Cal must help stop Madness
To quote a great man when it comes to fandom and fanaticism, folks sometimes are inspired to paint their face to “ya know, support the team.” But there too often is an ugly side to sports when all of this participation and interaction is taken too far, and that’s certainly the case with Kentucky fans reportedly threatening referee John Higgins and his regular place of business this week following the Wildcats’ two-point loss to North Carolina on Sunday in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
Higgins met with law enforcement for more than two hours on Tuesday, according to ESPN, after claiming he received death threats and incessant phone calls to his office and his home in Nebraska — as well as dozens of negative reviews for his roofing business and nasty comments on its Facebook page — from Kentucky fans since officiating Sunday’s game, which included star players De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Bam Adebayo all called for multiple fouls in the first half while finishing the game with four apiece.
“You know, it’s amazing that we were in that game where they practically fouled out my team,” Kentucky coach John Calipari had complained after the game. “Amazing that we had a chance.”
It would be more amazing now – and the absolutely needed gesture — for Calipari to come out publicly to swiftly denounce what allegedly is happening with Higgins, who is slated to work the eighth Final Four of his refereeing career this weekend in Phoenix.
Fans yelling at an official that they need glasses — or let’s face it, far more colorful language — has been a part of sports forever. The biggest occupational hazard for refs or umpires is the verbal abuse they are subjected to from fans, athletes and coaches on a regular basis, even sadly, yet perhaps most prominently, at the youth level.
I never will forget my father’s advice when I was a teenager and umpiring Little League games or refereeing youth soccer matches, to “never have rabbit ears.” But like most things, especially when emotions are involved, that’s usually easier said than done.
Still, I argued last summer that longtime MLB umpire Bob Davidson should have been applauded — not ridiculed — for pointing out a heckling fan in Philadelphia whom he believed went too far beyond the normal “you suck” vulgarity that we hear at every game we attend.
“All right, ‘suck’ is not bad. Then he kept it up for two hitters completely,” Davidson said after that August game. “Then the third hitter after the first pitch, he says ‘I own property on 69th Street. You could come over and suck!’ That’s when I turned around and said ‘You know what, get rid of this guy.’
“You could have your wife, girlfriend, kids — they buy tickets. They don’t have to come here and listen to that. That’s exactly what he said to throw him out.”
Sure, we’ve all heard worse while attending games, but the Kentucky fans — and yes, it’s likely just a small subsection of them — taking their disgust with and abuse of Higgins outside the arena and into his personal life, if proven true, is beyond embarrassing and despicable.
Calipari and his university need to blow the whistle on it as quickly and as emphatically as possible.