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Chris Solari takes aim at those that throw objects on the court at basketball games. Kind of ironic since his whole write-up of the Augie game on Sunday was based on the flying rabbits.
http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Tuesdayarticle1.shtml
Throwing objects morally bankrupt
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
published: 2/10/2004
Universities should be ashamed of such events
On a level of depravity, Saturday's rabbit-throwing episode at the Augustana-South Dakota State men's basketball game ranks right up there with Janet Jackson's indecent exposure at the Super Bowl.
Neither morally bankrupt action has any place at a sporting event.
Call South Dakota's accepted fascination with fans heaving objects onto the basketball court a "tradition" all you want, but you are wrong. The definition of tradition assumes that an act is an unwritten law. Throwing a dead animal at an unsuspecting person performing their job, even in the name of a rivalry, is uncivilized behavior.
Label me an outsider and say I don't understand that it has gone on for years. Pretend I don't know about the time a whiskey bottle came from the stands and hit a player's face, shattering on the floor beside him. Just because this has happened in the past doesn't make it right, and perpetuating such shameful actions by clapping and cheering continues to make this state's sporting fans look foolish.
With SDSU's Andy Moeller shooting free throws in Saturday's first half, an Augustana student heaved a mammoth, dead hare onto the Elmen Center floor. The carcass landed right next to Moeller's adidas shoes, causing him to leap back in shock.
Then, as if it were some dignified act, the Augustana student section began chanting "Augie! Augie!" After the 2-foot-long rabbit was disposed of and the floor wiped clean, the Vikings were assessed a technical foul.
It looked as if the same bunny returned in the second half, again being thrown by an Augustana student. Another student ran courtside and picked it up, whipping it around as if the team he allegedly supports had just won a championship. Of course, the Vikings trailed by 30 points.
It made Augustana look asinine.
Security guards manned the entrance to the Elmen Center, inspecting coats, bags and purses. As SDSU coach Scott Nagy said after the game, there was no way those checkers should have missed a dead animal that large unless someone purposely looked the other way.
That is a giant black mark on the host university. Administrators need to provide protection for fans and players. They failed miserably. Post-9/11, you would hope a university would take security a little more seriously.
And then there are the students involved. If this is higher learning, I'm certainly glad I didn't go to a South Dakota college. It isn't just Augustana, either. Last year, carrots thrown at the DakotaDome prompted four technical fouls in the SDSU-University of South Dakota women's game. Before the USD-SDSU men's game at Frost Arena last season, a Coyote head was thrown onto the court during Josh Mueller's introduction.
SDSU finally held stringent security searches at the Jan. 9 USD-SDSU game that was televised from Brookings. No technicals were needed. An incident like that at a Division I school isn't applauded, like it was by fans Saturday at Elmen. It becomes a national embarrassment, and SDSU administrators know that.
Hopefully new USD Athletic Director Joel Nielsen will follow suit and keep the court clean when the two schools meet again - possibly for the last time - on Feb. 28 in Vermillion. That would allow the rivalry to go out with the dignity it deserves, solely being settled by the athletes on the court.
The North Central Conference also might want to install new rules to protect participants. The first offense would remain a technical. The second might call for the ejection of both head coaches. See how quickly they will grab a microphone - like USD women's coach Chad Lavin finally did after his team's fourth technical last year - and tell the fans to knock it off, possibly even before it starts.
I have covered athletic events at every level all over the country. Though such deplorable actions are increasing nationally, No other fans reach the level of premeditated selfishness as South Dakota fans show when two of their universities meet.
Sit and watch a Duke-North Carolina basketball game, arguably the best rivalry in all of sports. Though you'll hear the same obscenities that fans took upon themselves to use Saturday, objects don't fly from the stands. It's completely unacceptable there, and it should be in South Dakota, too.
http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Tuesdayarticle1.shtml
Throwing objects morally bankrupt
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
published: 2/10/2004
Universities should be ashamed of such events
On a level of depravity, Saturday's rabbit-throwing episode at the Augustana-South Dakota State men's basketball game ranks right up there with Janet Jackson's indecent exposure at the Super Bowl.
Neither morally bankrupt action has any place at a sporting event.
Call South Dakota's accepted fascination with fans heaving objects onto the basketball court a "tradition" all you want, but you are wrong. The definition of tradition assumes that an act is an unwritten law. Throwing a dead animal at an unsuspecting person performing their job, even in the name of a rivalry, is uncivilized behavior.
Label me an outsider and say I don't understand that it has gone on for years. Pretend I don't know about the time a whiskey bottle came from the stands and hit a player's face, shattering on the floor beside him. Just because this has happened in the past doesn't make it right, and perpetuating such shameful actions by clapping and cheering continues to make this state's sporting fans look foolish.
With SDSU's Andy Moeller shooting free throws in Saturday's first half, an Augustana student heaved a mammoth, dead hare onto the Elmen Center floor. The carcass landed right next to Moeller's adidas shoes, causing him to leap back in shock.
Then, as if it were some dignified act, the Augustana student section began chanting "Augie! Augie!" After the 2-foot-long rabbit was disposed of and the floor wiped clean, the Vikings were assessed a technical foul.
It looked as if the same bunny returned in the second half, again being thrown by an Augustana student. Another student ran courtside and picked it up, whipping it around as if the team he allegedly supports had just won a championship. Of course, the Vikings trailed by 30 points.
It made Augustana look asinine.
Security guards manned the entrance to the Elmen Center, inspecting coats, bags and purses. As SDSU coach Scott Nagy said after the game, there was no way those checkers should have missed a dead animal that large unless someone purposely looked the other way.
That is a giant black mark on the host university. Administrators need to provide protection for fans and players. They failed miserably. Post-9/11, you would hope a university would take security a little more seriously.
And then there are the students involved. If this is higher learning, I'm certainly glad I didn't go to a South Dakota college. It isn't just Augustana, either. Last year, carrots thrown at the DakotaDome prompted four technical fouls in the SDSU-University of South Dakota women's game. Before the USD-SDSU men's game at Frost Arena last season, a Coyote head was thrown onto the court during Josh Mueller's introduction.
SDSU finally held stringent security searches at the Jan. 9 USD-SDSU game that was televised from Brookings. No technicals were needed. An incident like that at a Division I school isn't applauded, like it was by fans Saturday at Elmen. It becomes a national embarrassment, and SDSU administrators know that.
Hopefully new USD Athletic Director Joel Nielsen will follow suit and keep the court clean when the two schools meet again - possibly for the last time - on Feb. 28 in Vermillion. That would allow the rivalry to go out with the dignity it deserves, solely being settled by the athletes on the court.
The North Central Conference also might want to install new rules to protect participants. The first offense would remain a technical. The second might call for the ejection of both head coaches. See how quickly they will grab a microphone - like USD women's coach Chad Lavin finally did after his team's fourth technical last year - and tell the fans to knock it off, possibly even before it starts.
I have covered athletic events at every level all over the country. Though such deplorable actions are increasing nationally, No other fans reach the level of premeditated selfishness as South Dakota fans show when two of their universities meet.
Sit and watch a Duke-North Carolina basketball game, arguably the best rivalry in all of sports. Though you'll hear the same obscenities that fans took upon themselves to use Saturday, objects don't fly from the stands. It's completely unacceptable there, and it should be in South Dakota, too.
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