Rushing the court

Might have been mentioned on the running college hoops thread, but I thought it'd be an interesting break-out.

When do you rush the court? Ever? Only against a top-ranked team?

My main man Gregggg Doyle wrote about this today, and I happen to agree with his take.

http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/12818987/kstate-fans-stand-still-and-sports-leap-forward-hopefully

Thoughts?

(I won't mention that I e-mailed him with the idea for this column the other day, only to be shut out in the credits. Thanks for nothing, Greggggg.)

;D

 

It's fun and sports are supposed to be about fun. I don't mind it for almost any conceivable excuse.

 

I never rush the court. It would make me look like a homer. I've got too much equipment to worry about and I usually have to file a story pretty quickly and don't have time to mess around.

 

I can't believe you made me read Doyle.

That being said, I agree with him to a point. Some nobody school pulls off an upset over a ranked team, rush it. If you're Indiana, or Michigan State, or shit, Duke, and you beat ANYONE, you stay in your fucking seats.

 

SEC has a rule against storming the court/field/playing surface. And it's a pretty stout penalty, IIRC. I think it's something like $25,000 for the 2nd offense and keeps rising for every one thereafter.

 

Why's that?

 

Found the rule:

Institutional financial packages range from $5,000 for a first offense to fines of up to $25,000 for a second offense and up to $50,000 for a third and subsequent offenses.

 

Not exactly pocket change. Damn.

 

The SEC rule came in not long after the incident at Wisconsin and other places when people were getting badly hurt in stampedes and by falling goal posts.
There's also a financial component to it beyond the liability issue. People have a tendency to take souvenirs -- pieces of turf -- and I think schools were starting to get pissed off at having to replace their football fields after every major victory.

 

I've seen a few SEC schools get hit with a first offense. I've yet to see anybody get hit with a 2nd.

edit: the google says Kentucky got hit with a 2nd offense in 2007. that's the only 2nd offense I've found. As best I can tell, the rule was instituted in 2003.

edit 2: instituted in Dec. 2004

 

Does that mean Kentucky got penalized for the crowd rushing the field in advance of the Bluegrass Miracle? Because that would be outstandingly awesome were it true.

 

Nah, that was a win over Louisville. And, yeah, that sounds pretty pathetic now, huh?