It happens all the time, fans rushing the court or field in pure adulation of their team’s upset accomplishment. It happens so often it’s almost an NCAA tradition, almost a right of passage to truly legitimize any major upset.  If fans don’t storm the field after a victory…it’s obviously not that big of a victory.  But the question comes in once the fans start interfering with the play of the game.  Just Wednesday night, the euphoric Florida State fans rushed the court after Duke committed a foul with only 1.7 seconds left to play; virtually cementing the victory for the ‘Noles.  Cue the flood of garnet and gold.  The FSU fans swarmed the court, causing a serious delay and resulting in a too many men on the court foul being called against Florida State. 

Surprisingly, the refs were able to call a foul and properly penalize Florida State, without having to actually call the penalty on the fans; something that I find pretty noble.  On the other hand, from a Duke perspective, too many men on the court hardly describes the situation in Tallahassee on Wednesday night.  During that delay the only things that could be heard out of Dick Vitale and Mike Patrick were complaints about not only the students themselves, but the security in general at Tallahassee Civic Center. 

I’m no security expert, but I’m pretty sure that most NCAA basketball games aren’t staffed by people who are properly equipped or trained to stop a mass of humanity from storming the court.  Realistically you’d need something akin to riot police to stop a large group of people like that from rushing onto the court.  I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer my sports settings to remain as they are, lest we become like the Europeans and have riot police stationed in every section to mercilessly beat anybody who starts getting a little rowdy. 

Alright, alright, I guess that comparison is a little unfair; at European soccer matches, fans rushing the field in celebration are the least of their worries.  I mean, at least we haven’t started executing players for missing crucial free throws yet, and as much as I’d love to see the display of team pride and passion, Duke and UNC fans still haven’t lined up and gone Gangs of New York on each other yet…although that may have some serious Pay Per View potential. 

The whole heart of this seems to boil down to who deserves the verbal tongue lashing?  The students?  The arena security?  Local gas stations and grocery stores that sold the students beer before the game?  Does anybody deserve being blamed? 

Clearly, the Florida State fans were out of line to an extent.  There was time remaining on the clock and they rushed the court.  A penalty needed to be assessed, and was.  Coach K even felt that the situation was still out of control, as he sent his players off the court with the 1.7 seconds still remaining on the clock, under guard of the Florida State Troopers.  On a side note, how bad would you feel if you were one of those 5 Duke players that Coach K opted to leave on the floor, obviously you aren’t quite worthy of protection the way Reddick and Paulus are. 

So, if the fans were clearly out of line, then its time to throw the book at those rowdy drunk students?  Not at all.  When fans misbehave, we look a lot at the potential dangers they create, the problems they cause, and the backlash they receive, but we tend to forget that without them, the game loses a lot of the luster that it has.  Without fans epic rivalries are just games between teams that have played tough before.  Without fans there’s no need for 24 hour sports networks or the commentators who are so quick to criticize them.  Hell, for the upcoming Duke UNC game there’s going to be an entire channel just covering the intense fans.  So, you have to give fans, especially college students, a little leeway.  Does that mean its ok for them to storm the court when there’s time on the clock? No. 

But it does mean that you have to understand why they want to storm the court.  Take FSU for example.  Only two times in their history have they upset the number 1 ranked team in the country.  Also don’t forget that FSU is playing for their tournament life right now.  That win over Duke, coupled with a win over Miami March 5^th, could be enough to propel them into the Big Dance. Couple that energy with a couple thousand more fired up students and you’ve got yourself a tinderbox of excitement. 

In general, students don’t rush the court for a victory that isn’t worth it.  Yeah, some schools’ fans end up on the playing surface more often than others, but it’s a pure celebration of joy.  Regardless of the respect one has for any particular game, you have to have respect for those die hard fans who are painting their chests, and making these games to be the true spectacles that they are. 

If schools don’t want students to rush the field, then they should take steps to ensure that the students don’t have the opportunity.  Don’t schedule any major upset teams.  Don’t let the students be rowdy and loud in the stadiums.  Deploy your entire campus police force in the attempt to stop a drunken throng of elated students just wanting to stand on a field because they can. 

It’s a discussion of groupthink when you try to figure out all the psychological forces playing on fans as they rush the field and mob their players.  It’s the joy, the pain of a loss, and the mob mentality all mixing in with anything they’ve drank, and the excitement of a live sporting event turning out your way at home.  Crashing the playing surface is something that is going to continue in our college sports culture.  It connects the fans to the programs and the teams in a way that is unmatched by any other means. 

So go ahead and yell at whoever you want as much as you want.  Fans will continue to crash the field when they feel that the situation warrants it.  Blame whoever you want, if you even feel the need to place blame, because it’s not a behavior we’re soon about to see come to a stop.  Just the next time you want to yell about those rowdy kids rushing the court remember that those rowdy kids are the ones who pack the arenas night after night, buy the merchandise, and give their teams an identity beyond the 48 minutes of a basketball game.  College kids will be College kids, and if that entails drinking a few beers and running onto a court, be happy; at least we’re not soccer hooligans yet.

Do you have a problem with fans rushing the court? If you do let Seth know at seth.glasgow@atomicsportsmedia.com