(Pre-post caveat: I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer after IU's first Big Ten win. We will have full coverage of the team's 80-61 victory against Michigan. Ryan's game wrap is a good place to start.)
Let me step up to the soapbox. Or the pulpit. I don't mean this to be a sermon, but I need to get this off my chest:
IU student fans -- many of them -- were completely out of line, classless and unbecoming of a reputable student section during the Saturday contest against Michigan at Assembly Hall.
The chant started early and continued off and on throughout the game.
"F--- you Novak."
It was, of course, directed at Michigan junior guard Zack Novak, a Chesterton, Ind. native.
I don't care who he is, what uniform he wears, what he does on the court, 0r where he comes from, a "F--- you" chant directed to anyone is, well, stupid.
It wasn't a dirty play or a technical foul or really anything that Novak did to deserve the chant. He might've taken one cheap shot to IU's Christian Watford during the game, but even then, the chant had been going already so that's not where it came from.
And really, even if he "deserved" the chant - it would be tough to ever justify one, though - it's a chant such as that that keeps IU's student section from being top notch.
Students, that chant is really not that funny. It's obviously not very original.
And it's not that surprising.
The "Hey" song with a few additional profane chants is a long-standing staple of IU basketball games.
I hear the student section later in the game chanting "a------" at a Michigan fan in the student section, and what did they miss? An emphatic dunk from IU's Victor Oladipo on the other end of the court.
I get it. It's college students. Presumably many left Assembly Hall for a night of more college fun. What's the harm in collectively using language that many use individually in public all the time?
As some put it in the game live chat tonight, should I really expect 20-year old college students to act any differently?
Of course the answer is no. But if IU wants to have a first-class student section, than these ridiculously embarrassing chants need to get cleaned up.
If you didn't know, IU has an organization that runs the student section. It's called the Crimson Guard. The first "Law of True Hoosiers" in their game-day guide is this: "Avoid profanity and slurs. With tradition, comes class."
Crimson Guard, pay attention. Work on this with the students. Find original things to chant at players, if that's what students want to do. The best student chants rarely are obscene. The "Austin's better" chant directed at IU's Jeremiah Rivers at the Boston College game was far more clever.
Call me old-fashioned, out-of-touch, a good candidate to work for the FCC, whatever. But the obscenities, especially the ones directed at Novak, were pointless and silly. (I'm running out of words to describe them).
Step up to the plate, Hoosier fans. Sure, you can be passionate about IU and as intimidating as possible to the opposing teams. That's what makes college basketball college basketball.
But the obscenities are just embarrassing.
*steps off soapbox*
P.S. Here's a fascinating article from the First Amendment Center about fan profanity. It doesn't really enhance what I wrote, but I thought I'd share anyways.
