AU Crowd Goes Mild
You take your court stormings where you can get 'em.
I was at the American-Lafayette game on Saturday afternoon, and I'm not ashamed to say it was uproariously enjoyable.
The crowd was 2,400-something. The stakes were enormous; an AU win matched with a Navy loss--at a simultaneously played game in some upstate New York village--would give American the Patriot League regular season crown. As you might imagine, this led to near-constant updates on the video board and over the PA system. Ok, that's not quite true, but it did lead to fans in the stands shouting out for various bloggers on press row to provide score updates.
Navy led early, then fell behind. American led early, then saw the lead wither, then built it back up again even as Navy was falling behind. The excitement built. The pep band played Journey. "WE-ARE," Clap Clap, "A-U," Clap Clap, the students chanted, just like the "We Are George-town" cheer, in the same way Kwame Brown is just like Bill Russell.
A computer on press row began showing the Navy game, and a few fans gathered around the monitor to watch the end. With about 30 seconds left in American's game, the Navy loss went final. An official ran around the court to the PA announcer. The reporters anxiously awaited the explosion of noise at the announcement, and several pauses in the action provided the perfect opening. I envisioned group hugs. But alas, the Navy announcement came after the American game was already over and fans had begun the celebration.
What sort of celebration? Try a full-on court storming, attended by at least several dozen fans, plus assorted cheerleaders. I can't say I remember ever seeing a court storming for a non-televised game. I guess Comcast SportsyNet was there getting highlights, but without tons of TV cameras around it's unclear exactly what one is to do once one has stormed the court. Run to the other side? Do wind sprints? Disassemble the floor?
GO EAGLES! Stripe/stripe/oval.
In this case, the fans jumped about for maybe 45 seconds and then left.
Fans of the game? Awarded to the American track team, whose members entered singing their trademark song, to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In."
Here come the Eagles;
Here come the Eagles;
Here come the Eagles, we're fly-ing in.
You know we're going to beat the Leopards.
Here come the Eagles, we're fly-ing in.
Try listening to that without getting excited. Lyrics courtesy of distance runner Brandon Laks. The track guys had also painted their chests, front and back, to spell out GO EAGLES! stripe-stripe-AU. See, there were 11 painted track guys, but GO EAGLES requires only eight characters.
"So we had to come up with the exclamation mark and the stripes and 'AU,' " explained 800-meter runner Kris Kagan. He was "AU," one letter stacked on top of the other on his chest. From across the court, I initially thought he was symbolizing "Oval," or possibly a zero. The letters were kind of small and ran together. On the back he was advertising his campaign for student government vice president, which I'll gladly endorse.
By Dan Steinberg |
March 3, 2008; 11:29 AM ET
| Category:
College Basketball
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Posted by: R | March 3, 2008 12:07 PM
Excellent reporting Steinz. It's a shame you won't be bringing that kind of heat to Raleigh for the MEAC next week.
The only conference where storming the floor = mass pepper spraying and arrests.
Posted by: ScottVanPeltStyle.com | March 3, 2008 12:22 PM
Does it still count as a court-storming if the fan are outnumbered by the security person?
Posted by: Rob Iola | March 3, 2008 1:36 PM
First, the fans storming the court were most definitely NOT outnumbered by security, and secondly, thanks for the Pep Band shout out, Dan.
Don't Stop Believin' is becoming our unofficial theme song for this post-season run. Make sure you come on Wednesday, and you'll see us play it again after demolishing Holy Cross.
Posted by: Carl | March 3, 2008 3:58 PM
"I can't say I remember ever seeing a court storming for a non-televised game. I guess Comcast SportsyNet was there getting highlights, but without tons of TV cameras around it's unclear exactly what one is to do once one has stormed the court."
You know, as I was jumping around on the court, this exact thought occurred to me. When, exactly, do I stop jumping and leave?
I had one friend who refused to storm the court because he believes such things should be reserved for winning tournaments or beating ranked teams.
I say we rush any time Navy loses from here on out.
Posted by: KC in DC | March 3, 2008 5:44 PM
Also, apparently we DID make TV.
A friend said he saw us running around on Fox 5, so BOOYAH.
Further also: I'm in at least one of those two pictures.
Posted by: KC in DC | March 3, 2008 5:46 PM
Track team? Pschtt
Fraternity guys were def the fans of the game, not to mention they were the first ones on the court anyway
Posted by: Claude Eagle | March 4, 2008 1:38 AM
Glad that AU took a bit from the Hoya playbook. Hope that they can win the Patriot and give D.C. two teams in the Dance.
Posted by: Exorcist | March 4, 2008 9:41 AM
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Hahahaha...I can't tell if you're making fun of us or not.