University of Virginia Library

Virginia Team Versus Cavalier Fans: Contrasting Attitudes

Commentary

By TOM BELL

If I were a student at the
University of Maryland, I
would be embarrassed to have
the Terrapins represent me on
the basketball floor. With the
general exception of Bob
Bodell and Jim O'Brien, the
entire team conducts itself like
a bunch of spoiled kids.

Whenever a whistle blows,
Tom McMillen can be seen in
his familiar bent-over position,
his paws hanging by his ears,
headed for the nearest referee
with an innocent expression
and a scheming mind. John
Lucas, for all his talent, seems
already to have picked up the
cocky attitude which
dominates the team. Rarely do
the Terrapins accept a call
without some complaint.

On the bench, Lefty
Driesell treats a basketball
game more like a circus than an
athletic contest, and he is ably
backed up by the dynamic duo
at the end of the bench, Rich
Porac and Bill Hahn, whose
only talent seems to be an
amazing ability to charge off
the bench with obnoxious
gestures after every Maryland
basket.

When the team plays in
Maryland's Cole Field House,
their behavior seems to be
appreciated, as the fans there
love their team, and reflect its
basic attitude. Maryland fans
and players seem to deserve
each other.

The Cavaliers stand out in
stark contrast to the Terps. It
has often been a frustrating
season for the Wahoos, yet,
except for a few small
incidents, the players have
conducted themselves
admirably on the court. They
generally accept a referee's
decision without protest, and,
in the pressure-packed
atmosphere of ACC basketball,
have been well-mannered,
especially for a young team.

It is unfortunate that the
same cannot be said for the
Cavalier fans who have
emerged from the pack in the
last two years to the point at
which they are among the
worst in the league. The
intense rivalry which is felt for
Maryland and its team brought
out the worst in the U–Hall
partisans.

Everyone seems to dislike
Maryland, and often for good
reason, for the Terrapins have
been cultivating dislike ever
since Mr. Driesell took over
their program. Yet it is hard to
condemn the Terps, when
Cavalier fans are no better.

The most disturbing thing is
the reaction to official's calls.
There are many questionable
calls in any game, to which
some reaction may be justified.
Yet Cavalier fans seem to
define a bad call as any one
which goes against the Wahoos,
regardless of what happened on
the floor. There are 8,250
"experts" in U-Hall, most of
whom seem to know little or
nothing about the game of
basketball. They hoot, boo,
and chant at every
opportunity.

Booing the ref is sort of an
American tradition and cannot
be stopped. Yet there is
something disturbing about a
situation where a call is
detestable at one end of the
court and the same call is a
good one at the other.

Swept up in the emotion of
a big game, Wahoo fans seem
to forget the rules of
basketball. A fan behind me
Saturday won the prize by
screaming for a walking call on
John Lucas when the Maryland
guard was dribbling the ball all
the time.

ACC referees call games
tightly, which leads to a large
number of debatable calls, and
much unavoidable protest. Yet
is is hard to justify the degree
and the inconsistency of the
reaction of Cavalier fans.

The number of paper cups
and ice cubes thrown on the
court this year has certainly
increased. At the end of
Saturday's Maryland game, the
shower of objects being hurled
at the Maryland bench was
unbelievable. The health
hazard aside, throwing objects
is unjustifiable. It hurts both
teams during the game in
question, and certainly does
the Cavaliers no good the next
time they go on the road.

Smaller instances are also
disturbing. Jim O'Brien is a
funny-looking guy, and made a
bad reputation for himself in
his younger days. But when the
joke gets out of hand, it ceases
to be so funny. The clown
masquerading on the floor
Saturday was funny for a
minute, but when he stuck
around behind the Terp bench
throughout the game it became
a personal insult to O'Brien
and a bold display of poor
sportsmanship.

Tom McMillen has not
made himself popular either,
but he deserves better than an
obscene sign in foot-high
letters.

When Maryland came on
the floor just before game
time, many fans could not
resist the urge to boo, even
though it detracted from the
ceremonies honoring Barry
Parkhill which were going on at
the same time.

Every time an opponent
steps to the foul line, the fans
behind the backboards outdo
themselves in an attempt to
distract him through the
backboard glass, while
everyone else hoots. It does
little to distract a good player,
and is terribly impolite.

Perhaps the concept of
sportsmanship is outdated and
no longer valid to judge a
fan's actions against such an
ideal. Even so, there is a strong
practical argument against
crowd behavior such as that
which has prevailed in U-Hall.

Most outsiders see the
University mainly through its
athletic programs. To a
member of the University
community athletics is but one
aspect of student life, yet to
alumni and others removed
from the University, it is the
major point of contact with
the school. Poor crowd
behavior can do nothing but
hurt the basketball program,
the overall athletic program
and the University as an
institution. To an outstanding
high school basketball recruit,
a state legislator who drops in
for a game, or a television fan
anywhere in the Southeast, the
bush-league behavior of
University students and
supporters at basketball games
can only have a negative effect.

The Admissions office tells
us that students here are more
and more qualified every year,
but it would be hard to
convince an outsider that the
performance by the fans last
Saturday was by the finest
young people that the state has
to offer.

The home season is over
now, and U-Hall will not be
filled again for basketball until
next December. It is hoped
that by then the fan situation
will be better. The good
basketball teams that we have
grown accustomed to having
deserve a better group of
supporters than they have had
this year.