Few stories have ever been more built for the current climate of sports takes than the subject of court storming. It all blew up this week in spectacular fashion when Duke star Kyle Filipowski was seen limping off the floor after Wake Forest fans stormed the court when the Demon Deacons upset the Blue Devils. What ensued was a hurricane of takes that would be akin to the fallout of Taylor Swift demanding Travis Kelce be traded to the Dallas Cowboys.
The response was swift and fierce from analysts who criticized the long-standing court storming tradition. Seth Davis and Clark Kellogg argued to shut it down. And then it snowballed from there as the takes went from one extreme to the other and everywhere in between.
Dan Patrick blamed ESPN and the media for glorifying the celebrations over the years.
Jay Bilas suggested everyone who storms the court be sent to jail. Richard Jefferson then called Bilas’ take “asinine.”
Chris Canty put the blame on Filipowski for not leaving the floor quick enough.
And Mike Golic Jr. suggested that it could all be solved with some free food.
Thankfully, Filipowski looks like he will be just fine in the long run. Ironically enough, that’s nothing compared to what Des Moines Register columnist Randy Peterson experienced in 2015. After Iowa State defeated Iowa by a point, he had his leg broken in the mass of humanity when the court was stormed. His take on court storming?
“I’m OK with it,” Peterson said. “Let the people who need to get off the floor first get off the floor and the students can celebrate all they want.”
Was Jay Bilas calling for people to be jailed after that happened. Was Chris Canty blaming the columnist for not having his head on a swivel? Surely there exists a common sense solution in between the polar opposites of takes that could work for everyone between “jail” and “blame the players.”
Should college students be able to celebrate huge victories and have a memorable experience? Yes! Should players and staff be protected to avoid injury? Yes! Is there a way to do both? If we can put people on the moon as a human race, then there probably should be.
Alas, that’s not exactly what the current sports media climate is built for. As JJ Redick pointed out last week, you can give a detailed analysis of something and get a few thousand hits in a YouTube video. But viral soundbytes are what draws millions of impressions. And in something so complex as what’s right and what’s wrong in college basketball fans storming the court, it’s much easier to throw out a viral soundbyte and worry about actually solving the issues at hand another day.
That’s why the whole storming the court issue is perfect for every sports talk and debate show currently in existence. It’s a topic with a wide range of perspective, that allows for outlandish opinions, and can’t easily be solved. But the arguments sure make for great television.
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