Today's "court storming"? Enough of it already!

Can we move beyond the shallow, vulgar expressions of emotion in today's version of "court storming"? 

Is it possible to get back to a more original, legitimately-inspired version of "court storming"? 

I hope that we can! At least that is what is being talked about in a lot of sports circles. You hear, "Ban court storming!," or "we need more security at college games to prevent these sort of things." Of course my favorite is Michael Wilbon's take on the issue of court storming: "Forfeit!" As in, the team whose fans storm the court should be forced to forfeit the game entirely. 

The reason I talk about this particular issue now is because of something I saw yesterday on ESPN. Watch this clip:

The Kansas Jayhawks and Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball teams played an incredible game of which Kansas State won 70-63 (check out the recap of the game here). Kansas State fans went crazy and rushed the court...

Okay, now why is this an issue? Aren't celebrations like this a natural component of sports, and being a sports fan might involve joining in on massive celebrations of victory? Well, yes and no. 

I think it comes down to individualized cases of sports teams and their fans possessing the "right" (if you will) to justify "storming the court." I'll give an extreme example of this:

Where it's okay to "court storm" or "rush the ice": I recently posted on ATS the 35th anniversary of the "Miracle on Ice". Now in that instance, the United States men's hockey were massive, and I mean massive, underdogs when they were going against the Soviet Union team. When the Americans beat the Soviets in that game, a celebration that could be heard around the world is totally justified, given the context and occasion for the Americans pulling off that kind of win. And they celebrated alright!

Where it's not okay to "court storm" or "rush the field" or "ice," etc. etc. etc.: Imagine the New York Yankees, who have won twenty plus World Series and have been one of the most dominant (if not most dominant) sports team in all of American sports, rushing the field after beating the Red Sox, for example. In my opinion, that is not justified whatsoever, being the powerhouse that the Yankees are and the amount of World Series rings they can boast on having. 

And the Yankees example might be a fictional one, but this has taken place before, such as North Carolina vs. Duke a year ago.

I'm not dogging the use of court storming or rushing the field or whatever playing surface fans are dying to run onto because they're so excited. I think a little consideration and even education are needed (so college students, listen up!), so here's what I think needs to be done:

Take-home points!

1. College Students: Know your school's history! If your school is famous for whipping other schools and boasts numerous championships, don't rush any court, field, track, or whatever playground your team is playing on. Use restraint. Stay off, and enough with the excuses of "we were so excited we just had to do it". 
2. Colleges (collectively): You may do this already, but work even harder to educate your students on the school's athletic history. They need to know this before attending a sport's event, or at least have visible signs at the event itself as to what the school's reputation is amongst other schools and conferences.
3. Security measures: I hesitate to offer this point, but it is worth considering. Until students can obtain a better understanding of where and when court storming is appropriate, extra security will discourage the fans from going nuts. But it should be implemented at the school's discretion.

What do you think about court storming? Have you ever participated in one of these crazy sports moments? Leave a comment and let me know!

--Jordan

Sources:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-WBJPEc58s (Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon's take on court storming)

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV7cjNL2me4 (Kansas/K-State court storming)

3. http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400585852 (score recap of Kansas/K-State)

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWuCsMO8F34 (NC/Duke court storming)