Fans must follow the rules too

Now there’s stupidity and there’s stupidity, but this kind of thing breaks the parameters. If there ever is a no-no, it is not to be provocatively rude and stupid to the mother of a 6-foot, 10-inch athlete who has just suffered through a tough night in a losing game.

Seeing that, Bell reacted as all of us would and tried to get into the stands but was restrained by teammates and coaches. It could have evolved into an incident shared on ESPN and Court TV had cooler heads not intervened.

Most fans — and we must get this straight up front — are not a problem. They come out to have a good time, they root for their team while rooting against the opponents in a civil manner. Sometimes, watching a crowd work an opponent, including at the Coliseum, you wonder if they aren’t pushing the boundaries a bit, but you have to remember the name at WVU’s place is called the Mountaineer Maniacs, so you expect some idiotic behavior.

Unless they carry it too far by throwing objects, not words, out of the student section offering up racial or personal slurs, insulting and showing hostility to fans of the other team, it adds to experience of attending a live sporting event.

Students are supposed to create the atmosphere in an arena and at WVU they are virtually unmatched in doing so. You listen to opposing coach after coach and opposing player after opposing player and they all comment on the Coliseum’s atmosphere and how it ranks at or near the top of where they go.

Think back to your experiences there. The best, of course, may have been the masks on a stick they used to greet Temple’s expressive coach John Chaney back in the good old days.

Five thousand of those masks came out one day as a prank that WVU’s play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi, then not yet having replaced Jack Fleming, was behind. Chaney, it turned out, loved the welcome he got by a student section all looking like him. Good, harmless fun.

“Our fans respected John Chaney, but they also wanted to beat him and if the masks could give the Mountaineers a little boost, well, let’s bring on the masks,” Caridi remembered right after Chaney died.

Like it not, there are rules that fans must follow and West Virginia’s almost always do. The days of burning sofas and tearing down goalposts are over.

Fans may toss some obscenities around and no one who has ever attended a WVU-Pitt game will ever sing “Sweet Caroline” with its written lyrics again. The norm is to have WVU fans invite visiting team fans into their pre-game tailgates at football for a beer and a burger ... even a pepperoni roll on occasion.

Let’s think about what happened down in Fort Worth for a moment. If it occurred as Huggins painted it, and there has been no denial, it cast an ugly light on what was an ugly enough basketball game. Strange, isn’t it, no matter how heated the game becomes — and they often do challenge an athlete’s control — that the worst incident has to include fan behavior.

Of course, this image wasn’t restricted just to the Fort Worth area, even if the ESPNU cameras missed it, having switched to the next game. The images of Bell being restrained and shouting into the stands went across America online and in publications.

What’s unfair is that often those who see such pictures immediately lay blame at the feet of the aggressive player, for that is what they saw, rather than upon the fans who instigated what could have turned into a bad situation.

Rooters are far better served — as is the team they are rooting for — if fans reserve their rah-rahs for their favorite team and athletes. Tis far better to rally behind your team than to spit out vitriol at the opposition or to mock fans wearing the opponent’s colors.

Unless, you are flashing a “Horns Down” sign to a Texas fan, that is. That’s as acceptable as the “Eat S—t Pitt” cheers.

Let’s all agree that the idea of enjoying a sporting event comes out of the dedication to the team of one’s choice and the socialization that goes on before, during and after games.

Everyone can’t leave happy, but they can leave knowing that they’ve had a good time, made new friends not new enemies and look forward to a return visit, for a day at the stadium or arena isn’t a trip to the dentist; it’s going to a site where you can let yourself go and show off those pearly whites.

So, next time at the game, wear your colors, drink your beer, shake a hand or two, root for a victory and build another day of Mountaineer memories without crossing over the boundaries of sportsmanship.

That’s how it’s supposed to be.

Overall, remember that everyone’s there for a good time, a fun time and to be entertained.

Oh, by the way, if you need a reminder that fans must follow rules, too, keep this column and read the message in the first letter of each paragraph because that’s just what it’s been telling you ... “fans must follow rules, too.”