A Belmont University friend of mine made sure that I had tickets to this year's Atlantic Sun basketball tournament. I made it to several games and discovered a lot of great basketball, mid-major style. I also discovered something that I think this set of mid-majors can do without.
Fans at Lipscomb University and Belmont University do not like each other, at least during athletic competitions. I suppose that distaste and disdain goes along with the intensity of the rivalry. What should not go along with that distaste are uncreative cheers that constantly include the word "SUCK". I have heard the same trash-talk-potty-mouth shenanigans at professional hockey and find it equally distasteful, but the students at Lipscomb and Belmont are far more creative to stoop to this level of debasement.
I have heard the story several times about the Belmont vs. Georgetown game in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament. The Georgetown fans began chanting, "Where is Bel-mont"...in response, the Belmont students (and ultimately the entire arena) responded with a chant of "What's a Ho-ya". Even the Georgetown fans got a kick out of the response...it was fun to see and to hear. I would challenge both schools to focus that amazing volume of creative energy into high-spirited, creative, competitive cheering/jeering. To turn a Tom Hanks line from A League of Their Own...there is no 'suck' in basketball.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment