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Mon Jan 12, 2009 2:03 pm EST

Wake Forest's fans unnecessarily storm the court

By Eamonn Brennan

Aw, look at 'em. So young and full of joy. They haven't even started their soul-crushing 9-to-5 jobs yet! *Swoon.*

It's that time of year again. The time when a major, top-ranked team is beaten by a team that, though an underdog, wasn't an obvious underdog, in the underdog's building. The time when, as a result, thousands of college kids lose their minds and storm the court on which the upset just took place. And, yes, the time when people spend time analyzing such displays of joy. That'd be me. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Should Wake Forest's fans have stormed the court? FanHouse's Adam thinks not, citing Wake Forest's conference and rank as a reason why even a win over the favored Tar Heels doesn't qualify for court-storming status. He has a few strange rules in his post -- i.e. "No storming the court if you're a BCS team," which is sort of weak; what if Northwestern beats the No. 1 team in the country at home? -- but all in all the point is correct: Wake Forest's fans shouldn't have stormed the court. The No. 4 team in the country beat the No. 3. At home. Come on, guys. Sorry to be the buzzkill, but that's not court-storming material. Go-home-and-have-seven-beers-to-kill-the-adrenaline-because-it's-Sunday-and-you're-in-college material? Yes. Court-storming, no.

This isn't a big deal in and of itself, but it has become an epidemic in college basketball, and it's watering down a previously sacred rite of upset passage. Now? Everyone's storming the floor, in every conference, at every level. Stop it, college kids. Stop using any excuse to go run and jump on your home team's wood floor. And for that matter, stop having so much fun. You're not only ruining the court-storm, but you're making me really, really jealous. And that is something we just can't have.

Related: Ill-behaved People, ACC Basketball

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15 Comments

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  1. Go CU Tigers
    1. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    What do you expect from Wake Forest? Those dorks think tye-dye is cool too.
  2. Go CU Tigers
    2. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    I was eating dinner at a Winston-Salem restaurant near Wake's campus a few weeks ago, the Liberty Bowl was on TV, and I overheard a group of MALE Wake students, probably at least Juniors, discuss how that was East Carolina's first bowl game in school history. They also talked about how excited they are that the Carolina Panthers are back in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1998. Absolutely true story. So remember, these aren't exactly sports fans we're talking about here.
  3. schmide234
    3. Posted by schmide234 Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:08 pm EDT

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    you people are stupid. i live in winston and wake vs unc is a huge rivalry. we started at num 21 or something and unc was supposed to go unbeaten. we hav one senior on the team and our three stars are sophmores and freshmen. whether u think it or not wake was a huge underdog and there is history. so if u dont kno the history, dont talk about how a court storm is unnecessary.
  4. Go CU Tigers
    4. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    More evidence of the Wake fan lack of sports knowledge - #4 (undefeated) team in the country is a huge underdog to #3 (1 loss) team in the country. And I think everybody knows the UNC-Wake Forest rivalry history, in that, there is no rivalry. Duke is UNC's rival - Wake's rival is.......Elon? No, wait, it's Appalachian State!! Or has it changed to Winston-Salem State now that they're D1?
  5. Botoman
    5. Posted by Botoman Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    whether or not carolina fans hate wake, i can promise you that wake fans hate carolina. couple this with the fact that carolina was being annointed as the best college basketball team ever, and the fact that no student in the stands had ever witnessed us beating the tar holes = a court storming. we've had three miserable seasons since chris paul left, and while we are ranked #4, we hadn't really beaten anyone to back that up. this win signaled our return to prominence and therefore we stormed the court. i doubt we will do it again when we beat duke in a few weeks
  6. The Thrilla in Vanilla
    6. Posted by The Thrilla in Vanilla Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:01 pm EDT

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    It'd be more fun if they had the seven beers BEFORE storming the court.
  7. Red Ruddy Rhenish
    7. Posted by Red Ruddy Rhenish Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:14 pm EDT

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    To say that students running on to the court is only justified by a huge upset ignores historical rivalries. Of course Wake/UNC is a big rivalry. So is UNC/NC State and of course UNC/Duke. And, Clemson/USC. Clemson students should wait until they are unranked and USC is (which will probably be a while) before they can storm the court to celebrate a win in that series? I don't think it cheapens the specialness of "tearing down the goalposts." I was there and enjoyed seeing the students' enthusiasm. Wasn't UNC also was favored by 9?
  8. Pensfan
    8. Posted by Pensfan Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    I can proudly say that Pitt students have NEVER stormed the court in the history of the Petersen Events Center. Not even when we were #15 last year and we beat #5 GTown. We are reserving that for when we are unranked (or ranked very low) and defeat a #1 team. No, not a #2 team or even a very good #3 team (like UNC was).
    And Red Ruddy, big rivalries don't justify it either. Last year when Ronald Ramon registered the first buzzer-beater in the history of the Pete by nailing a 3 as time expired to beat WVU, we went crazy, but we never stormed the court. Storming the court/field is only justified when an unranked team defeats a highly ranked (preferably #1) team. Like Oregon State vs. USC this year in football.
  9. Drew F
    9. Posted by Drew F Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:50 pm EDT

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    Storming the court indicates that you thought you were too pathetic to win. If you've been there before, like Wake, you have to act like it and not go all D-II on everyone. And I'd be careful about talking about a "return to prominence". Look what happened to BC and Arkansas. Besides, I though Duke was UNC's rival, and Wake was just the school down the road.
  10. cleveland rocks
    10. Posted by cleveland rocks Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:26 pm EDT

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    i dont even like college basketball. why am i commenting on this blog
  11. dbd
    11. Posted by dbd Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:51 pm EDT

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    unc/wake is not a rivalry - it never has been. unc's rivals, in order of bitterness, are duke, nc state, and maryland. unc has a home and away game with each of those teams, every year, even in the expanded acc. those are rivalries.
    also, the spreads *opened* at 9 or so and everyone and their mother bet on wake. the spread closed at 5.5. that is not a huge upset at all.
  12. Scott B
    12. Posted by Scott B Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:53 pm EDT

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    Hmm lets see, as a Wake Alum, we do in fact loathe the very ground that UNC is built on, of course considering that their student body (approx 28,000) is a little more than half of Wake's living alumni (approx 55,000) UNC fans have no reason to consider little ole Wake Forest a rivalry. But trust me, Wake Students, alumni and true fans have been relishing this win and will continue to do so.
    One might not think that this was a court rushing event, but little ole Wake Forest has never gotten the respect we deserve, out ACC Football championship was a fluke, only to be followed up with two great seasons of Football. Men's soccer just competed in their third consecutive College Cup, and the Field Hockey team has gone to the NCAA Final Four EIGHT consecutive years. All this from a school with 4000 students. So yeah, maybe when the media and rest of the ACC quit seating Wake at the kids' table for dinner we'll exercise our option to act with restraint
  13. Go CU Tigers
    13. Posted by Go CU Tigers Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:38 pm EDT

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    You can always tell a school has a great sports tradtion when their fans start bragging about their awesome Field Hockey program. And I think these Wake fans claiming UNC/Wake is a huge rivalry simply don't understand what a rivalry is. Just because Wake hates UNC does not make that a rivalry. I'm sure IUPUI hates Notre Dame, but no one who knows anything about sports would consider them rivals.
  14. Interpol09
    14. Posted by Interpol09 Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:43 pm EDT

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    Interesting that a Clemson fan is the most irate at this when Clemson fans rush the football field after every game, win or lose, regardless of opponent.
  15. schmide234
    15. Posted by schmide234 Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:08 pm EDT

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    i love how people who arent Wake or UNC fans decide whether or not it is a rivalry. it makes so much sense.....

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