Court Storming: Good or bad for the games?

Having been part of multiple court storming’s after a Penn State basketball victory, seriously though, I can tell you that it’s actually fun. That is, if you don’t get trampled by other fans. It only lasts for about 2-3 minutes before everyone realizes it’s way too hot and time to go home. I’ve personally never seen anyone get run over but there is always a story about it happening, which brings up the question of should it banned.

Court storming in college basketball, much like in college football, is an art. There are guidelines to it too.

• ·      If you’re going to do it, you have to do it big.
• ·      If your team is ranked, and you beat another ranked team, don’t storm
• ·      If you storm, make sure you have enough fans to cover at least a third of the court or field
• ·      Don’t push the other teams players. Either you’ll get arrested or knocked out by the player, and either way you lose.

 I’ve seen some impressive storming over the years in both sports; but is it time to get rid of it? The conversation comes up every time it happens, particularly in basketball because of the nature of it. Compared to the size of a football field, obviously, a basketball court is smaller. Fans who storm the field after a football game have much more room to get from the stands to the center of the field, or wherever the center of the mosh pit is. Basketball fans however, while they have a shorter distance from the stands to the court, have to worry about the players, coaches, media members, officials, and those oh-so-popular “Event Staff” members who get called in an hour before the game to volunteer and wear their bright yellow jackets. Needless to say it’s easy for hundreds, sometimes thousands of college students to flood a basketball court in a matter of seconds. The question remains, should it be banned?

While storming the court/field is fun, it’s an adrenalin rush, but at times could be more dangerous than the game itself. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of fans rushing to one centralized area at full speed, chances are that someone will get hurt. A large amount of college football stadiums have gone away from having goal posts that are able to be torn down and use electronic posts that go down on by way of remote. Some stadiums don’t allow storming at all. In basketball, the SEC will fine a school if their fans storm the court. It’s a smart idea because it only takes one person to trip and get trampled by hundreds of people and cause serious injuries, potentially death.

On the other hand, the only logical reason I can give for it being a good idea is this, there isn’t one. It’s really just something to do; it’s a fun experience if you don’t get hurt. You have to start either at the beginning of the crowd or in wait until it’s in progress to join. If you’re standing in the middle of the pack, there is a chance that something could go wrong and you could go down.

Just don't be like this crowd. 

In closing, if you choose to be one of those “hooligans” who partake in the storming, I’ll leave you with this, good luck and God speed. I salute you.