Tags: print
Feb. 24, 2005
Maryland fans are over the top
In the world of college basketball, March Madness is almost here, which means a month of exciting games, intense rivalries and rowdy fan behavior.
The one school that takes the cake in the "rowdy fan behavior" department is the University of Maryland. U-Md. fans are notorious for screaming obscenities at games, starting riots no matter the outcome of the game and viciously taunting opponents. Some of these things are not out of the ordinary (how can games be fun if you can't boo your opponent or at least cheer for your team?), but Maryland fans have been known to take it to the extreme.
During last year's season, fans took a lot of flak for wearing T-shirts that said "[Expletive] Duke" and shouting so many curses during a game with their much-hated rival that ESPN accidentally broadcast some of the chanting and the obscene T-shirts. Students called it "free speech." Other people had different ideas. "It used to be that students dropped the F-bomb on the Vietnam War, the draft and napalm," wrote Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins in an article. "Now they drop it on Duke."
After that article was published, Maryland began focusing on cleaning up fan language and behavior. At recent games, officials have tried to get students to swap obscene t-shirts for appropriate ones that still broadcast the fan's love of Maryland. Coach Gary Williams has begun writing to Maryland's newspaper, The Diamondback, to ask fans to keep it clean while at games.
But what about what happens after the game?
There we run into a little dilemma. Maryland fans don't have the cleanest record when it comes to post-game celebrations. In fact, they're downright awful. Win or lose, it seems to make no difference; either way, there will be a huge riot.
"They win, they set fires. It makes no sense," a worker in College Park was reported as saying after Maryland's win against Duke on February 13. In the last Maryland riot, at least 15 people were arrested after a crowd of about 3,000 kids tramped down Route 1, setting fires and throwing trash. Rioting got so bad in 2002 that Maryland created a rule that allows for some students to be expelled if they commit extreme acts of vandalism and violence after the games.
"There are students who go to great basketball schools all over the country who manage to get a buzz on and be outrageous without crossing the line that everyone recognizes as civility," Jenkins wrote of Maryland's frequent rioting.
Certainly, a win against a bitter rival and higher-ranked team is cause for celebration, but rioting? Usually, lighting trashcans on fire and overturning objects in the street is not a sign of happiness. That kind of behavior brings to mind rebellion; each game, it's almost as if fans had just been told Maryland was forced to forfeit to Duke.
Maryland fans are notoriously poor sports when it comes to Duke. Last year, some fans somehow obtained Duke guard J.J. Redick's cellphone number and began passing it around the campus. Soon, Redick was receiving an exorbitant number of calls from Maryland fans, causing him to change his number. This year, Redick's new cellphone number and home phone number somehow got out, and his parents began getting phone calls from crazy fans from all over the country (not just a few from Maryland). How utterly hilarious. Since Redick was quick to change his number again, it would be a great idea to harass his parents.
That's not to say that Duke is any better. The Cameron Crazies, a group of fanatical Dukies named for Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, would give Maryland fans a run for their money. They taunt and jeer just as much as Maryland fans. However, they are not known, as Maryland is, for their deranged uprisings after games and destructive behavior. It's sad to think that while establishing itself as a strong academic school with great basketball, Maryland is also developing a reputation for bad fan behavior.
Fans should think twice before engaging in such antics during the college basketball season. Not only are they pointless (though some students may disagree), but they send a terrible message around the country about the University of Maryland, as well as cause thousands of dollars in damages around the campus.
Maryland fans should be mindful of the message they're sending about their school. In fact, there's one area where they should not beat Duke: unruly behavior.
The one school that takes the cake in the "rowdy fan behavior" department is the University of Maryland. U-Md. fans are notorious for screaming obscenities at games, starting riots no matter the outcome of the game and viciously taunting opponents. Some of these things are not out of the ordinary (how can games be fun if you can't boo your opponent or at least cheer for your team?), but Maryland fans have been known to take it to the extreme.
During last year's season, fans took a lot of flak for wearing T-shirts that said "[Expletive] Duke" and shouting so many curses during a game with their much-hated rival that ESPN accidentally broadcast some of the chanting and the obscene T-shirts. Students called it "free speech." Other people had different ideas. "It used to be that students dropped the F-bomb on the Vietnam War, the draft and napalm," wrote Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins in an article. "Now they drop it on Duke."
After that article was published, Maryland began focusing on cleaning up fan language and behavior. At recent games, officials have tried to get students to swap obscene t-shirts for appropriate ones that still broadcast the fan's love of Maryland. Coach Gary Williams has begun writing to Maryland's newspaper, The Diamondback, to ask fans to keep it clean while at games.
But what about what happens after the game?
