High School Basketball Game Turns Ugly
February 18th, 2009 at 10:04 amBy Chris
This is all over the tubes this morning, but I thought I’d share anyway. The video depicts an ugly, ugly brawl between two Alabama high schools that started on the basketball court but ended up in the stands. The game was a state tournament match up between Carver-Montgomery High School and Valley High School and the fracas started when two players from each team — Carver’s Roquez Johnson and Valley’s Enrique Florence — got in a shoving match.
Next thing you know, we’re playing the feud. AL.com fills in some details:
Fans jumped railings, including one 10 feet above the floor, from different locations to join the fray as security personnel and Montgomery police tried to stop the fight, which consisted of several individual skirmishes.
After a few minutes of chaos, officials appeared to have the situation in control and began ushering fans back into the stands, while both teams headed back to their benches.
Sounds like a fun night at the gym. As for the game’s outcome, officials haven’t decided how to proceed. Needless to say, the game was called with Carter leading 52-37 and no winner has been named. Much like FanHouse points out, the correct thing to do would be to eject both teams from the state tournament and continue without them.
As for the fans, that’s another story. Unless you have an armed perimeter around the court, there’s not much you can do to prevent these types of things from happening; although, it would be nice to see if people could actually use that rare trait called humanity and show some damned restraint. Or self control. Or, is showing out by getting involved in an already pathetically ugly situation a display of manhood and toughness that I’m not aware of?
Does it make one feel proud to see themselves on the news, running around on a basketball court with their pants hanging off their ass, trying to jump in the middle of a fight that doesn’t involve them? Is that somehow supposed to show how hard you are? Or does it show that ignorance still reigns, especially when it comes to pack mentalities?
I know where I’m voting.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I am amazed at the ‘holier-than-thou” attitude displayed by the media. Those same media voices applaud when adult, professional hockey players bloody one another in the hockey rink. Do I smell a double standard here? Is this the first fight at a school? Do they not fight in private schools?
February 18th, 2009 at 11:45 am
So wait. Are you saying that I’m displaying a “Holier than thou” attitude because I don’t agree with fans jumping onto the court in order to be apart of something that doesn’t involve them? In other words, just to be part of the crowd?
As for your hockey comparison, I’m sorry, how many times do fans poor on the ice so they can hit the player they don’t like? Or just to be apart of something that got their adrenaline going so they can show how hard and tough they are? Do hockey fans have a habit of “keeping it real” when two players fight?
Furthermore, fighting is allowed in hockey. It isn’t in basketball. If this is the double-standard you are referring to, I don’t know what to tell you other than the two aren’t mutually exclusive.