Post by 01- PirateDave on Feb 26, 2015 22:48:43 GMT -6
College basketball: Student attendance might suffer, but the Big 12's Bob Bowlsby is right about getting behavior under control
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby rightly rebuked K-State and put his league on notice that poor behavior will not be tolerated. Such sternness is necessary. It’s also counter to college hoops’ marketing endeavors to refill student sections.
by Berry Tramel Published: February 26, 2015
photo - Kansas State fans rush the floor following an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. Kansas State defeated Kansas 70-63. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
Kansas State fans rush the floor following an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. Kansas State defeated Kansas 70-63. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
College basketball is in a bind. Come to the games, universities tell their students. Let your hair down. Go crazy. Have fun.
Just not too much fun.
Kansas State students flooded the court at Bramlage Coliseum, which is not a capital crime in the sporting business. But as you know, the purple people did more than rush the court after their Wildcats beat Kansas on Monday night. They jostled with the Jayhawks themselves.
That is a capital crime, and only by the grace of James Naismith did KU’s Jamari Traylor not pulverize KSU student Nathan Power, who body-checked the Jayhawk forward and could have instigated a melee that would have scarred the sport far beyond the Flint Hills.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby rightly rebuked K-State and put his league on notice that such behavior will not be tolerated. Such sternness is necessary. It’s also counter to college hoops’ marketing endeavors to refill student sections.
At all but the most passionate fan bases — the Duke, Kansas, North Carolina crowd — student attendance is a constant concern. Anymore, 20-year-olds don’t find college basketball a charming way to spend two hours on a cold campus night.
And when they show up and show passion, here come the shackles of proper behavior.
“The interaction of spectators with players, coaches and staff members was inappropriate and unacceptable,” Bowlsby said in a Big 12 statement. “Revisions to policies and procedures must guarantee that no future incidents occur.”
Well, good luck with that. There are no guarantees in life. But Bowlsby wants to go further.
“The Big 12 Conference does not currently have a policy prohibiting spectators entering playing areas of our contests,” Bowlsby said. “We also do not have policies governing foul language and inappropriate chants within our venues. I have asked that discussions on both of these topics be placed on the agendas for the next meetings of the ADs and of the CEOs.”
In other words, no more “bull****” chants from the student section. And again, I agree with Bowlsby. That has to go. We live in a civilized society. Our institutions can’t tolerate such behavior, even if it alienates a customer base that is essential to the health of the business.
In fact, the slippage in decorum which has led to such chants has led to the entitlement culture in which students can rush the court and confront opponents once they arrive.
Truth is, if students will run onto the court and celebrate at halfcourt while the vanquished visitors depart for the locker room, all is well.
“If they go to midcourt and jump up and down, probably wouldn’t scare many people,” said OU associate athletic director Kenny Mossman. “The one thing we all wrestle with is, how paramount is that to them having fun at the games? My mindset says that shouldn’t be a necessary part of it. But if you’re viewed as fun-killers…”
OU has an advantage in student crowd control, because of the Lloyd Noble Center configuration. The student section is on the north end. The tunnel leading to the locker rooms is on the south end. That makes it much easier to keep the twain apart.
Not so at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, where the students are on both ends, with no barriers to the floor. Visiting teams exit in the southwest corner of the coliseum, near the student section.
“In our arena, the students are right there,” said OSU associate athletic director Marty Sargent. “There’s nothing to stop them. In some arenas, there may be some chairs that slow them down. Here, they have free rein. But you know that, you see that developing as the game goes along, you just have to be ready for that to take place.”
Both OU and OSU have plans in which human barriers are formed on the court, attempting to keep court rushers away from participants. Court rushing is rare at both places; maybe twice every three years or so.
But it only takes one bad incident to set off alarms. Recall the 2003 Nebraska-Missouri football game, when Cornhusker player Kelly Huston was suspended after he punched a fan who came running at him. With the emotions of sport, we’re lucky that kind of thing hasn’t happened more. We’re lucky that far worse hasn’t happened.
“The events following the KU vs. K-State game should be a call to action for all of us,” Bowlsby said.