There we run into a little dilemma. Maryland fans don't have the cleanest record when it comes to post-game celebrations. In fact, they're downright awful. Win or lose, it seems to make no difference; either way, there will be a huge riot.
"They win, they set fires. It makes no sense," a worker in College Park was reported as saying after Maryland's win against Duke on February 13. In the last Maryland riot, at least 15 people were arrested after a crowd of about 3,000 kids tramped down Route 1, setting fires and throwing trash. Rioting got so bad in 2002 that Maryland created a rule that allows for some students to be expelled if they commit extreme acts of vandalism and violence after the games.
"There are students who go to great basketball schools all over the country who manage to get a buzz on and be outrageous without crossing the line that everyone recognizes as civility," Jenkins wrote of Maryland's frequent rioting.
Certainly, a win against a bitter rival and higher-ranked team is cause for celebration, but rioting? Usually, lighting trashcans on fire and overturning objects in the street is not a sign of happiness. That kind of behavior brings to mind rebellion; each game, it's almost as if fans had just been told Maryland was forced to forfeit to Duke.
Maryland fans are notoriously poor sports when it comes to Duke. Last year, some fans somehow obtained Duke guard J.J. Redick's cellphone number and began passing it around the campus. Soon, Redick was receiving an exorbitant number of calls from Maryland fans, causing him to change his number. This year, Redick's new cellphone number and home phone number somehow got out, and his parents began getting phone calls from crazy fans from all over the country (not just a few from Maryland). How utterly hilarious. Since Redick was quick to change his number again, it would be a great idea to harass his parents.
That's not to say that Duke is any better. The Cameron Crazies, a group of fanatical Dukies named for Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, would give Maryland fans a run for their money. They taunt and jeer just as much as Maryland fans. However, they are not known, as Maryland is, for their deranged uprisings after games and destructive behavior. It's sad to think that while establishing itself as a strong academic school with great basketball, Maryland is also developing a reputation for bad fan behavior.
Fans should think twice before engaging in such antics during the college basketball season. Not only are they pointless (though some students may disagree), but they send a terrible message around the country about the University of Maryland, as well as cause thousands of dollars in damages around the campus.
Maryland fans should be mindful of the message they're sending about their school. In fact, there's one area where they should not beat Duke: unruly behavior.
Tweet
Share on Tumblr
Silver Chips Online invites you to share your thoughts about this article. Please use this forum to further discussion of the story topic and refrain from personal attacks and offensive language. SCO reserves the right to deny any comment. No comments that include hyperlinks will be posted. If you have a question for us, please include your email address or use this form.
write maryland athletics to bring Rock and Roll part 2 back to basketball games. it WAS the best part.
Yes, we did take some cheap shots at Nick Caner-Medley's girlfriend, but there was no obscenity or anything. Just amazingly coordinated chants. The entire student section even started yelling at "the crazy towel guy," a random old man in the seats who twirled a towel over his head.
And yes, we too riot...After we beat our real rivals (carolina). Each dorm at Duke has a large wooden bench in front of it, and the University receives a permit to let the students burn them. No arrests. No teargas.
Now all you duke fans just go cry
Also, rioting is never a good thing, and it certainly isn't a measure of school spirit. It is however a measure of weakness and mindlessness to participate in such reckless violence.
All the teams in the ACC are great, I just wish Maryland's rioting reputation doesn't leave a stain for years to come. If the school is smart it will find ways to combat obscene lack of sportsmanship and endangerment to the public from riots.
And I must say, as a loyal UNC fan, I do think that the Duke fans come up with some amazing chants and it makes me hate them so much more... GO UNC!!
One Duke fan made a post claiming that MD fans have no lives b/c they spend their time calling Reddik's cell number. At the same time, Duke students are the ones who spend time creating cheer sheets and camping out for months at a time only to lose to Carolina. That was a weak argument...I thought Duke students were supposed to be smart.
Duke fans and students have absolutely NO RIGHT to argue that Maryland students are obnoxious and innapropriate. Let me remind some of you of a couple (although there are many) examples. In 1998 Duke students chanted "Junior College" at Steve Francis. Wow, how classy. So sorry that not every one can come from a white, upper-middle class family that can afford $40k tuition. And let's not forget about how they threw condoms at an opposing player one year.
I'm sorry Duke students/fans, but dressing up as Ronald McDonald (and any other stupid costume), putting on body paint, having line monitors, and handing out cheer sheets does not make your students better than Maryland students.
The 2009-2010 season was amazing. We may not have gotten as close to the Elite Eight, but we played almost all of our games like winners. The Buzzer Beater by Cliff Tucker against Georgia Tech, the upset of the Blue Devils, shocking comebacks against Michigan State and Clemson etc.
Yah, we riot. SO WHAT! Our country also wages multiple wars at the same time.
This is who we are. This is TERP NATION!