It was the eff around of times, it was the find out of times. Fans of the University of Texas decided that their big feelings about an unwanted call in the football game between the Longhorns and the Bulldogs entitled them to throw unwanted projectiles at the field. Historically speaking, chucking a beer at someone has never really worked out well, and the SEC’s swift response has certainly proven that to be true.
The game occurred at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, and everything was going perfectly well— for a football game, anyway— when a third-quarter call angered UT fans just a titch. And by “just a titch” we mean “they were big mad”. Perhaps they were emboldened by being on their home turf, maybe they were drunk, or maybe they just got caught up in the gladiator arena-esque feel of the sporting event. Whatever the reason, many fans decided that the proper response to the call that they didn’t agree with was to hurl their garbage— beer included— at the field. The field upon which the game was still being played. The field upon which the game was still being played BY THE PLAYERS THEY WERE THERE TO SUPPORT. It makes sense to lob things at people you’re trying to support while they’re trying to stay focused on what they’re doing.
…except it doesn’t. The SEC agreed with that assessment and announced that there shall be negative consequences for those who showed manners so poor that even other football fans— a notoriously rowdy bunch— were embarrassed by their actions.
More than embarrassing, this particular social faux pas is going to be pricey. The University of Texas now has to pay a $250,000 fine, in addition to spending time and resources combing security footage in order to identify the bad actors. Once the university is done sifting through the beer-stained footage and can conclusively ID the nacho-tossing offenders, they’ll be banned from attending all further 2024 - 2025 UT athletic events. We’d say we hope they didn’t shell out for season passes, but next to the sting that the university is feeling over that $250K fine… it’s hard to feel too sorry for them.
Going to your university’s ball games is a hallmark of a standard college experience. One that these fans will be missing out on for the rest of the season as they’re stuck watching this year’s games at Buffalo Wild Wings with all the rest of us. They may have been a part of a viral moment, but at what cost? Perhaps this will allow them to reflect on their actions, and stop contributing to a culture of over-the-top negative behavior at sporting events. They may be a college kid tossing nachos now, but if you don’t learn to check those impulses, you grow into the baseball parent who gets banned from your kid’s games because you threatened the umpire at a showdown between 6-year-olds.
IT’S A GAME. We’re not curing cancer here, calm down.
The University of Texas issued an apology to the University of Georgia for the unsportsmanlike behavior their fans displayed at this weekend’s game. Hopefully between that, and the efforts to ban bad actors from future sporting events this year, the rest of the season will be a little smoother than Saturday’s fiasco. After all, no one wants to foot another $250K bill.
