This has been rush-the-court week. Maryland. Miami. Richmond. Every night you turn on the TV and somewhere fans are dancing with the players on the court.
And the inevitable reaction is that it's stupid.
Nothing says "I am inferior & happy to have had the opportunity to beat my superior" like storming the court during a non-championship game.
— VCU Pav (@VCUPav) January 25, 2013
With every court storming Twitter fills up with people lighting into the fans who just rushed the court. Act like you've been there! (Nothing is less cool than having fun)
And my response, every time, is why do you care?
These are kids. They're only in college for four years (or six in the case of Maryland fans – boom!). Let them have their fun. If you don't believe in rushing the court, then don't do it. If a bunch of students and a bunch of players want to jump around at mid-court, how does that possibly affect your life?
The SEC even fines programs for allowing students to rush the court. And this is perfect – the most corporate of collegiate conferences acting just how you'd expect an organization run by rich old dudes to act.
The next line of argument generally involves someone getting hurt.
DeCourcy is now blaming the AP and coaches' polls for people getting hurt when kids rush the court. Probably time to sit out a few plays.
— Rubie Q (@Rubie_Q) January 24, 2013
Big deal.
People get hurt every day. They get hurt driving. They get hurt working out. They get hurt taking showers. The world is a dangerous place. But in America we're so obsessed with not getting hurt that we live buried to our necks in bureaucratic nonsense. If a City fails to paint a line in just the right spot then they're getting sued because someone might walk in front of a bus and get hurt.
When I was in El Salvador I went into these things called salt baths. It was a brick wall built at the base of a cliff in the ocean. There were steel poles sticking out of the brick with haggard rope lines tied between them. At high tide you can go into these baths and get absolutely crushed by waves. And you better hold on to the ropes, otherwise you're in danger of getting slammed into the cliff.
And you know what? It was a freakin' blast. The best part was being somewhere where the government isn't completely up in my business making sure that I'm 'safe.' If I do something stupid and get hurt, then it's on me.
So don't give me this line about people getting hurt. It's more dangerous to drive home from the game. Maybe we should all tweet about that every night.
So the rush the court, kids. Have your fun. And don't bother listening to Francis.
@holdenradio lol let the college kids have some fun.
— Mateen Cleaves (@Mateen_Cleaves) January 17, 2013
