MBB: Coast 2 Coast Athletic Conference

[rokman]

CUA Fans,

Sorry I didn't see this in time for us to vote, but there's an online special on the Wash. Post website that is ranking the greatest local college teams of all time, (in NCAA bracket fashion) and they included the 2001 Cards in a "play-in" game.  Pretty nice of them to consider CUA, considering 1) the competition, and 2) the lack of coverage CUA usually gets from the Post.  There's a little piece on the team included under "more" (link below, and flash player required, I think):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2006/02/24/CU2006022401242.html

[Matt Letourneau]

Thanks!

Too bad we missed voting...I bet we could have pulled it out for CUA.  Granted, we would have gotten clocked by 84 Gtown, but hey...

Nice proofreading on the blurb about the team...lots of effort went into that!  But it is cool that CUA is even included in that list.

I bet '02 UMD runs away with it.

[bisoncrew]

To all you CUA fans who went to the Gally @ CUA game and denied the notion that CUA students had put up obnoxious signs...

FYI, on HBOSports tonight, James Brown stated that he himself had seen the "win or lose, we can still hear" sign.

Just wanted to toss that in.

[kitchenrat]

In some states it is mandatory for schools to require 4 credit hours of physical education. Pennsylvania is one of them. I took Basketball, Softball, Bowling and recreational shooting. I don't know if the players can take the class, but I would imagine they could, after all they are students just like the rest of us were. I got an A, and also found out that there are few people in this world who know more about the ins and outs of the NCAA rule book than Coach Gamber. The man is a walking encyclopedia of B-ball knowledge.

I watched the Real Sports segment on Gallaudet and I thought they did a nice job. I know they have to pick who they are going to focus on, but I was surprised that they didn't even mention Jackson. JB gave the Spartans and CUA a little love with his "powerhouse" and "nationally ranked" drops in his back and forth with Bryant. I was nervous for the CAC and D3 in general that they might mention the problem after the Gally SU game but they didn't

[John Rusnak]

I thought the Gallaudet piece was nice for the school, but I thought it could've gone deeper with some things.  Nonetheless, it was some nice exposure for the school and York and Catholic got their two seconds of air time.

And yes, they did mention those signs, so CUA has a bit of a black eye this morning.

[Matt Letourneau]

I hope whatever idiot brought them gets punished. Too bad they weren't removed sooner.  As I said, I never saw them to begin with and if I had I would have brought it to an Administrator's attention right away.  As it was they did get taken away.

Its a good lesson about the right and wrong way to behave at games.  Cheer for your team, heckle the refs and the opposing players in a good natured way.  Don't make a sign making fun of somebody's disability, don't make a sign linking a major religion to licking balls, and its probably not a good idea to dress up like nuns or chase after referees either.

Anyway, because some idiot who doesn't represent the way 99% of the University feels or would ever say, now something like that gets attention. 

[Reserved Seat]

As far as I know, none of the schools in the Centennial Conference(mostly Pennsylvania schools) give credit for physical education classes.  I checked the college catalogs for Franklin and Marshall and Swarthmore.  Neither school offers any physical education classes for credit, but you must complete 4 PE units for graduation.  No credit is given.  At both schools you need 32 credits to graduate-each class you pass counts as one credit.

quote from Swarthmore's catalog
As a requirement for graduation, all students not excused for medical reasons are required to complete 4 units of physical education by the end of their sophomore year.

[Warren Thompson]

I hope whatever idiot brought them gets punished. Too bad they weren't removed sooner.  As I said, I never saw them to begin with and if I had I would have brought it to an Administrator's attention right away.  As it was they did get taken away.

Something to keep in mind: never underestimate the proclivity of an undergraduate fan to act with an utter lack of taste -- and to think it's humorous.

[Knightstalker]

I hope whatever idiot brought them gets punished. Too bad they weren't removed sooner.  As I said, I never saw them to begin with and if I had I would have brought it to an Administrator's attention right away.  As it was they did get taken away.

Something to keep in mind: never underestimate the proclivity of an undergraduate fan to act with an utter lack of taste -- and to think it's humorous.

Also keep in mind that almost all of us were young and stupid at some point in time.

[Warren Thompson]

I hope whatever idiot brought them gets punished. Too bad they weren't removed sooner.  As I said, I never saw them to begin with and if I had I would have brought it to an Administrator's attention right away.  As it was they did get taken away.

Something to keep in mind: never underestimate the proclivity of an undergraduate fan to act with an utter lack of taste -- and to think it's humorous.

Also keep in mind that almost all of us were young and stupid at some point in time.

Agreed. And, in one way or another, we eventually paid a price for it .... 

