Fan appalled by Rupp Arena crowd

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/201001060300/OPINION02/1060360

Fan appalled by Rupp Arena crowd

am a resident of Louisville and am currently a freshman at the University of Kentucky and attended the UK/UofL basketball game at Rupp Arena. A devout Cardinal fan though a student at UK, I was thrilled when I was able to purchase a ticket to one of the biggest games in college basketball. While I love my university, I could not completely disassociate myself from my Cards on game day. I wore a royal blue sweatshirt and a red ribbon in my hair to the game, thinking that way I would be showing my loyalties to both teams. Besides, I was going to be happy no matter who won.

I was sadly mistaken. The unpleasant experience I had at this event was enough to keep me from ever attending another University of Kentucky basketball game.

At the start of the game, I was cheering for both teams — I clapped when UK scored and when UofL scored. However, it did not take long for the entire sea of blue to erupt in to a chant of “b---s---” when a call was made against UK's freshman center DeMarcus Cousins after he elbowed UofL's sophomore forward Jared Swopshire in the face. This distasteful behavior that the crowd exhibited did not sit well with me, and not just because I am a UofL fan at heart.

The sad part about the whole affair was that it wasn't even just the students who were acting so obnoxiously; it was the alumni and other adult spectators. Throughout the game, the fans sitting around me continued to scream obscenities and other offensive remarks not only about UofL's players and head coach Rick Pitino, but about the city of Louisville in general. A group of five or six UofL fans were sitting in front of me, and the UK enthusiast behind me kept yelling at them to “go back to that dirty river town.” At one point, I had to leave the arena because I was so overwhelmed with the amount of obscene remarks about UofL and the city of Louisville being shouted all around me.

The behavior of the large majority of UK's fans at this basketball game was absolutely appalling, and I think those who demonstrated such obnoxious conduct should be ashamed of the way they acted. I'm all for a friendly rivalry, but when every other word out of a fan's mouth is an expletive, not to mention when the whole arena starts chanting curse words, that embarrasses not only the university, the players and the coaches, but the city as a whole. I'll venture to say that the fans at Freedom Hall would never sink to that level of behavior. They possess too much respect for their players and coaches, and also their city, to behave in such an odious manner.

Game day was supposed to be exciting for me. Instead, when I left Rupp Arena, I only felt frustrated, angry and upset (and not just because UofL lost). I went in to the game perfectly willing to cheer for both teams, but after witnessing how rude and uncouth the UK fans really were, that willingness went down the drain. When hosting the “big game,” you'd think the fans would show a little more class than what they did on Jan. 2.

Oh, and to the guy sitting behind me at the game: You may want to expand your vocabulary to something more than “UofL sucks” and actually visit “that dirty river town” before you pass judgment. Needless to say, my heart will always be in Louisville.

ABBY SHIELDS

I read this and had to laugh, I really think this is a UofL who tried to make UK look bad.

LOL I saw that posted on this site :

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=17&f=2755

After UK beat UofL they talked about nothing but UK on a Louisville board.
They had everything from saying Calipari cussed out and threatened Loserville players, to Cousins should be off the team...They even wrote a letter to the NCAA about why Calipari and Cousins should have to pay for their actions.

I also read stuff on their board about how Wall will be the BIGGEST EPIC FAIL in the NBA and Cousins will also be a flop at the next level!

If you need a good laugh I suggest you visit that site...tons of funny threads...but mostly them just whining about losing to UK...or at least it was...probably close to 5 pages of nothing but UK! haha

Loserville fans are the biggest crybabies i've ever seen.

I guess this "fan" has never been to any kind of athletic game in their entire life. Not even a moron would believe this person is such a saint. Any gym, stadium, or ball park in the nation see's the exact kind of fans-GOOD, BAD, & UGLY all in one place

This almost seems fake to me. Who in the hell thinks like that.

Well Abby Shields, I would like to warn you that you shouldn't talk about such crap when you are still enrolled at UK and why in the hell would you enroll at UK if you are a Louisville fan?

Her heart will always be in Loserville, haha, here's an idea, how about letting the rest of your carcus join it and stay out of Lexington aka BIG BLUE COUNTRY.

I laughed when I saw this the first time (probably on that same forum, but I haven't checked yet). She graduated from the same high school as me and while I try not to jump to conclusions, I'm pretty sure that cryptkeeper's assumption is relatively accurate: the biggest rivalry athletic game she had been to prior to that was a high school football/basketball game. The principal had her eyes staring straight at the student section the whole game, too, so we couldn't pull off anything.

I'm VERY surprised she went to UK.

What a joke!

BK

Next game maybe all of us fans can wear pigtails and pretty ribbons.... Gimme a break, lol. This is sports, not a tea party!

I'll venture to say that the fans at Freedom Hall would never sink to that level of behavior.

Wow, what a dumb@ss. She really has no idea.