Some West Virginia fans apparently enjoy the stereotype.
More than a few WVU students apparently been outdoing themselves this basketball season with the crude language and rowdy stuff. Throwing things on the court comes naturally, no language is too obscene, and no one wearing opposing colors is exempt from their taunts.
So enter Rick Pitino, a ready-made target with the revelation of his sexual encounter. And his University of Louisville basketball team has given WVU fits in recent seasons. Ripe.
Message board posters have been trading suggestions for the most disgusting taunts all week. It could get bad.
Ken Gray, Â WVU Vice President of Student Affairs, sent a letter to fans in the student newspaper this week, asking for sanity.
“Many fans, including other student fans, have expressed their disappointment and embarrassment by the vulgar and profane language that have been coming out of the student section this season. I urge you to stop this behavior. Remember your behavior overshadows the good behavior of our players on the court.”
Huggins’ coaching staff even got in on the act, reminding students that “sportsmanship is a shared value for Mountaineers.”
That will come as news to some of them.
Done watching Louisville lose to West Virginia a little while ago… From everything I could see and hear on TV, those “stereotypes” are no stereotypes at all. It’s the real deal. If I was an alumnus of WVU, I’d be embarrassed.
Having been on several trips to Morgantown for football games and one memorable women’s basketball game…I can tell you that my visits there have been pretty good, with the one exception of college kids getting a bit too defamatory after the Eers beat us in the classic overtime game. Gee, go figure…college kids getting exciting about a win.
The ironic thing is that in that game, many WVU students were already out the exits and in the parking lot in the fourth quater, assuming Louisville was going to win.
Our last trip to Morgantown (a guys only trip) was a great time. All schools have their lunatic fringe fanbase. I guess we tend to comment more about WVU’s because the couch burning stuff and the Big East rivalry now.
For hoops today, let’s hope the Cards can “turn two” The WVU women play our Lady Cards tonight at seven there.
Gosh Charlie, you sure did hit a nerve! As someone who has been to WVU (football game) it’s freakin scary. I felt lucky to get out alive dressed in UL gear.
Shannon
The movie The Express was totally inaccurate, many of the original players on that Syracuse team have said that WVU should be outraged at the portrayal. The game that year was played at Syracuse. Pile on
AS far as your inbreeding comment goes, if you were to make these comments about any other group of people (Appalachains) you would be labled a ignorant racist.
Besides you are a fan of a team from Kentucky. Have you ever been to Eastern Kentucky? Most places in Eastern Kentucky are far worse than anyplace in West Virginia. No one from the State Of Kentucky should be playing the “blue baby” card.
WVU is NOTORIOUS through history, as having some of the worst fans in the nation.
See the movie The Express for reference….
Just too much interbreeding has corrupted the gene pool, and WVU has all the “blue babies” who do not know know to act in public.
They have to learn to act differently outside of the coal mine in public………:->
“See the movie The Express for reference….”
Uhh…the makers of that movie have come out and said that game never actually happened.
Never saw the movie but I’ve seen the real thing in Morgantown.
Charlie
If you saw this first hand did you, as a professional journalist, write about this? I would think it would be a journalists dream to write about such a controversial subject. It would have to be a ratings boost and name maker to write the article about widespread racial slurs from a fan base. Even more so from a fan base of a higher education institution.
It has nothing to do with West Virginia gene pool, most of the A$$holes in the WVU student body are from Jersey… That said, stop with the sterotype crap, fans all over can be horrible.
This article is a simple case of “piling on”.
Mountaineer fans are some of the best in the nation, witness the love and respect shown to the UConn players after the tragic death of Jasper Howard.
The incident during the Ohio State game followed an unfortunate situation where the OSU player performed a 360 degree jam and then taunted the crowd.
One thing about WVU fans, they will never be intimidated, and they responded – inappropriately – to those taunts.
There are always a few rowdies in every crowd, but as the Jasper Howard event demonstrated, WVU fans are, on the whole, great people.
Have to disagree with your assessment of the WVU “fanatics”. Even Bob Hertzel for The Times West Virginian had this to say about WVU’s fans, “a bunch of foul-mouthed jackasses hee-hawing obscenities.” They probably are the lowest class, most obnoxious fans in college basketball and cemented their reputation again today.
Ok,good luck with the rowdies!
Not meant to be a swipe at Huggins but at the rowdies. I was still in the process of composing when WVU fans started converging.
Except for an indiscretion that happened six years ago, Pitino has been a model citizen. Sounds like WVU school officials are more than a little concerned about fan conduct.
Agreed. WVU officials should be concerned about fan conduct; however, your initial post(since changed) seemed like a swipe at Huggins.
From your article:
Huggins’ coaching staff even got in on the act, reminding students that “sportsmanship is a shared value for Mountaineers.â€
That comes as a surprise
A fan, employee, or follower of any school that employs Rick Pitino should not take swipes at any coaches.