No. 4 Wake Forest knocked off No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday night, 92-89, but the victory was marred by the actions of the fans. Namely, the fact that they stormed the court. It has been a long time since we've talked about the rules of storming the court, but you can imagine that if you are the No. 4 team in the country, you should not be storming the court. Outside of winning the national championship, of course. Other than that, stay off the floor. Especially during the regular season.I mean, come on, you are in the ACC. You guys are supposed to be the premier basketball conference in the land. You only cheapen your win by celebrating like that. And I wouldn't come down so hard on you, but this is your second offense in less than one calendar year (you did it on Feb. 17, 2008 vs. Duke). Court storming is actually an insult to your players. Court storming is an admission that you didn't think they could win.
The Demon Deacons earned a solid win. But when you are the No. 4 team in the country, you should be expected to hold your home court against North Carolina. I wouldn't even call it an upset, but your fans say otherwise. When your fans storm the court it says to the world, "We are not good enough to be on the floor with you, therefore we are going to storm the court and act like we have just won a national championship."
In fact, Wake Forest could win a national championship this season. Start acting like it. Save the court storming for the mid-major programs.
For future reference, here's a Cliff's Notes version of court storming that you should all study and have ready for your next big home game.
1. No BCS conference school is allowed to storm the court. Your schools get to win national championships in football, while undefeated teams from mid-major conferences get to play for second place. Therefore, you lose your right to storm the court. Hey, make the Mountain West and WAC BCS conference schools, and we'll consider pulling back this rule.
2. You can't storm the court if your team is in the Top 25. And yes, Wake Forest fan, you especially can't storm the court when you are the No. 4 team in the country. Why not just sign up for the "Real World" like all of the other attention hounds. Because when it gets down to it, that's why you were on the floor, not celebrating a win.
3. A team can only be stormed one time per season. Unless the team is Duke. Then feel free.
4. No BCS conference schools can storm the court. I'm serious guys, you look like a mid-card Big Sky school. This can't be stressed enough. No wonder the fans of other schools look down on you.
5. You can't arrest fans for storming the court. The Cal State campus police department did this to a group of Titans fans years ago. Lame.
6. I think I'm forgetting something here. Oh yeah, no BCS schools and no teams in the Top-stinking-10.
Come on Wake Forest fans, act like you've won a big game before.
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
As long as Wake Forest's team keeps winning, their fans have the right to celebrate however they want to. There's no 'stain' on this win, what a petty and crappy thing to write about.
Hey Adam, now that you have laid down the rules for court storming, I'm certain that all of the 30 people that read your blog will take notice and obey. Leave the kids alone and let them enjoy a big win. Wake is a school with less than 4500 undergrads who just knocked off a perennial powerhouse that is a near unanimous choice to win it all this year.
I was hoping to read something interesting or even humorous in your blog, instead I got more of the same uninformed dribble that comes from so many of your brethren. So I can add your name to the list of the unreadable.
What an idiot, if he knew any thing about Wake he would know that UNC was one of two rivals. Any kind of big win, rival win, or conference win deserves every bit of celebration for a preseason third or fourth place ACC team. F U
Dude just let them enjoy the win. Get a life.
"I wouldn't even call it an upset."
You should be a handicapper. Those idiots in Vegas had Wake as 7-point dogs.
Vegas odds aren't predictions.
The line is attempted to be placed exactly at a point where an equal amount of people bet on both sides of the line, therefore ensuring the casinos don't have to take a drastic loss. Considering most people are obsessed with thinking UNC is going to win every game, not to mention how many more fans they have nation-wide, it's reasonable to conclude that the line was affected by the participants in the game more than the actual predicted outcome.
It's like when the Yankees are always close to being the favorites to win it all in baseball. That doesn't necessarily mean Vegas thinks they will win. It just means there are tons of people who will bet on the Yankees.
"The line is attempted to be placed exactly at a point where an equal amount of people bet on both sides of the line,"
This is incorrect. Vegas wants an equal amount of money on both sides, not people. So if a line is made that gets half of the dregs on each side, but a sharp comes in with a huge bet it does them no good to split the masses.
Read up on Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which is responsible for most initial lines. They use a number of factors to determine their lines, only one of which is public perception. The most important factor is what they think will happen in the game and not to create a line that will get them killed by good cappers.
The bottom line is that betting lines are, in fact, usually a good indication of what folks in the know think about a given matchup.
I think that storming the court is ok as long as they don't get totally out of control.
http://gbgliquidvitaminsnutrition.com
I agree with the consensus of the respondents. We're talking about 17-22 year old's who work hard in the class room, and take pride in their school. Not to mention the fact that anytime Big 4 teams compete there is tons of pride at stake. Wake and Chapel Hill students, alum, and fans work together, grew up together, party together, marry each other and live together. As a NC native, and a near 30 yr old WFU alum, I was confident WFU would win, but still found myself fist pumping and screaming at the TV. Let kids be kids, and find something worth while to critique. Lampooning kids for having fun and taking pride in the success of their team (w/o directly disrespecting or targeting the opponent) and its best start since the early 80's says more about you, than it does about the class or expectations of WFU students. Enjoy every win like its appreciated. Play every game like its your last. Go Deacs!
Deacon fans are lame, anyway. Let them run the floor. I saw a kid in a Tim Duncan jersey on the court and it reminded me of the last time they were any good. The Dekes have the worst fans in the ACC, bar none. So it's no surprise to me that their fans act like a typical group of high school bandwagons. They can go back to ignoring their team once they lose again. Which they will.
Enjoy your moment now, Dekes, you aren't going to have many in March.
Nice win, Demon Deacons! You still suck.
What a classy thing to say.
Adam:
Thank you for the Duke compliment! There a few chances to storm the court when playing (and usually losing) the Blue Devils, so take advantage of them.
Hilarious column, Adam. And so stinking true!
Wake Forest has fans? Who knew?
I wouldn't go so far as to say Wake Forest has fans. They have some kids who took a break from Facebook becasue they heard there was a chance they might get to be on TV if they went to something called a "sporting event". I'd be seriously surprised if any of these Wake kids had any real idea why they were storming the court expect that they saw a dude with a camera and decided to make a run at it. I think that the fact that a basketball game had just concluded was probably pretty arbitrary.
I wouldn't go so far as to say Wake Forest has fans. They have some kids who took a break from Facebook because they heard there was a chance they might get to be on TV if they went to something called a "sporting event". I'd be seriously surprised if any of these Wake kids had any real idea why they were storming the court except that they saw a dude with a camera and decided to make a run at it. I think that the fact that a basketball game had just concluded was probably pretty arbitrary.
Wake TP'd their campus quad a couple years ago because of a football win over Maryland, so yeah, that school's pretty lame.
Yeah. TP'ing the Quad after clinching a berth in the ACC Championship Game.
What losers.
interesting. thought the story would provide something more than a court storming. weak. how was the parking? spaces too tight? scoreboard not bright enough? how many words were wasted on this?