Here is my take on the students getting thrown out of Sunday's Charlotte-UMass game:
Originally when I heard about it I intended to find out the details and write a blog entry saying something about how important student participation and its vocal support is, but there are lines that have to be drawn regarding vulgar language, intoxication, things of that nature. But the more I discovered the more I realized none of those things applied. This was a case of people hired to do a job and taking upon themselves authority they did not have.
I'm sure the athletics department wasn't thrilled with this story, I'm even more sure the department wasn't happy learning of the incident from the media. That should never happen. In any case, I am a big believer that if you know the rules going in and elect not to follow them, you forfeit your right to complain. However, I also am a big believer that if the same people who enforce the rules elect not to follow the rules spelled out to them in how to do that, then they bear the responsibility of their actions.
Click here to read the story.
My "investigation" into what happened Sunday was not done to promote outrageous, vulgar or other "disruptive" behavior at basketball games. In the end, it was a simple case of right vs. wrong. What the security personnel did was wrong, plain and simple. And if highlighting the incident prevents similar wrongs from being repeated, so much the better.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Abuse of authority at work in student removals
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10 comments:
I for one think that it is important that we have a rowdy crowd in Halton. I think that it adds to the home court advantage, and that ejecting students for anything less than throwing things on the court or inciting fights is uncalled for.
I personally think that security is too tight in Halton vs. other college arenas in general, and that in order to promote school spirit and getting students to the games, they should be pretty lax about it.
clt thinks the students should be tasered if they speak louder than library voices.
there is a game going on, folks.
Basketball arenas by nature, are supposed to be loud and rowdy. The fans are indeed the sixth man on the floor. As stated correctly by Jim, the security folks way over stepped their authority. As long as people are cheering and yelling, everything is fair. When fans are drunk or toss an object on the court, they should immediately be tossed. That wasn't the case Sunday.
This hasn't just occurred in Halton Arena. A similar incident happened over at Davidson and "security" personnel wanted to toss some students for some raw language. Of course, he wanted to stop the Charlotte fans from saying it but it was fine for the Davidson students to say the same words. He then allowed a Davidson student to enter the Charlotte student section, which could easily have turned into something bad. Fortunately, there was no incident but the yellow jacketed man stood there... listening to his iPod!
Thanks for the blog, we enjoy it!
As I stood in the front row, with the usual 'crew' who sits front row wearing facepaint and chanting, I was shocked to see one of us getting booted. Especially since we follow all the rules, and we were only asking the ref to zip up his fly. But people swallowed that injustice quietly and continued to support our team.
When the second person for the 'crew' got booted, well then it got ugly. Everyone knew this guy was obeying all the rules, so when he got booted, people started yelling at the police and (regretably) started getting belligerent. But who can blame them?
The good thing is, both students went quietly, and while another one of us went to find out what was going on, the attention turned back to the game, and it seemed those ejections had light a fire under the fans.
But after everything was done, we found out that the event security just picked the loudest fans they saw that moment, and took them away. Using this communist/gestapo tactic, it could of been anyone in the arena...
So final words I guess are, BEWARE: If you have a rowdy 6 year old, they might end up in county lock up!
This isn't the first time this year people have been thrown out the Arena.
What about the time when the Refs asked that a fan be removed for getting on them? Unfortunatly I cant remember what game that was.
That other time though, if I remember correctly, there was profanity and fans complaining no?
This happens any time you hire a third party to do a job like that. Stop outsourcing security jobs to minimum wage beefheads with a chip on their shoulder.
Its sad when what the students do in the stands is bigger news than what the team does on the court. Whats going to be written after the LaSalle game? How about an expose on the concession stand workers!?
The students in the stands are a reflection of Bobby on the court. Lutz is a constant irritant to the refs and his excessive technicals and occasional ejections set a bad example for the fans.
Has Bobby even got a tech this year? At home?
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