When a fan’s curse becomes a coach’s crisis
A coach’s reaction to a transfer’s name says more about him than the fans.
The story
A Kansas basketball coach criticizes fans for profane chants directed at a former player who transferred to another team, while the player remains unfazed.
Source: brobible.com
Our reading
Bill Self’s outrage over fans calling a former player a name that rhymes with ‘flory’ is like a parent getting mad at a kid for using a word they heard on TV. It’s not the profanity itself that’s the issue—it’s the fact that the kid used it in front of the parent. Self says he’s fine with boos, but not the F-word. Which is like saying you’re fine with people yelling ‘boring’ but not ‘boring and stupid.’ The real problem isn’t the fans, it’s the fact that the coach is now the official translator of what’s ‘acceptable’ in a basketball arena. And if that’s the case, why not just install a filter that auto-censors any chant with more than two syllables? The only thing more predictable than a fan’s reaction to a transfer is a coach’s reaction to a fan’s reaction.
