Not difficult: Gators stopped court-storming 30 years ago
Running off at the typewriter … Can we please stop with all of this ridiculous recent hand-wringing and teeth-gnashing among college coaches, administrators and media members who say it’s time to ban the riotous rituals of allowing college fans to storm the court or rush the field after big victories in football or basketball?
The fact is, it should have been banned decades ago.
I hate to say I told you so, but I’ve been fighting this battle for nearly 25 years with little help from fellow media members. In fact, I went and looked it up, and the first of many columns I’ve written about this issue was Oct. 12, 2000, in the Orlando Sentinel. It was after a conversation with former University of Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley, who unilaterally made the decision nearly three decades ago to stop allowing these dangerous university-approved mob scenes otherwise known as rushing the field and storming the court.
Countless fans over the years have been trampled during these celebrations, suffered broken bones or concussions, and been sent to the hospital. One student in Minnesota even died several years ago when fellow fans tore down the goalpost and it fell on his head.
“How bad does someone have to get hurt before we realize we can’t condone this sort of behavior?” Foley said.
He would later add, “If it’s important to you and you want to stop it, then make the decision to stop it.”
Foley uttered those statements nearly a quarter-century ago, and yet it’s still happening. That’s why I just laugh at all the current coaches and administrators who act as if it would take an act of Congress or an amendment to the Constitution to stop what happened last week when court-storming fans at Wake Forest roughed up Duke star Kyle Filipowski. Or a few weeks ago when Iowa women’s basketball superstar Caitlin Clark collided with a court-storming fan.
Memo to university ADs: It’s not really that hard to stop. The NBA and NFL stopped it decades ago, and colleges could stop it tomorrow — if they really wanted to. It doesn’t need to be done at the NCAA level. It doesn’t need
to be done at the conference level. Every university can make the unilateral decision to ban the activity just as Florida did all those years ago. It was Foley who made the original decision, and current AD Scott Stricklin has maintained the zero-tolerance policy.
The Gators have won a zillion big games and multiple national and conference championships in football and basketball within the last 30 years and never once have had their fans rush the field or storm the court — except for an incident two years ago when a couple dozen students slipped past security and ran out onto the floor after a victory over No. 2-ranked Auburn
The Gators have made it clear to their fans through standard in-game announcements and email correspondence that anybody who is on the playing surface is essentially trespassing and is subject to arrest and having their ticket privileges revoked.
“It’s just not a safe practice,” Stricklin says of allowing fans to pile onto the playing surface.
Yet most colleges still put their school-sanctioned stamp of approval on this perilous pandemonium because the visual of an ecstatically out-of-control sea of fans flocking onto the field or the court makes for an attractive SportsCenter highlight and looks really good on the hype videos they send out to recruits. … Short stuff: One last item on this topic: A listener of my radio show texted in this week and said if colleges ban him from storming the court in basketball and rushing the field in football, he’s going to start attending swimming meets and doing cannonballs in the pool after a big victory. … What gives you a more sick feeling in your stomach — food poisoning or when Jonathan Isaac takes a tumble on the basketball floor and holds his knee? … I keep reading about how coyotes are becoming a problem in Orlando neighborhoods. My solution: Hire a roadrunner and buy some defective products from the Acme Corporation. …
Jon Rahm, who has jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf for an estimated $500 million in guaranteed money, tells ESPN that he tried to get in touch with Tiger Woods to explain his decision, but Tiger wouldn’t respond to his texts. First of all, Rahm doesn’t owe Tiger an explanation. Secondly, if he wants Tiger to respond to his texts, he should pose as a sexy Perkins waitress. … The NFL announced earlier this week that next season’s salary cap will be $255.4 million. In related news, the University of Georgia announced that its salary cap will be “whatever it takes.” …
Three of the most underappreciated entities in the sports world today: (3) The value of an education in college athletics; (2) High school football coaches in Florida who make a pittance compared to other states; (1) NFL running backs who literally put their necks on the line every week and are then cast aside whenever they become free agents and ask for a lucrative contract. … The Detroit Pistons claim they have been victimized by bad officiating this season. Judging by their record (9-49), I would say the Pistons complaining about officiating would be like a bad chef blaming a faulty spatula and subpar spices for his awful meal. … I don’t know why, but I have a funny feeling this might be Leonard Hamilton’s last season as Florida State’s basketball coach. I sure hope I’m wrong. … Last word: Shaquille O’Neal on Dennis Rodman being quite the ladies’ man even though he rarely showered after games during his NBA career. “He smelled like garbage-truck water. And he’s got models [all over him] at the club.”