three occasions, after frustrating empty trips down the court, the Bradley Center faithful booed. It wasn’t Boooooarro, or Boooooourke to cheer on Ooze or Dwight. It was honest to goodness jeering — something I haven’t heard in years.
While you might be frustrated with these kids’ performance, there is NO PLACE for booing college athletes on their own home court.”
Amen. I’d add that home college crowd behavior has gotten incredibly stupid in recent years. Among my complaints:
- Rushing the court/field: There are appropriate times for this. But when both teams are ranked, there’s no reason for it (I think the Rutgers/Louisville situation is an exception. But even there, the crowd could have cost Rutgers the ballgame.) In recent years, though, students have started rushing the court for absolutely no good reason. It’s dangerous to everybody involved and it just shows a lack of class. One of these days, some stupid college kid is going to get in somebody’s face, and we’ll have the Malice at the Palace scene all over again. Sportscenter ought to stop showing highlights of rushing the court — it just romanticizes the notion.
- Throwing stuff at opposing teams (remember this?).
- Ad-hominem attacks: Don’t get me wrong — I love the energy that home crowds bring to college courts. But I think it’s in poor taste when home crowds effectively stalk opposing players to get dirt on them (sometimes, it can even backfire.)
At the heart of this problem are fans who think they are more than just a spectator. Have you ever noticed how some fans address their team in the first person, i.e. “We played a good game” or “We’re gonna beat Syracuse!”? Actually, there’s nothing first person about it. It’s the team you’re rooting for that is going to play a good game and they are the ones who are going to beat Syracuse. You, dear fan, do absolutely nothing other than cheer. In recent years, fans have started to believe that they are part of the game in an unhealthy way, and I think that’s one of the root causes of the behavior above.
7 Responses to “College court etiquette”
I love the standard 1st person/3rd person dichotomy.
“We’re 22-6 and headed to the Dance.”
“They’re 15-13 and need a Big East tourney prayer.”
“While you might be frustrated with these kids’ performance, there is NO PLACE for booing college athletes on their own home court.”
And there’s the Midwestern outlook on east coast sports.
I do agree with the excessive court rushing, as we talked about last year. In a situation such as Rutgers football, totally cool, but nothing less exciting than that.
In fact, there a semi-famous study that interviewed college kids after their schools’ teams had just played a game. If the team won, the kids overwhelmingly said “We won. We had a great game, we, we, we” and of course if the team lost, it was “They lost. They just couldn’t do it.” etc.
People are just naturally (biologically? psychologically?) bandwagon fans.
Thx for the props in your blog today…….good luck with your blog!
Just to take the other side, isn’t that what sports is all about? You get to get involved with your chosen side, and have something to yell and brag about that gives you a release from the everyday work-world. Basically, rooting for “your” sports team gives you something to be passionate about, something fun (unless your a Jets fan), and most importantly something to talk about.
Big Willie, I actually think it’s totally fine to say “we” for the reasons you mentioned (as long as you don’t get delusional about it). But what gets me is when people who normally say “we” start saying “they” when the team loses.
I agree.
and that’s Mr. Big Willie to you.
Care to comment?