We know that student sections are often filled with drunken, boorish college students that barely even go to class. This type of activity is NOT confined to any single team or college, but it is a national public university phenomenon. ASU is not by any stretch above this, as I have witnessed countless acts of idiocy by fellow students that have truly ashamed me.
But, Saturday night was an experience that did not surprise me at all. The University of Arizona is not known as a beacon of intellectual brilliance; most public schools admittedly are a little lax on admissions standards and quality of education. With the budget deficits in Arizona these days, the universities are struggling to maintain academic integrity in the face of monetary cuts. ASU, NAU, and UA are all going downhill before any of them regain footing in this economy.
I hope you have taken from the previous paragraph that I believe (and I am correct, so do not disagree with me) that neither UA or ASU is in any position to brag to one another over the quality of education they afford their students. Nor should either school feel superior to the other in anything other than sports (where ASU is most certainly superior).
With this in mind, let me discuss the fan environment at the game on Saturday.
While ASU was stretching pregame, the students were chanting "High School Basketball" at Rudy Carpenter, referencing his transgression from earlier in the week. Funny.
We all know how both schools like to use each other's fight songs to heckle each other.. "U of A" "S-U!" or "A-S-U" "SUCKS!" (or "of A"). This kind of stuff is humorous and good natured ribbing of another team.
But when penalties against UA cause the student section to erupt in chants of "Fuck the zebras" I wonder why we all do the same things. Both schools have a large population of buffoons for fans. Both of these "buffoon bases" like to heckle the refs, and use an intense amount of obscene language in their abusive tirades.
This paints a bad picture of the larger fan community, who would never consider screaming profanities in a crowded arena to be a moral or appropriate thing to do.
At the end of the game, a lot of students were yelling at their own fan base, telling them not to rush the field; what was the logic? ASU sucks, and they weren't good enough to warrant rushing the field for.
Well, guess what? ASU has owned you in recent years in basically every sport, not to mention winning the last 3 territorial cups. So when you finally beat ASU, you SHOULD celebrate. It's a big event. You earned a victory over a team that has trounced you consistently.
Truly, it's a good thing for you, so don't pretend like it was just another string in UA victories over ASU, because au contraire, it is an UNUSUAL EVENT to beat ASU in recent times.
UA and ASU have an ugly rivalry. When you get two schools together like this, they hate each other and they often don't know why.
ASU hates UA because that university tried its hardest to keep ASU, or ASC at the time, from becoming a full fledged university. 50 years ago they finally lost their bid to remain alone, and ASC became ASU. Ever since then, the enemy down south has tried to rely on its academic superiority, or its athletic dominance.
They don't have those things anymore. Now, it's just two middling universities that want to beat each other around every season. That, my gentle readers, is still a fun rivalry. But in a perfect world, we would stop being so rude about it.