A Sea Of Red

For yelling "miss it". Is Roy new to college basketball?

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger

With six minutes to go in North Carolina's blowout win over Presbyterian yesterday at The Dean Dome, Roy Williams instructed security personnel to eject a fan who had heckled the Heels' Deon Thompson during a free throw attempt. The man, wearing a Presbyterian shirt and sitting a few rows behind the Carolina bench, yelled "hey Deon, don't miss it!" during the second free throw, which caused Williams to turn around, exchange some words and, eventually, point him out to security. WRAL has video of the incident.

Drunk, profane fans are a menace at games, but there's no indication the ejected party was either of those things. "Hey Deon, don't miss it," is about as tame a taunt as there gets in a college basketball arena. That may be the nicest heckle Deon Thompson hears all season. When the Tar Heels go play at Duke, such a statement might be considered a compliment.

When asked about the move after the game, Williams said:

"I don't think anybody should yell anything negative at our players. Period. Let's don't make it a bigger thing than it is. But I just don't think anybody should yell negative things toward our players (when) you come in on our tickets to watch our game."

What a joke. Props to Presby.

I was reading on the Carolina board last night and this came up. Some people there said the guy had been pretty annoying all night and that they were glad he got kicked out. There may have been more to it than just the miss it? Either way, it's dumb.

here's a video.

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/unc/video/6605651/

Stupidest thing I've ever seen. Roy looked like a complete moron there. What a loser.

By the way, I'm not a Duke fan, so that has nothing to do with my opinion on this matter.

Wow...what a ridiculous move on Roy's part...very unprofessional and stupid. I really dislike Duke and UNC.

"I don't think anybody should yell anything negative at our players. Period. Let's don't make it a bigger thing than it is. But I just don't think anybody should yell negative things toward our players (when) you come in on our tickets to watch our game."

I found William's post game comment almost stupifying. Does he really believe he can have total control over everything people in the stands say at a home game? Does he believe the same should apply when carolina fans travel to away games?

Interesting that he said "our tickets". Did UNC give the ticket to the Presby fan? Cause if they didn't, my understanding of the law is that once he paid for it, it was HIS TICKET! "Our game"? HMMMM.... last time I checked a basketball game requires 2 teams. Is the other team not allowed to have fans? The guy had a right to be there, and a right to say what he wants as long as he wasn't being threatening or profane.

I hope this doesn't get swept under the rug. Williams needs to understand that he is wrong on this and admit it.

LUconn wrote:when you come in on our tickets to watch our game."

[/quote]

Key words. Roy was right for doing it.

I've seen UNC fans in the Duke student section before. If K had them removed, oh the howling we'd hear. Like I said in a thread a few months ago, We've come full circle, and UNC is the new Duke (who ironically was the new UNC a long time ago). How does how they got the ticket matter?

JK37 wrote:

LUconn wrote:when you come in on our tickets to watch our game."

Key words. Roy was right for doing it.

Maybe you and Williams believe that it is "your game", but it is not. It is a contest between 2 teams which happens to be played on your home court. The other team is an equal participant, and is entitled to have fans, and those fans are entitled to support their team.

You go with who got you there. If you received a free ticket by way of UNC's pass list, you do NOT openly root against them. Roy had every right to do what he did.

JK37 wrote:You go with who got you there. If you received a free ticket by way of UNC's pass list, you do NOT openly root against them. Roy had every right to do what he did.

I don't read anywhere that this guy came in on a pass list, but even if he did, if Carolina is going to issue passes to fans of the opposing team, they should be big enough to understand that they are entitled to support their team. The whole thing is just plain petty, and a future hall of fame coach like Williams should be know better.

Maybe they need to do a better job of overseeing who get's these golden speech-censored tickets.

Something just occurred to me. How in the world, in the middle of a game, would Williams know if this fan was a paying customer or on a UNC pass? Did he actually have someone check on it before he had him evicted? Somehow I doubt it.

While I don't condone the behavior, and on principle 2 wrongs don't make a right, part of me hopes that next time UNC plays on the road anyone wearing Tar Heel gear or saying anything "negative" toward the home team is evicted.

If these were UNC passes, then Roy had every right to get the guy removed from the game. I would say the same thing if someone on our pass list was openly rooting for the other team and Dale had them removed.

To say "they should control who get the passes" is a little a) laughable or b) ignorant. The players get passes that they can give to friends, family, or whatever. The only rule is that you can't give the tickets to a booster. What do you expect them to do, interview every single person a player gets a ticket for and say, "Are you going to talk crap about our players?" That's just dumb.

Also, to ask how Roy would know if it's a person on the pass list or a paying customer shows how little you know about passes. Every home game, the pass list tickets are in the same exact spot. Against Duke, the pass list people sit in the same spot. Against PC, the pass list people sit in the same spot. Every single game, the pass list people sit in the same spot. If Roy turned around and saw someone in those 5-10 rows, he knows those are the pass list rows. Makes a whole lot of sense for him to know if it's pass list or buying a ticket.

If one of the players was friends with a PC fan, and gave them a ticket, that's fine. No big deal. If they showed up wearing a PC shirt, again, no big deal. The fact that he was openly cheering against Carolina is the problem. Had he been cheering for PC in a positive manor instead of cheering against UNC in a negative manor then I don't think there would've been a problem.

