Much ado about nothing? Legitimate cause for concern? Room for compromise on both sides? How many of you have done it at least once in your life as a fan? Come clean!!!! If you have, would love to read how the experience felt for you personally, and yes, I have done it one time many years ago. ESPN's been running with this topic every day since Coach K's post game concerns were aired. Have to admit, sure as hell beats hearing about Manti Te'o! ;-)

Hope all concerned/interested have had a great day...

Did it several times. I thought it was one of those great things that separate college sports from pros. You're down there celebrating with your classmates, and in my experience, they always enjoyed having their fans down there with them. But I understand the cause for concern, and as fun as it is, I think it's probably not worth the risk.

My highschool beat its cross town rival for the first time in years when I was in 11th grade. Probably 700-1000 of us jumped the chainlink fence separating the bleachers from the field and started trash talking the other team's players. I about got DECKED by a huge offensive lineman for the other school, but one of their coaches grabbed me and flung my back towards the home side.

Plus who can forget when the little Miami coach shoved a celebrating Marshall fan back in 2002 and put him in the hospital? Storming the field results in awesomeness.

I was part of the group that rushed the field and tore down the goalposts when we beat #17 Fresno State at home. It was our first ever win over a ranked team at home. That was a special game, our teams brawled before the game started and Ryan Moats went off for 4 touchdowns and 236 yards.

I was part of the crowd when we tore down the field goal posts after handing TCU a good defeat in 2003.

I stormed the floor after beating an arch-rival in high school.

What the hell. I was 17.

Stormed once against Louisville and once against Cincy. I witnessed two others at Halton.
My two court storming are highlights of my college years.

I don't think storming kids should address or engage the losing coaches or players in any way, but other than that, it's just good fun.

I feel bad for schools that think they are to good to do it.

My question is how many times in all of college sports have fans rushed the field/court and how many times has a player/coach/staff member been injured? We always hear about how dangerous it is for the players and staff but I don't remember any of them ever being hurt.

I know it was discussed to death but one of the few times I have witnessed ECU fans rushing the field/court was after the WVU game in 08. In this event several ECU fans received injuries (mostly pretty mild) from police/security trying to keep them of the field (and by keep them off the field I mean tackling or punching them).

It seems to me the only time things get dangerous is when someone is trying to keep the students and fans off the field.

It is a serious concern and Coach K had every right to address it the way he did. Someone will eventually do something stupid in one these storming the court events and that is when you will hear the real outcry and commentary as to why something wasn't done to prevent the stupidity from happening in the first place.

I could see why coaches wouldn't like to interact with the opposing crowd on the floor. I remember back in 2007 when Larry Eustachy and Southern Miss beat us by 48 at home. When he walked back into the arena after the game, I yelled "Drinks are on me Larry" right in front of his face knowing full well that he was battling a drinking problem. If I were him, I would have laid me out.

(03-05-2013 08:14 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  It is a serious concern and Coach K had every right to address it the way he did. Someone will eventually do something stupid in one these storming the court events and that is when you will hear the real outcry and commentary as to why something wasn't done to prevent the stupidity from happening in the first place.

That's the thing though. Maybe one day something bad will happen. Earlier this year an ECU player punched a UTEP player. Should we just cancel college basketball because someone was harmed? Football players have been paralyzed playing football should we ban it? I don't know when rushing the field started but I can't remember ever hearing about serious injury to players or coaches. In fact, from my experience watching sports, it is more likely that a player enter the crowd and an incident results in injury than fans rushing the court ending in injury. But we all get so paranoid about some potential worst case scenario so lets stop the fun now.

Also this is what coach K does. His team loses and he finds something to ***** about.

We rushed the football field for our first win at Apogee (was also our first win over a Big 10 team). I don't see a problem with it.

No one sees a problem with something until something bad happens. Terrible analogies Eastis. I'm not saying it should be ban but something needs to be done to get the visiting team off the floor before the rushing begins.

We rushed after our first home fbs win. I think we were playing the Cajuns. it was fun. a hs teammate of mine was on the team, it was so cool to get to celebrate with him.

My sophomore year at Marshall we won the Div. 1-AA National Championship. We rushed the field, one of my fraternity brothers got caught in the no man's land between the crowd rushing away from the falling goal post and the crowd rushing towards the falling goal post.

He was pushed down and bodies kept piling up on top of him. Finally someone yanked him up onto his feet. He was missing a shoe, both gloves and his hat.

Those years are a little hazy, I can't remember if it was the 96 National Championship or after the 99 MAC Championship that a couple thousand students and fans carried 2/3rds of the goal post out of the stadium, down 3 or 4 blocks on 3rd Avenue and then across campus to the Memorial Fountain where it was left. I might be confusing the two, that was a lot of beers ago.

