Grant Wahl Article on Student Sections

[BlueintheFace]

Grant Wahl has an article up on whether some of the actions of college basketball fans around the nation are over the top. Nothing bad is said about Duke really, but there are some awesome posters and references to the Crazies. Also, check out the gallery of posters from around the nation (3 from Duke)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/grant_wahl/02/26/abusive.fans0303/index.html#?eref=T1

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0802/campus.fan.abuse/content.1.html?eref=T1

[DavidBenAkiva]

You know, I read it and saw the pictures, and I have to say that I was not happy with the way SI portrayed Duke. The article was fairly balanced, I guess, and talked about the terrible things that happened to some players and their families, but Wahl lumped in the Cameron Crazies' attack on Maryland's academic record with people calling Kevin Love's cell phone with death threats. I don't see the Duke attack as boorish or even low. Shouldn't the academic record of a school be fair game?

I know that us Dukies have said some bad stuff. That being said, I can't think of one instance where it was truly out of hand, and certainly not in the past ten years. About half of the photos were in Cameron, which gives the perception that Duke is somehow the leader in poor fan behavior. I forget where I saw or heard this, but it seems pretty obvious to most visiting teams that CIS is loud and the students are right there and often obnoxious but it is not a hostile or physically threatening environment. I don't think that the school or the fans were treated fairly by Wahl.

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana

[ugadevil]

Maybe it's just me, but I thought a lot of those signs were creative and funny. I really liked the one to the Georgetown players, "You're not smart enough to run the Princeton offense."

[merry]

I thought the pictures and signs were mostly funny too. I didn't see anything that was really over the line there.

I also don't understand how making fun of Maryland's graduation rate is similar to calling an opposing player's cell phone with a death threat or screaming rude things at their family members. In fact, I also wouldn't equate the "Teabag Paulus" chant with the "F*** you Gordon" one.

It would be nice if Grant Wahl/SI had expressed an actual opinion about what's over the line rather than lumping everything together with the label "abusive fans".

[OZZIE4DUKE]

In tonight's game vs. GT, one of their players tried to save an errant pass and leaped onto the scorer's table and into the stands, landing about 3 rows deep. When he emerged he got a real nice round of applause from the fans for his effort. I commented "at how many other arenas around the country would an opponent get applause for his effort?" I think about zero, other than in Cameron.

[wisteria]

In the actual article, Duke wasn't even frequently mentioned. Yes, there was a part where Paulus was quoted. But really not much. However, all the pictures were Duke-related. weird.

[SeattleIrish]

But what is that line? When Duke's Cameron Crazies donned caps and gowns on Feb. 13 and held up signs reading MARYLAND BASKETBALL: FEAR THE CLASSROOM, was it a creative dig at their rival's ACC-lowest graduation rate or a boorish put-down?

I agree that it's a tough call. When I first read the quote I thought it was pretty clever; but when I saw the photo of a white Princeton fan holding up the "You're not smart enough..." sign, in front of an all-african-american Georgetown team...it made/makes me reconsider. The context is different, of course, but it does make me think.

s.i.

[glutton]

that mark mangino one is gonna give me nightmares tonight...

[detule]

I agree that it's a tough call. When I first read the quote I thought it was pretty clever; but when I saw the photo of a white Princeton fan holding up the "You're not smart enough..." sign, in front of an all-african-american Georgetown team...it made/makes me reconsider. The context is different, of course, but it does make me think.

s.i.

You are kidding right?
First, the photo is of a Duke fan holding up the "You are not smart enough to run the Princeton offence" sign in front of Jeff Green. I am just bringing this up because I LOVE that sign, and it is sad to give Princeton fans the credit.

Second, colour me blind, but the race of who is holding the sign and who it is targeted at has little or nothing to do with anything. Would the sign have been more acceptable if a black student was holding it up? Please.....

On another note, since I am cheerleading for the Crazies here, and it's been a few weeks since we have had "clever chants" thread, let me just post this here, since it can not really be captured in a photo and put in a slide-show. Couple of years ago, when UPenn came to play in Cameron, before the game the visiting fans put up a sign that read "Our athletes can read". Very promptly, the Crazies responded with a chant "They're not athletes." The sign did not make another public appearance after that.

[shadowfax336]

In tonight's game vs. GT, one of their players tried to save an errant pass and leaped onto the scorer's table and into the stands, landing about 3 rows deep. When he emerged he got a real nice round of applause from the fans for his effort. I commented "at how many other arenas around the country would an opponent get applause for his effort?" I think about zero, other than in Cameron.

Lets not get carried away here, yes Duke's sportsmanship is to be commended but we don't have a corner on the market. There are other places with classy fans out there. Seriously though, you can be classy without being arrogant about it.

[loran16]

You are kidding right?
First, the photo is of a Duke fan holding up the "You are not smart enough to run the Princeton offence" sign in front of Jeff Green. I am just bringing this up because I LOVE that sign, and it is sad to give Princeton fans the credit.

Second, colour me blind, but the race of who is holding the sign and who it is targeted at has little or nothing to do with anything. Would the sign have been more acceptable if a black student was holding it up? Please.....

On another note, since I am cheerleading for the Crazies here, and it's been a few weeks since we have had "clever chants" thread, let me just post this here, since it can not really be captured in a photo and put in a slide-show. Couple of years ago, when UPenn came to play in Cameron, before the game the visiting fans put up a sign that read "Our athletes can read". Very promptly, the Crazies responded with a chant "They're not athletes." The sign did not make another public appearance after that.

I'm pretty sure last year Columbia did that. Of course they also started a J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS cheer at one point, which kind of put some levity into the situation.