Flagrantly foul mouths

Indiana basketball fans are the worst.

To quote my roommate, we’re basically the Philadelphia Eagles fans of college hoops.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my Hoosiers. Like many in Bloomington, I have season tickets, I schedule my life around the TV airtimes of the games I can’t make and I’ve lost my voice screaming at the top of my lungs in Assembly Hall.

But if you were to ask basketball enthusiasts who they consider to be the most obnoxious fans in the Big Ten, we would undoubtedly be the winners.

You might chalk that up to jealousy. Or you could chalk it up to the horribly rude way IU fans are known to behave, especially around our visiting teams’ supporters.

I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve heard “Fuck (insert opponent here)!” shouted directly at the face of someone wearing the colors of whomever we happen to be playing.

There were occasions last year where chants of the exact same unimaginative and vulgar format mentioned above swept over the crowd at home games, specifically calling out specific players on the opposing team.

The guy behind me at the Michigan State game made relentless comments implying he had quite an inappropriate relationship with MSU Coach Tom Izzo’s mother. Seeing as how Izzo is almost 60, this insult is pretty terrible to begin with.

Last year, after the Wat Shot took down Kentucky, I witnessed fairly large groups of Hoosiers verbally harass multiple Wildcat fans as they tried to make their way down Kirkwood.

While some people may consider these behaviors an inevitable side effect of the pride rowdy college students feel for their team, I disagree.

If that kind of conduct is considered rude under normal circumstances, why would it become acceptable under the cover of fandom? Such actions are disgraceful and tactless and reflect horribly on a program we are all incredibly proud of.

I propose a new rule of thumb.

Before you shout something, ask yourself, “Would Coach Tom Crean approve of what I’m about to yell at this poor, unassuming fan whose team is probably going to lose to us anyway?”

If the answer is anything but an unequivocal “yes,” you almost certainly shouldn’t say it.

Indiana basketball is no longer a storied program fallen from grace. We have rebuilt, and I for one am very grateful to be able to spend four years in Bloomington at such an exciting time.

The Indiana Hoosiers are a classy team, and we owe it to them to be classy fans.

­— sreddiga@indiana.edu