[rollingthunda]

Just my two cents on "the sign" issue.  I'm not condoning it by any means, but heckling is a part of the game.  I'm sure J.J. Reddick has gotten blasted a lot worse than the hearing sign.  You can throw out the rule book when it comes to student sections heckling players.  Anything and everything goes, from comments about players mothers and sisters to signs about their disabilities.  The more off color the comment, the funnier the kids think it is.  Is it right?  Probably not, but thats not going to stop it.  Again, I'm not saying its right, but as a player, you have to expect that kind of thing from a student section.  I personally wouldn't classify it as malicious as much as I would the kids trying anything they can to get in a players head and at the same time draw a laugh from their peers.  Kids are going to be kids.

I know at Etown you are required to complete 4 PE classes and each class is worth one credit, so from the sounds of it, it depends on the schools curriculum whether or not students must take PE classes as well as if those classes count as credits.  I also know that as a basketball player at Etown they don't restrict which PE classes you take, so the players ususally do take the basketball class.

[John Rusnak]

I think there are just certain places you don't go, and trashing somebody for being deaf might be one of them.

I agree that part of being a player is having to deal with any and all insults that fans throw, but there's something about that one that rubs me the wrong way.

With that said, it's part of the game.  The problem is when that sign happens to be mentioned on HBO and now everybody in the country thinks Catholic fans are a-holes.

I'm sure if you took a sample of things said to JJ on any given night they could probably compete with that sign, but SportsCenter doesn't call those people out on national tv.

[Matt Letourneau]

On any given night, there are insults and signs just as bad, if not worse, than that particulary sign, sure.  But none of them are right.

I yell at officials as much as the next guy, so I'm not trying to take a 'holier than though' attitude, but there is a line and that sign crosses it and so do many of the other insults and signs and that sort of thing.

This one sort of gauls me though because there is a long tradition of Catholic and Gallaudet getting along.  The coaching staffs are friendly with each other and the fans usually have been.  Until this year, I've never seen or heard of a problem.  This year we had a bunch of them and that is unfortunate.

It is tough in D3.  At most places, its hard to get fans to come to games.  You want to do anything possible to get students to come to the games. This year we ended up having great fan support down the stretch and it made a different.  York and Mary Washington have that kind of great fan support too.  DuFour is a pretty big place and it takes a decent sized crowd to make enough noise to give you a real homecourt advantage.

But unfortunately, a very tiny minority of the some of the people who come to games---and I honestly believe this is true for virtually every school, in this league and everywhere else---don't know how far too take it.  Maybe they've been drinking before they show up or maybe they're just idiots.  Catholic is no different than any school--we've got a few of those.  If you actually counted it wouldn't amount to more than 1% of the crowd, but every now and then something like this happens and the 1% overshadows the 99%.   Most of the crowd would never have thought that sort of sign was appropriate.  I'm willing to guess that most of the Mary Washington fans wouldn't have thought the infamous "Cath-o-lick My Balls" side was a good idea either.

[diplomaniac1]

Folks -

When I went to F&M in the late 1970's and early 1980's, (pre-historic ages) there was no PE requirement for graduation. I was not aware that they added it "in more recent years".

However, I wonder if they really enforce it since no credits are offered for it? I would guess that it is not an absolute requirment but I can't say that with 100% certainty. It is often hard enough to complete the requirements for a major and a minor or for a double major (as I was) along with satisfying the minimum core courses, let alone PE credits! Just food for thought.

Eric

[mwgoonie]

As a fan, and i attend many games and often engage in heckling, there a few rules to abide by. These rules are just plan moral common sense and keeps cheering for your team and heckling within the competitive arena:

1. No racial/sexual/disability jabs
2. After the game, leave the refs alone.
3. Fans can cheer for their team, against/for refs, and against/for other teams, fans should not be threatening to fight opposing team's fans, etc. Just not classy.
4. Opposing fans, after the game, leave the game on the court/in the stands. Many times after games with heated cheering, I've ending talking with the opposing team's fans and talking about good/funny cheers for either side.
5. For current students, if you're going to arrive with a measurable BAC, try to kep in perspective that your cheering may be offensive/go over the line with some fans (especially with children, etc) in the crowd.

Anyways, just some things I've pick up going to CAC, NCAA tourney, out-of conference games. Feel free to add or discuss.

just thought i'd quote myself. All serious fans of the CAC/D3 get into the games, and sometimes get too wrapped up in the game. Rarely, do serious fans go over these bounds. Its 100% of the time the line is crossed is by drunken idiots who probably won't attend d3 games after they graduate (if they do graduate).