I've got tickets to the UVA/Wake game at UVA in February. I'll say right now that I will be pulling for Wake to win that game. I'm not going to go talking crap about Ritchie or UVA because my tickets are UVA pass tickets. If I did that, I would expect to get asked to leave.

You got free tickets to one of the top 15 arenas in America. Not only free tickets but free tickets in the first five rows. Don't be an idiot and cheer against the people you got the tickets from.

If this guy didn't get pass-list tickets, then this entire post is pointless.

olldflame wrote:Something just occurred to me. How in the world, in the middle of a game, would Williams know if this fan was a paying customer or on a UNC pass? Did he actually have someone check on it before he had him evicted? Somehow I doubt it.

While I don't condone the behavior, and on principle 2 wrongs don't make a right, part of me hopes that next time UNC plays on the road anyone wearing Tar Heel gear or saying anything "negative" toward the home team is evicted.

The seats were right behind the UNC bench, which probably aren't available to the general public. I could be wrong. I probably am. In any event, I AM a UNC fan, and this is pretty lame on Roy's part. Whatever.

SuperJon wrote: I'm not going to go talking crap about Ritchie

I'm disappointed in you

This seat is in the UNC player pass list section and the word is that the fan did not have a ticket to sit there & moved from another area.. Roy had every right to request that fan to be removed.. we have had to many times request Winthrop fans to be removed from behind the UNCA bench area in games at Rock Hill which are reserved for UNCA pass list folks/fans- it's simple when you know a fan just saw an open seat & decides to act that way- it's not rocket science folks.. the media (like most things) has blown this WAYYYY out of proportion- let's not act like it's never happened before...

If the guy did not have a pass to sit in that section, obviously the event staff can ask him to leave or perhaps more appropriatly to just go to his ticketed seat. My issue is with the coach getting involved because a fan said some things that he thought might hurt his players feelings.

ol' roy has opened himself for a lot of ridicule on the road in the ACC this year....MD and Duke are gonna have sooo much fun with this.

kingaling42 wrote:This seat is in the UNC player pass list section and the word is that the fan did not have a ticket to sit there & moved from another area.. Roy had every right to request that fan to be removed.. we have had to many times request Winthrop fans to be removed from behind the UNCA bench area in games at Rock Hill which are reserved for UNCA pass list folks/fans- it's simple when you know a fan just saw an open seat & decides to act that way- it's not rocket science folks.. the media (like most things) has blown this WAYYYY out of proportion- let's not act like it's never happened before...

I don't believe this spin. I have been to a few games at the Dean Dome and you cannot get into a section for which you don't have a ticket. The ushers check everybody and they don't leave until the end of the game. I had awful seats and I definitely tried to upgrade myself.

And like I said, if they can't control who gets these passes, then they really can't control what is said by the people sitting there. If we want to get technical, if this kid was in the appropriate section and not being vulgar, I don't see how he doesn't have the right to say what ever the freak he wants to at a public university.

Wow, the UNC apologists are out in full force.

I think it's stupid either way. It was the job of the usher, not the head coach.

However, I would stick behind the story I posted had this been Coach K, Calipari, Dale Layer, or Randy Peele.

Reminds me of the time CR ejected me from a baseball game for questioning a called strike, to which Toman replied "I've never seen this before in all my time in baseball, unreal"

good times

Athletics department spokesman Steve Kirschner said the fan had already changed seats several times and police believed him to be intoxicated.

source: http://northcarolina.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1028011

LUconn- You don't have to believe any "spin" or post that I post quite frankly.. the reason the HOME team wants their fans behind their bench is because coaches want to be able to yell at their team (by name) and get their attention- players are accustomed to tuning in to that location throughout games... so having a PC fan 20 rows back yelling at a player by name is a distracting element given the proximity to the home bench.. Granted Thompson stated that he wasn't distracted per se but he did hear the guy as one would suspect..

Bottom line is that Roy wanted him out, the game wasn't nearly close of a contest so it's not some huge knock on Roy that he got involved- last I checked Roy & UNC could care less if that PC fan ever come back & it is their House- so they're going to do what they want.. I'm not a Carolina fan by any stretch- but I don't have a problem with what went down.. & you can relocate at various times- I've done it dozens of times at the Dean Dome- trust me it's not all that hard to get 20 rows up (or closer) on that court.. Especially in a blow out & late in the 2nd half, so security isn't exactly Ft. Knox given the situation... Let's be honest about all that...

I'm not condoning what they guy did, and at the time no way did Roy know if the guy had moved seats or not. All he has been quoted as saying is hey deon miss it! Not saying he didn't say other things, but who knows. I'm pretty sure there was a Scotsman Club party before hand... he seemed somewhat intoxicated, but the cops were being ridiculous, he couldn't move because one cop was blocking him, and the other cop was grabbing him to move, and the cop behind him was trying to force him to move . I understand if he's intoxicated you want to get the guy under control, so i respect them for doing that, but the one guy grabbing his shirt when he couldn't move because the other cop was in the way is pretty ridiculous.