Call me a spoilsport, but I think the nation’s major conferences should follow the lead of the Southeastern Conference and ban court storming at basketball games.
Most of you have probably seen video of the Kansas State students rushing the Bramlage Auditorium court after K-State’s upset win over KU the other night.
In addition to the general mayhem, K-State and Kansas coaches Bruce Weber and Bill Self got pinned against the scorer’s table, and a K-State student –later identified as Nathan Power — “chicken winged” KU player Jamari Traylor with an elbow, knocking Traylor off balance (below). Fortunately, Traylor kept his footing — and his cool; he made no attempt to retaliate and just kept heading toward the locker room.
Police yesterday charged Power with disorderly conduct, which should give many students pause.
It was fortunate no one was injured in the melee, but as The Star’s Vahe Gregorian wrote yesterday, this court-storming custom can be downright life threatening.
Eleven years ago a high school player in Tucson was caught up in a court swarming incident in which several fans tried to lift Joe Kay from the floor…but dropped him. He suffered a torn carotid artery and a stroke that left him paralyzed on the right side.
Later that same year — I don’t know if it was coincidence or by design — the Southeastern Conference banned court storming.
And for the most part the league has been free of it since then.
The SEC policy states:
“For the safety of participants and spectators alike, at no time before, during or after a contest shall spectators be permitted to enter the competition area. It is the responsibility of each member institution to implement procedures to ensure compliance with this policy.”
For the first violation, a school can be fined $5,000; for the second, $25,000; and for the third and all ensuing offenses, $50,000.
This was the scene after a 2013 Maryland-Duke game: A student got trapped under chairs.
There’s another way to approach this problem — short of banning court storming.
One or more event companies have come up with a way to cordon off the bench area of the court.
It goes like this: As a game ends, two groups of security guards — one at each end of the court — move quickly to the middle of the court and form a human, arm-in-arm chain several feet in front of the team benches. Students are funneled onto the main part of the court, while the human chain allows the opposing coaches and players to conduct the traditional post-game greeting line.
Video from a University of Virginia-Duke University game two years ago shows how effective this strategy can be. In the video, the court looks like two different worlds — one where delirious students do their pancake stack, the other where players and coaches go calmly about their post-game business.
The video also shows a security guard at one end of the chain occasionally pushing back students trying to encroach on the no-fan zone. But the wall of safety held and all appeared to end well.
A story in yesterday’s Star said a similar plan was executed last week at West Virginia when the Mountaineers defeated Kansas and the student section flooded onto the floor without incident.
If a majority of schools decide that students should not be deprived of on-court celebrations, the least that should be done is to implement the human-chain strategy.
K-State Coach Bruce Weber attempting to shield KU coach Bill Self Monday night.
Another Star story said that the Big 12 Conference issued a public reprimand to Kansas State for its failure to appropriately handle Monday night’s post-game scene.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowslby said the league would look into prohibiting spectators from entering
Bowlsby also addressed another sorry aspect of Monday’s game — profane chants from K-State students, directed at KU, that could be heard during the game broadcast. He added:
“I have asked that discussions on both of these topics be placed on the agendas for the next meetings of the ADs (athletic directors) and of the CEOs…The events following the KU vs. K-State game should be a call to action for all of us.”
**
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Nothing says pampered, self-regarding children quite like court storming.
JimmyC,
Gosh, I guess it is just part of growing up and being a bit more responsible. I have always thought that a post-game rush-the-floor was a great way to celebrate a big victory. But…as you have shown…it is just not very safe. Guess next will be no tearing down the goal posts!
As an aside, I have noticed that your blogs most often have an “air-time” after midnight. Do you really stay up that late and write? Unfortunately, I don’t sleep well and am reading them soon after they “hit the press.”
We never did that stuff at St. X, John. I do remember — I think it was 1962 — when we won the state football championship, walking onto the field at Manual Stadium. It was more out of curiosity than anything, and I remember my feet sinking a couple of inches into the muddy field with every step. That wasn’t conducive to “storming the field.”
(Yes, I often post late at night, after Brooks and Patty have gone to bed and I have some quiet time. The post times are accurate.)
All it would take is disqualification of the winning team to stop this behavior. In my opinion, fining the school would have little to no effect on fan behavior. On the other hand, taking away the win, would make any kind of stampede seem senseless and would put the onus on the fans, as they are the problem.
I agree with JimmyC, time for court/field storming to go away. Also, tearing down goal posts is vandalism in my opinion. There are other places to celebrate.
I don’t always disagree with JimmyC! ;)
I think Bowlsby, the Big 12 commissioner, has all fields of play in mind when he’s calling for a review of this situation.
His quote was, “The Big 12 Conference does not currently have a policy prohibiting spectators entering playing areas of our contests.”
So, I think storming the football, basketball, baseball and soccer fields are on the way out — and probably even the badminton court. (Those are pretty small parties.)
I’m basically with Jason on this: just let it be known up front that if the home team’s fans storm the court/field after a victory, a forfeit will automatically ensue.