John Kupiszewski wrote:
"During the first intermission the students
in front of me were warned by public safety not to beaat on the glass.
If they did, they would be removed from the game and their season tickets
would be removed.  I guess that before every game we here an announcement
that basically states that the University has a good-sportsmanship policy
and that the fans shoould refrain from hitting the glass, yelling at the
plaayers and ref's, are not to stand on their seats, etc.  I even saw a
paper posted on the only enterence to the arena that isn't used for games
that had these warnings.  My question is are we the only univeersity that
has this B.S. policy?"
 
Probably not.
 
I think that we (or the universities) need to make a distinction between the
various types of behavior that John pointed out above.  Yelling at the players
is acceptable, as long as it's not profane (which may lead to players going
into the stands, a la the Bruins at MSG a while back) or derogatory.  Standing
on seats is more of a safety issue and a courtesy issue, especially if the
seat you happen to be standing on isn't your own and it so happens to be, as
is the case many a night in mid-Michigan, either raining or snowing outside.
 
Hitting the glass is also a safety issue.  Some may remember some of my
rantings on this subject from last year, but to be bluntly honest, I think that
banging on the glass is the most asinine things fans can do (no offense to
anyone intended).  I mean, there are OTHER ways to show your support of the
home team or your dislike of the visiting team than to attract attention from
the rest of the fans in the arena by banging on the glass.  Throwing stuff on
the ice coes along with that (but, in most places in college hockey, it's now
well known that after the first home goal something's coming out of the stands
and as long as it doesn't too damage to the ice or the players, it's relatively
harmless [e.g. the sieve at MSU]).
 
"Or are our liberal University heads so stuck on themselves that
they won't let the student body have fun away froom classes?"
 
As many who know me may tell you, I am one of the most staunchly conservative
people out there.  And I think that the rules are a good idea, as long as we
don't get carried away with it.
 
A lot of people simply want to go to a game and enjoy the action on the playing
surface (diamond, gridiron, court, ice, what have you) and don't want to have
to put up with stuff that shouldn't be going on in the stands.  Since univer-
sities own the facilities that hockey is played in, they are held responsible
for accidents on their property and are subject to lawsuits.  Believe me, I
know this one by heart.  I work in a department that could be subject to a
myriad of lawsuits because we require students to work with hazardous materials
at times.  We have to have the guidelines laid down STRICTLY to avoid getting
the s**t sued out of us every time an accident occurs.  Universities are aware
of this in their sports facilities and are starting to crack down.  As long as
they don't detract from the excitement on the ice, I have no problem with it.
 
G. M. Finniss
Michigan State University 5-0-1, 6-0-1
Department of Chemistry
WVU '87, UTenn '92, MSU who the hell knows when?