Saturday, February 09, 2008

Profanity and the Illinois-Indiana rivalry

I was talking to a good friend of mine yesterday who is an Indiana fan. He told me he felt like we deserved to win the game Thursday night. I told him actually I didn't think so.

Pruitt's poor free throw shooting aside (a senior not icing the game from the line is reason enough for me to say we didn't deserve to win) our team, coaching staff and perhaps most of all our fans acted in a pretty classless way. That should not be Illinois basketball. Win or lose.

I didn't watch the entire game Thursday night but from what I watched and if even half of what Mariotti says is true, our folks need to grow up. Can we at least lose with dignity?

At least Guenther and Weber issued an apology. But waiting until the day after? Does it take that long for them to realize things were a little out of control? Did Weber not see Chester's chest bump? If so, does he approve of what he did? I don't because I don't want our players to have the reputation of a bunch of thugs.

And as for the fans, I'm fine with screaming at Gordon and Sampson. They deserve it. And that passion is what a rivalry is all about. But please leave the profanity out of it. I'd like to be able to take my kids to the games someday.

Finally, a word to Indiana fans: You guys aren't much better. I'm all for a good rivarly and the arguing that goes with it. And if you want to come over here and talk smack in our comment section, that's fine. But leave the classless profanity out of it or your posts will be deleted.

Incidentally, my friend (who graduated from IU) said he was also ashamed of their fan behavior. He said he's sick of hearing the F bomb dropped at their place. After getting up this morning and reading the comments from the IU fans here, I believe it.

It's time to grow up, people.

Labels: , , , ,


# posted by Chief : 7:24 AM


<< Home |

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?