I don't sanction throwing things onto the ice, whether it be oranges,
megaphones, etc.  It is up to the university to police their students.  In
today litigous times, it would seem that Union would have taken the proper
steps already.  Let's hope that the proper steps aren't taken after someone
is injured.  Given the history of the orange throwing, I would think anyone
suing Union for being injured by a heavy, thrown object would have a good
chance of winning.  Union college, are you listening?
 
ECAC/NCAA - College kids will be rowdy no matter what the rules.  Why not
give college kids something to do to use up their energy?  Why take away
their enthusiasm by adopting a stupid noisemaker rule that has done nothing
to the game except create quieter crowds trying to think up something else
to do to show their appreciation for their team, like throw oranges?  We
can thank the former Brown coach (name unknown), Bill Cleary (sp?) of
Harvard and the rest of the NCAA rules committee for going along with this.
Why did they do it?  Because a few coaches didn't like the distracting
noise and felt that it gave the home team an unfair advantage (and not for
the official reason that they couldn't hear the whistle blow.  During any
Big Red Freakout, I never once saw a player from any team not react to a
referee's whistle.  It's not like they were giving away whistles as
noisemakers).
 
The last RPI Big Red Freakout was when the gave away plastic trumpets.
These were extremely loud and contributed to a very boisterous crowd.  The
field house sounded like a beehive with a constant buzzing sound all night
long, increasing in intensity only when the action warmed up.  Then our
favorite coaches (Brown's coach at the time and Bill Cleary of Harvard)
decided that this was a bad thing and appealed to the NCAA rules committee
(which, coincidentally, both of them represented the ECAC on).  So what
happened?  No more noisemakers.  Real intelligent.  Now fans throw oranges
and RPI fans throw plastic megaphones, pom-poms, etc. (technically not
noisemakers).  Which is worse?  It seems that the problems with thrown
objects have become much worse since the noisemaker rule was adopted.  I,
for one, have rarely seen penalties handed out for throwing objects on the
ice.
 
The NCAA is just being hypocritical by banning noisemakers and allowing
thrown objects to proliferate like they have.  This is a rule that should
be changed.  Give kids something to do with their energy and penalize those
who truly create a dangerous situation by their actions.
 
-Ken Johnson
RPI/Rensselaer '87
 
 
 
On 2/2/96 (?) Tony Buffa wrote on the RPI LISTSERV:
 
>I would argue that the two are not analogous.  Blowing loud horns is one
>thing, not really damaging, except to the people in the stands who might
>get over the 90 dB reading, but oranges can be a lethal or dangerous
>weapon, from the stands, hitting you in a sensitive area at speeds up to
>80 mph....  so I don't think of it as whining, perhaps just preventing
>lawsuits?
>
>PS:  In rereading, I see that the megaphones were tossed also, if they are
>relatively light, I guess there would be little danger, but I would argue
>that NOTHING should be tossed on to the ice, even things like pennies
>freeze into it and can cause career-ending falls when blade hits penny.
>
>============================
>On Tue, 30 Jan 1996, mike (m.) baptiste wrote on the RPI LISTSERV:
>
>> While I agree this orange thing is childish, RPI protesting is definitely
>> whining.  Consider how much we detest Brown after the noise rule which
>> of course brings back the fond memory of the Big Red Freakout in 91???
>> when they gave out those plastic megaphones.
>>
>> Brown's coach and players started being stupid and the fans covered the ice
>> with shattered plastic from the megaphones!  It was quite a sight!
>> I rather enjoyed it :)  After all, Brown deserved it! :) :)
 
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