(03-05-2013 11:00 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  No one sees a problem with something until something bad happens. Terrible analogies Eastis. I'm not saying it should be ban but something needs to be done to get the visiting team off the floor before the rushing begins.

I'm not saying there isn't any danger. And how are those terrible analogies. People have literally died playing football and minimal changes have been made. Nobody has yet been injured by fans rushing the court/field and it is a hot button issue because probably the whiniest coach in college basketball lost a game and needed something to complain about. I'm saying the paranoia far outweighs the potential danger. We could all be hermits and make ourselves as safe as possible. All I'm saying is live a little. When I say live a little I'm not saying get in a knife fight or try bull fighting, I'm saying allow a group of people to celebrate with out making the leap to someone getting seriously injured.

A better example of a dangerous sports situation that people would be better suited to spend their time correcting were the large chunks of a race car that made their way into the stands at a recent race.

As to visiting teams being able to get out of there, I don't know how it is done at other venues but in Minges from the end of the bench to the locker room is roped off and lined with security guards. It is probably 15 feet from the end of their bench to the exit. Also as is rule, the stands behind the visiting bench is reserved for visiting fans.

For football nobody is going to mess with the players and if they do it is their own fault what happens to them.

Amazing offerings, be they pro or con, thank you, all of you. My first and only "storming" took place at the BJCC in the early 80's, after a very intense game between UAB and rival South Alabama (which the Blazers narrowly won), me & my date, a lovely young lady named "Angela", we hesitated for a few seconds when we saw the intial wave hit the floor, looked at one another and I asked her if she was game, because I didn't see "Birmingham's Finest" cracking any heads on the floor with their infamous night sticks. She said, "I am if you are."

The rest is history, that was the first and only time my feet ever touched the Civic Center's basketball floor....Now, there was one venue I would never have had the nerve to trespass on after a victory, and that was "Lesion" Field.

I remember when Tennessee beat "The Updykes" (ua) in football (sorry I can't remember the exact year), ending a long-standing losing streak to them in that place, and when fans of UT tried to "storm" the field to celebrate, they were met in response by "the perfect storm", the BPD, and they went off on everyone they could get their hands on that day. One of the most memorable occurrences involved near the fence surrounding the field, several Tennessee fans playing "make a wish/tug of war" with Birmingham police officers who had one of their friends in the "grip of justice" by his legs trying to pull him back over the fence onto the field to arrest him....They lost, the guy slippped out of the cop's grip and somehow got away. Of course, one of the local news stations was there with a camera and recorded most of if not all of the chaos that ensued.

(03-05-2013 11:26 PM)MUTeke Wrote:  My sophomore year at Marshall we won the Div. 1-AA National Championship. We rushed the field, one of my fraternity brothers got caught in the no man's land between the crowd rushing away from the falling goal post and the crowd rushing towards the falling goal post.

He was pushed down and bodies kept piling up on top of him. Finally someone yanked him up onto his feet. He was missing a shoe, both gloves and his hat.

Those years are a little hazy, I can't remember if it was the 96 National Championship or after the 99 MAC Championship that a couple thousand students and fans carried 2/3rds of the goal post out of the stadium, down 3 or 4 blocks on 3rd Avenue and then across campus to the Memorial Fountain where it was left. I might be confusing the two, that was a lot of beers ago.

I thought we did that every time we tore down the posts. My memory is hazy too, as I was 10 the last time we won a championship...

(03-05-2013 11:26 PM)MUTeke Wrote:  Those years are a little hazy, I can't remember if it was the 96 National Championship or after the 99 MAC Championship that a couple thousand students and fans carried 2/3rds of the goal post out of the stadium, down 3 or 4 blocks on 3rd Avenue and then across campus to the Memorial Fountain where it was left. I might be confusing the two, that was a lot of beers ago.

They must have been a little hazy, That was me and my frat brother's who carried the goal post down 3rd Ave. lol we were heading to Robbie's but got tired and wanted to go back to the party. lol

(03-05-2013 11:26 PM)MUTeke Wrote:  Those years are a little hazy, I can't remember if it was the 96 National Championship or after the 99 MAC Championship that a couple thousand students and fans carried 2/3rds of the goal post out of the stadium, down 3 or 4 blocks on 3rd Avenue and then across campus to the Memorial Fountain where it was left. I might be confusing the two, that was a lot of beers ago.

I seem to remember them losing track of the goalpost after it left the stadium at the end of the '92 championship season. That was my first year at the school...and yeah, I rushed the field then. :)