While "The Lord of the Rings" was cleaning house Sunday night, the weekend's best performance by a villain was at the Match Play Championships.
It's too bad that Oscar overlooked Davis Love III, because just as Love choked on another putt against Tiger Woods, a fan screamed out just what everyone was thinking, "No Love." The Gollum of the PGA heard the comment, and shoved his putter in the face of several spectators. One fan snitched on another, resulting in Love hating the poor Tiger fan and having him escorted out of the tournament.
These days, fans have made it a custom to become more than just spectators, but rather a part of the game. Purchasing a ticket gives the fan several rights, including the right to speak his or her mind at an event, just like that fan did to Love.
In recent years, however, fans have become too much a part of the action. In college basketball, the new trend for fans is to attack the court after a big win by their team. This action can regularly be seen on highlights. In some cases it is just students who are celebrating a big win, but in other cases, it has become a pointless, and a tragic riot.
In a Feb. 6 game between Tucson High Magnet School and Salpointe Catholic, Tucson senior forward Joe Kay was on the floor as time ran out during his team's 62-54 upset over its rival. According to the Tucson Citizen, nearly 200 fans rushed the court to celebrate with their team. Video of the incident shows Kay near mid-court with his arms raised, just as a student is sprinting towards him. The student lowered his shoulder, tackling the 18-year-old, who had just signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Stanford. Kay was then dogpiled by his celebrating peers, who had no idea of the damage they had done.
Kay suffered a stroke, and was hospitalized for several days.
It's actually a miracle that Kay's incident hasn't happened more frequently. During the 2001-02 season, ASU upset No. 10 Arizona at Wells Fargo Arena. More than 300 students rushed the floor in celebration. Luckily, there were not any serious injuries, but the fact that this trend has reached the high school level is frightening.
Fans in all sports have the right to speak their minds at an event -- the First Amendment protects that. In Davis Love's case, he had no right to throw the fan out. But when a fan crosses the line, those actions should not be tolerated. Just ask the family of Joe Kay.
Reach the reporter at damien.tippett@asu.edu.
