Kentucky fans go way over the line this time
“Big” Joe Lombardi
“Cup O’Joe”
Want an example of why the NCAA basketball tournament is known as March MADness?
One of the greatest sports books ever written was Instant Replay by Green Bay Packer star offensive lineman Jerry Kramer, where he described the team’s run up to the 1967 Super Bowl. At one point, Kramer mentioned how a psychologist felt that during games, the average sports fan goes clinically insane for a split second. Anything can trigger it… A mistake by the team, etc, but too often the lamp is uncorked by a perceived bad call from an official, loosing a raging genie, which spits vitriol and curses at the hapless zebra.
I’d never heard of death threats over a basketball call, though and yes, I’m talking to some Kentucky Wildcat fans,
Briefly, Kentucky was playing North Carolina in the Elite 8, winner to the Final Four and it was close at the end. UNC won the game and played Gonzaga in the title game last night. Naturally, Wildcat fans who eat, sleep and breathe basketball had to blame someone, so their venom came down on official John Higgins. NCAA officials said Higgins is one the best refs out there and was scheduled to work the Final Four.
Then came the harassing phone calls, both to his place of business and his unlisted home phone. Some of them included threats of death, which are being investigated. I kind of chuckled when the NCAA told Kentucky fans to “get over yourselves.”
Sadly, it seems that Kentucky has one of those fan bases; which feels they have a God-given right to win, no matter what. I’ve seen that sort of thing go on right here in Bulldawg Gym, to be honest and it’s not right. In a boys’ game once, a visiting fan, fearing a Bulldawg upset, stood up and yelled, “It’s unacceptable to lose to Copperas Cove. Play like you’ve got some ____.”
In a girls’ game, another visitor went ballistic when a foul was called against his daughter and spewed some very vile language, which caused him to exit the arena without a refund.
Even I have a been a “one-second insanity” victim. It came in a Lady Dawg game at the Farrell Center, when an official called a Dallas Skyline game-ender good, when it clearly didn’t beat the clock. I yelled “NOOO!” But, recovery was quick and I didn’t threaten anybody.
Just because you buy a ticket to watch your team play, no right to do or say what you please is included. I think we all need to look up the word “sportsmanship” in Webster’s and try to live by the definition you find.
Life will throw occasional losses at you; it’s how you handle them that counts.