DENVER — When Wake Forest upset Duke men's basketball last weekend, a fan storming the Demon Deacons' home court ran into Duke star and potential first team All-American Kyle Filipowski, who suffered a minor knee injury but did not miss a game after the incident.
Court or field storming is a tradition that goes back as far as the 1940's. When an unranked team beats a ranked opponent at home, fans flock to the floor or field to celebrate with their home team players.
People in and around the game have been calling for court storming to be taken out of the sport, in fear of the athletes suffering major injuries. But I couldn't disagree more.
It's usually pretty obvious when fans are going to run onto the court to celebrate a big win, so I feel like players need to be more aware of their surroundings.
Don't lollygag with your head down while slowly walking off the court. Keep your head up. Stand by the sideline where you need to exit. Buddy up and walk together. It's not like it's a surprise. You aren't stopping a massive group of people with more security so to me, it's on the players.
There are some pretty iconic court or field storming photos that mean so much to so many people.
Those images tell important stories. It's a unique shared human experience, so don't take court storming away. It's fun and sports should be fun, even if the fun police are trying to ruin them.
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