Raising Hell In The Dark
Current basketball court-storming is nothing compared to a NC State University campus celebration when the power went out!
The court at Winston-Salem’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum was covered with Wake Forest fans after the Deacons defeated Duke, 83-79.
Sticking out his leg?
It’s a shame Duke’s Kyle Filipowski stuck out his leg and tried to trip a Wake Forest student who, wanting to celebrate the Demon Deacons, 83-79, win over the Blue Devils last Saturday, rushed onto the court at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem with other Wake Forest students and fans. A multitude thereof!
If Filipowski had just stood still, the masses could’ve-would’ve parted (especially for Duke players) like the Red Sea, and he and the other losers could’ve-would’ve made their way to the safe environs of the visiting team locker room, and a national lopsided discussion about students celebrating by taking over center stage could’ve-would’ve been avoided.
Is it always about Duke when such issues arise? Coach K made it that way; Coach Jon Scheyer continues the tradition. It’s Duke being Duke so it’s not much of a big deal.
And, it must not have been as serious an injury to Filipowski as Scheyer and the Duke-leaning media made it out to be except maybe his feelings were hurt because the Wake Forest students disrespected him. Just four days later, Filipowski started against Louisville, finishing the 84-59 win with nine points, 10 rebounds, and six assists in 29 minutes of playing time. He showed no discomfort. To credit the great playwright Billy Shakespeare, as time passes, the whole thing seems to have been “Much Ado About Nothing.”
As a student in the early 1970s, I was one of those celebrators, taking to the court in the Wolfpack’s old barn—Reynolds Coliseum—to show enthusiasm for an unexpected win and then marching down Hillsborough Street to the North Carolina Capitol to get a “happy NC State fans” photo printed the next day on the front page of The News & Observer. That tradition has disappeared; so have Wolfpack upset wins; so has much of the newspaper, for that matter.
Unless the Atlantic Coast Conference decides to pass a policy with huge financial implications, court-storming will live on, and it should. Losing coaches need to understand that, and, with one second on the clock, remove the players from the court and have a non-scholarship reserve toss in the ball to end the game. (Scheyer could have.) Or whatever is needed short of erecting a fence around the court as was the case back in the day (as they say) many years ago, hence the term “cagers” to describe the players.
While stopping court-storming by the home team might be needed, the on-court celebration by the visiting team that wins also needs to stop. You won; be graceful; go home. Jumping around by the visiting team on the home team’s court or field is a slap-in-the-face to the home team and fans. Take your partying to the locker room and then disappear. The final score is enough said.
The rise of this issue reminded me of a campus-wide party at NC State after an 83-80 win at North Carolina on January 22, 1974. The post-game celebration is told in Chapter 31 of my book: 1973-74 Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run, available for purchase from lulu.com (Paperback or Hardcover) or you can subscribe for free and read the book chapter by chapter at 1973-74 Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run.
Here’s Chapter 31 of 1973-74 Reliving the NC State Wolfpack’s Title Run:
Raising Hell In The Dark
Shortly after the Wolfpack defeated Carolina in Chapel Hill, around 11:10 that Tuesday night, the State campus went dark. It wasn’t a way to control the on-campus celebration of the win over the Tar Heels. There was a “malfunction in a primary switch gear system”, according to campus authorities, that caused the lights to go out. A backup system was put into place to replace the new switch, which had been operating for only three weeks.
But that didn’t stop the students from partying. It just changed the way they celebrated, as reported in “Students raise hell during blackout,” by Technician staff writer Howard Barnett:
The atmosphere was one of general mayhem.
The streets, halls, and sidewalks were filled with thousands of State students busily engaged in raising all kinds and degrees of hell. They were celebrating State’s victory over Carolina, and the spirit was one of pure glee. Horns blew, fireworks went off, and trees anywhere in the general vicinity of students took on the look of a winter wonderland as layer upon layer of toilet paper decorated their branches, a practice now traditional.
Then, suddenly, in the midst of the celebration, the entire campus went black. At first the reaction was one of general annoyance. It was presumed that residence life, or the head residence counselor, or that stupid floor jock had thought it could preserve order by dousing the lights.
As time wore on, though, people discovered that the power outage wasn’t restricted only to their dorm, that residence life and security were baffled, and nobody knew what was wrong. Then the mood turned to malevolence. What things might one do under cover of darkness?
The answer came soon. The Lee-Sullivan-Bragaw (dorm) area, a battleground at its best, became unfit for human habitation. Beer cans, bottles, and various other articles sailed off the topmost floors into the night. Powerful flashlights searched the surrounding area, picking out those fools who chose to go into, out of, or around the buildings. The area on the south end of Bragaw was caught in a crossfire of firecrackers, bottle rockets, M-80s, and sparklers. On at least two occasions, a toilet paper-laden tree caught fire from the sparks. A water fountain in the lobby was turned over and flooded the area with about three inches of water.
A number of people were trapped in elevators in Lee and Sullivan. When the power went back on, they found others waiting for them when they got off—with trash cans full of water.
No serious injuries were reported in spite of all this, and when the lights finally came on, most of the student body was in one piece or so. The blackout, which was originally attributed to everything from a trash can or wire thrown into the substation beside Bragaw to a Carolina sabotage plot, turned out to be the result of equipment failure.
There were reports of fires in a couple of windows because of the candles, but no serious damage was incurred.
Students woke up the next morning with hangovers, fatigue, and in general, one hell of a mess to clean up.
And, in an editorial, “Werewolves,” the Technician’s opinion writers chimed in on the student conduct during the blackout:
…to those who perpetrated these acts, these might have seemed mere pranks, but objects falling several stories through the air can gain quite a bit of momentum before they hit the ground—or the person. Serious injuries might have occurred—but fortunately did not—due to these shenanigans. These people should have considered the consequences in full before taking part in such juvenile behavior.
College students should by now have enough maturity to judge for themselves what is and what is not a threat to the safety of others. It is hard to believe that so many people on campus have so little respect for others.
The campus was probably fortunate that the blackout did not occur while the State-Carolina game was being transmitted. It’s scary to think what might have happened then. There probably wouldn’t be a campus left if these people had been mad instead of happy.
BRAVO! A chance to behave and clap politely
NC State students and fans love to flood the court at the PNC Arena after a win against a rival or a team of higher ranking. It doesn’t happen very often at NC State. Court-storming releases frustrations of the season and needs to be allowed but maybe there’s a better way, especially to protect the game losers.
So, when the Wolfpack hosts Duke next Monday (March 4), there’s another chance for students and fans of NC State to exhibit home court storming. Maybe? Maybe not. I suggest, if State beats Duke, the fans quietly take a seat and offer polite clapping of hands while shouting “bravo!”
Are you kidding me!