The unfortunate action that might be called is this. If that’s your idea of fun, students, the sport will trudge along without you, no matter how badly it needs you.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@opubco.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby rightly rebuked K-State and put his league on notice that poor behavior will not be tolerated. Such sternness is necessary. It’s also counter to college hoops’ marketing endeavors to refill student sections.
by Berry Tramel Published: February 26, 2015
photo - Kansas State fans rush the floor following an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. Kansas State defeated Kansas 70-63. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
Kansas State fans rush the floor following an NCAA college basketball game against Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan., Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. Kansas State defeated Kansas 70-63. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)
College basketball is in a bind. Come to the games, universities tell their students. Let your hair down. Go crazy. Have fun.
Just not too much fun.
Kansas State students flooded the court at Bramlage Coliseum, which is not a capital crime in the sporting business. But as you know, the purple people did more than rush the court after their Wildcats beat Kansas on Monday night. They jostled with the Jayhawks themselves.
That is a capital crime, and only by the grace of James Naismith did KU’s Jamari Traylor not pulverize KSU student Nathan Power, who body-checked the Jayhawk forward and could have instigated a melee that would have scarred the sport far beyond the Flint Hills.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby rightly rebuked K-State and put his league on notice that such behavior will not be tolerated. Such sternness is necessary. It’s also counter to college hoops’ marketing endeavors to refill student sections.
At all but the most passionate fan bases — the Duke, Kansas, North Carolina crowd — student attendance is a constant concern. Anymore, 20-year-olds don’t find college basketball a charming way to spend two hours on a cold campus night.
And when they show up and show passion, here come the shackles of proper behavior.
“The interaction of spectators with players, coaches and staff members was inappropriate and unacceptable,” Bowlsby said in a Big 12 statement. “Revisions to policies and procedures must guarantee that no future incidents occur.”
Well, good luck with that. There are no guarantees in life. But Bowlsby wants to go further.
“The Big 12 Conference does not currently have a policy prohibiting spectators entering playing areas of our contests,” Bowlsby said. “We also do not have policies governing foul language and inappropriate chants within our venues. I have asked that discussions on both of these topics be placed on the agendas for the next meetings of the ADs and of the CEOs.”
In other words, no more “bull****” chants from the student section. And again, I agree with Bowlsby. That has to go. We live in a civilized society. Our institutions can’t tolerate such behavior, even if it alienates a customer base that is essential to the health of the business.
In fact, the slippage in decorum which has led to such chants has led to the entitlement culture in which students can rush the court and confront opponents once they arrive.
Truth is, if students will run onto the court and celebrate at halfcourt while the vanquished visitors depart for the locker room, all is well.
“If they go to midcourt and jump up and down, probably wouldn’t scare many people,” said OU associate athletic director Kenny Mossman. “The one thing we all wrestle with is, how paramount is that to them having fun at the games? My mindset says that shouldn’t be a necessary part of it. But if you’re viewed as fun-killers…”
OU has an advantage in student crowd control, because of the Lloyd Noble Center configuration. The student section is on the north end. The tunnel leading to the locker rooms is on the south end. That makes it much easier to keep the twain apart.
Not so at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, where the students are on both ends, with no barriers to the floor. Visiting teams exit in the southwest corner of the coliseum, near the student section.
“In our arena, the students are right there,” said OSU associate athletic director Marty Sargent. “There’s nothing to stop them. In some arenas, there may be some chairs that slow them down. Here, they have free rein. But you know that, you see that developing as the game goes along, you just have to be ready for that to take place.”
Both OU and OSU have plans in which human barriers are formed on the court, attempting to keep court rushers away from participants. Court rushing is rare at both places; maybe twice every three years or so.
But it only takes one bad incident to set off alarms. Recall the 2003 Nebraska-Missouri football game, when Cornhusker player Kelly Huston was suspended after he punched a fan who came running at him. With the emotions of sport, we’re lucky that kind of thing hasn’t happened more. We’re lucky that far worse hasn’t happened.
“The events following the KU vs. K-State game should be a call to action for all of us,” Bowlsby said.
The unfortunate action that might be called is this. If that’s your idea of fun, students, the sport will trudge along without you, no matter how badly it needs you.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@opubco.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.
good luck to all!