I disagreed with Stephen A. Smith today.

Last night UVA beat Duke.  Wahoo fans then stormed the court waving their ascots and bowties in the air in a scene straight out of a Land’s End catalogue.  Apparently someone said something mean to Mike Krzrzrrzskie (though it was likely something so classy that Jefferson himself would be proud) and the weasel-faced coaching guru used his postgame interview to lament the danger facing the away team when the home fans rush onto the court after a game, all hopped up on mountain dew, to celebrate their team’s win.   He demanded that the unpaid breadwinners of his university’s athletic program…I mean the Duke student-athletes…should have been protected and escorted off of the court before the unruly Wahoos thrust their pointer fingers in the air to let the world/cameras know that on this night, this team was number one...out of two.

This story was picked up on ESPN’s “First Take” this morning (the show that made famous the phrase “cornball brother” or “faux-frere” as it was translated in French media).  Host Skip Bayless suggested that the tradition of storming the court should be banned.  Host Stephen A. Smith took exception to this suggestion.  He stated “this is what makes it [college basketball] special.  leave it alone.”  He then went on to discuss this phenomenon as an overflow from the purity of the sport – stating that this was sports “at its purest” since these athletes aren’t “professionals making exorbitant amounts of money,” but are rather college kids playing for love of the game.  What is needed, on Stephen A. Smith’s account, is more security or, perhaps, better armed guards.

Damn it, Stephen.

Those who read this blog during the NBA Finals last year know that I thoroughly enjoy sports but, from time to time, sort of hate myself for it.  That’s because I want to throw a puppy every time someone mentions the purity of the game, the fact that it’s special, or the fact that its rituals and customs should be not only “left alone” but enforced AND that this enforcing should just be seen as part of the maintenance of a pure, pristine, dare I say holy competition. 

Damn it, Stephen.

This type of naturalization – of declaring something SO pure that it should just be left alone – is, in my humblest opinion, a load of crap.  This purity/sanctity of the sport and its watching is something produced and maintained by people with interests and is produced AS pure in order to secure and maintain those interests.  Don’t feel bad about the exploitative practices of the NCAA, don’t worry about the safety of players and fans (when more security personnel can take care of that!), and don’t worry about the hierarchies being built and reinforced on campus (along with all the benefits that come along with being at the top of the totem pole!).  Why bother even noticing your complicity in such systems when you can sit back and enjoy the purity of sport?!

Thanks for reading.