The Chris Moeller Archives

A broken tibia and fibula for the home team

The Iowa State Cyclones men’s basketball team, ranked 4th in the nation by the Associate Press, improved to 8-0 last night with an 83-82 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes at Hilton Coliseum in Ames. The Cyclones’ rebound from a 20-point deficit early in the second half inspired fans to run on the floor seconds after Monte Morris’ game-winning runner, and then a reporter for the Des Moines Register named Randy Peterson had his leg broken during the charge. He had tripped and fallen when someone stepped on his leg.

There are calls then today, in national and local outlets both, for the NCAA to ban, or severely curtail, such fan celebrations. Many of the local are sour grapes from Hawkeye fans who feel the excruciating sting of defeat. A TV sports anchor in Des Moines, a graduate of the University of Iowa and rank lieutenant in the fun police, had his eyes broken watching the celebration, tweeting an hypothesis that Cyclone fans would not be enjoying the victory so much if it was (star player) Georges Niang lying on the floor after the game, which is certainly true. Let’s get these college kids under control!

I have another solution. How about only university students get to go to the games? Rooting so passionately for your college team after you’ve left college is a little like passionately rooting for your high school team after you’ve left high school. Rooting for a school you never attended is stranger still. (Some of us chose our institution of higher learning specifically based on sports so we wouldn’t have this problem later.) I guess one might make the case that they have a rooting interest in a state team as a taxpayer, but in Iowa, state funding of the universities’ total budget is down to about 7%. Claiming to people that you pay the bills in this instance is kind of an insult to those that pay enormous tuition prices.

Rooting for my college team is a pastime I enjoy at times, like last night, but I try to never forget, as many observers apparently have, who it is these games are actually meant for. Student fees prop up nearly all Division I sports, and the payers also provide the proverbial electricity that powers the event on game night. (The students are the Hilton Magic.) My dad rooted for the Cyclones at old State Gym during his tenure in Ames during the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. My four years included season tickets, and overlaps with Fred Hoiberg, Dedric Willoughby, Johnny Orr’s last season as head coach, and the 1996 Big 8 Tournament Championship in Kansas City (Sec 231, Row Q, Seat 12). It’s no longer important for me to be there and be entertained by players that aren’t getting financially-compensated to entertain. It actually makes me feel kind of icky.

Many of last night’s celebrating students had camped out for three nights at Hilton to get tickets from a limited student allotment, even while a majority of the arena was filled during the game with non-students. That’s the part of the story that needs to change.

I’ll be curious to hear what more Peterson has to say about it. He’s been covering Cyclone sports for a long time. In my early days at WHO Radio in Des Moines, I was assigned to cover the football coach’s (Dan McCarney) weekly press conference in Ames. This was in the late ‘90s, and Peterson was already there, his hair already completely white. His initial comment following last night’s incident was a tweet that read simply, “Ouch.”

Reporters never want to become the story, but Peterson will be the big story, especially if this incident leads to a rule change. I would assume he’s rooting for anything but. Such is the hazard of his occupation. Sportswriters get paid trips, great seats at games for no charge, complimentary meals and snacks. And sometimes they get their leg broken.

posted by CM @ 8:12 PM