2008 Woodie Awards
Class, neutrality missing in Summit championship game
Courtney Essett
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: Commentary
As I sat on press row last Tuesday in Tulsa watching the men's team trying to hold on to a slim lead, the one thought that kept resonating in my head was, "How ridiculous."
I've never written any books on athletics and certainly don't claim to be a big expert. However, I do know that a tournament such as the Summit League Basketball Championship is supposed to be played in the most neutral place possible. So one can imagine how nice it must have been for Oral Roberts (ORU) to have a home court advantage throughout the tournament. The playoffs were played in John Q. Hammons arena. This high school arena rivals that of any sports facility period, and is a stone's throw from Oral Roberts. How's that for neutral?
Of course we all expected a strong presence from both ORU and University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) with the game being played in their backyards. Knowing this still did not prepare me for the atrocity better known as the championship game.
We've all heard of sore losers but how about sore winners? I've never seen a group of fans, who represent a school that considers itself a Christian University, whine about so much. As much as I hate to admit it, ORU played a great game and pretty much handled the men and women's games.
During both games, the crowd whined about fouls when it was obvious they would win. Some fans, who looked like they couldn't even spell college let alone attend one, harassed the officials even when the whistle was blown in their favor! Not a big deal? Let me fill you in on the mascot fight!
Our mascot Jawz and their mascot Eli originally agreed to a dance off during half time. More trash talking must have been done because what looked like two mascots goofing around and pretend wrestling, turned into a small scuffle. Eli lost his head twice and when an IUPUI baseman came out to pretend to break it up, he seriously got pushed. When it became obvious that it was serious, two tournament officials came out to break it up, with one ending up on the ground. I happen to believe that Eli started it, but Jawz had the upper hand.
Of course jeering and taunting at sporting events is to be expected. Perhaps I wasn't used to it because of being exposed to the gracious nature of IUPUI fans all season. When your team is legitimately good, you have nothing to prove by acting like a hillbilly during the game. It's still tough however, when you're overwhelmingly outnumbered and the majority is talking junk about your team.
Am I being a sore loser? Definitely not; ORU is good (enough). ORU may have won the games but not because they were the better the teams. Our women beat them twice this season and our men went 1-1 against them. They just happened to play better ball and the home crowd support definitely helped. The Golden Eagles will face a now healthy Pittsburg in the first round of the tournament. Maybe Pitt can remind them of the Golden Rule.
I've never written any books on athletics and certainly don't claim to be a big expert. However, I do know that a tournament such as the Summit League Basketball Championship is supposed to be played in the most neutral place possible. So one can imagine how nice it must have been for Oral Roberts (ORU) to have a home court advantage throughout the tournament. The playoffs were played in John Q. Hammons arena. This high school arena rivals that of any sports facility period, and is a stone's throw from Oral Roberts. How's that for neutral?
Of course we all expected a strong presence from both ORU and University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) with the game being played in their backyards. Knowing this still did not prepare me for the atrocity better known as the championship game.
We've all heard of sore losers but how about sore winners? I've never seen a group of fans, who represent a school that considers itself a Christian University, whine about so much. As much as I hate to admit it, ORU played a great game and pretty much handled the men and women's games.
During both games, the crowd whined about fouls when it was obvious they would win. Some fans, who looked like they couldn't even spell college let alone attend one, harassed the officials even when the whistle was blown in their favor! Not a big deal? Let me fill you in on the mascot fight!
Our mascot Jawz and their mascot Eli originally agreed to a dance off during half time. More trash talking must have been done because what looked like two mascots goofing around and pretend wrestling, turned into a small scuffle. Eli lost his head twice and when an IUPUI baseman came out to pretend to break it up, he seriously got pushed. When it became obvious that it was serious, two tournament officials came out to break it up, with one ending up on the ground. I happen to believe that Eli started it, but Jawz had the upper hand.
Of course jeering and taunting at sporting events is to be expected. Perhaps I wasn't used to it because of being exposed to the gracious nature of IUPUI fans all season. When your team is legitimately good, you have nothing to prove by acting like a hillbilly during the game. It's still tough however, when you're overwhelmingly outnumbered and the majority is talking junk about your team.
Am I being a sore loser? Definitely not; ORU is good (enough). ORU may have won the games but not because they were the better the teams. Our women beat them twice this season and our men went 1-1 against them. They just happened to play better ball and the home crowd support definitely helped. The Golden Eagles will face a now healthy Pittsburg in the first round of the tournament. Maybe Pitt can remind them of the Golden Rule.
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