Apparently, it was contagious. The center-court rain dance pissed off at least one Southern player, who expressed his displeasure by violently shoving a Warren County jersey. It was a scene of sore losers and spoiled winners, both refusing to back down. And wouldn't you know it, a fight broke out at a basketball game.
Basketball players who should've been shaking hands began swinging blindly like boxers. Coaches, teachers and police officers, forced to separate the teams, became referees. Southern fans offended by the Eagles' display -- How dare they stomp on our paint! -- emptied the bleachers to rush the court, where they certainly didn't belong. By then the only sure thing was confusion.
And then it got ugly.
To their credit, school officials cleared the floor and eventually evacuated the gym, despite being outnumbered worse than the Confederates.
Case closed, problem solved, everybody goes home. Kids acted like kids. No one condones either team's actions. They erred enough to learn a lesson the hard way, but fortunately no one was hurt. And that's where this story should end.
Instead, a fistfight broke out in the school's parking lot, according to The (Henderson) Daily Dispatch. Additional police officers were called in, Sheriff R. Thomas Breedlove told The Dispatch, to help maintain order and "get the buses out quickly." The assailants greeted the officers' arrival with gunshots.
Although unconfirmed, I'd say it's safe to assume that the incidents on the court and in the parking lot were related.
The gym-fight irked a fan -- which we must remember is short for fanatic -- because someone from the opposing school showed disrespect for his.
So this fan pulls out a gun and fires a shot into the sky, probably aimed at no one in particular. But that's the point. Why fire the gun?
What exactly was this fan doing bringing a loaded weapon to a high school sporting event, anyway? Unless he's the track meet starter (The person who says, "Runners, take your marks ..."), who uses a gun loaded with blanks, he should've left his piece at home.
Participating in athletics, especially in high school, is an amazing opportunity for kids to learn how to work hard and to play hard.
Student athletes, kept busy by classes and practices and games and pep rallies and wearing letter jackets as they walk down the hallways while underclassmen nervously whisper by the lockers, learn about discipline and teamwork. To stay eligible, athletes have to keep up their grades, which keeps them out of trouble.
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So it's beyond me why someone must bring trouble in the form of a hand-held to a packed high school gym on a Friday night. Or, as was suspected, to a Chapel Hill High School football game in early October, when a 12-year-old girl received an abrasive-type wound.
Who are these wackos? Why ruin the pure innocence of teenage athletics? Makes me think the Cameron Crazies are civil.
I attended the Warren County-Southern Vance game as a radio broadcaster. I spoke with a few of the Eagles' players minutes before they took the court on which they'd later stomp up a storm. One player, so jacked to face his school's rival, blurted out to no teammate in particular, "Man, let's kill 'em tonight!"
Man, let's hope not.
Unless America's youth suddenly prescribes to a double dose of common sense, the sad truth is that precautions must be taken. Many schools hire off-duty police officers. Some have installed metal detectors. But twisted souls still seem to roam the bleachers, so is that enough?
When will it end? What'll make it stop? Does someone have to propose that at every high school basketball game, after the pep band finishes the "Star Spangled Banner" and the teams are set to take the court, a high school official must grab the P.A. microphone, walk to center court, stand directly on the logo, and impart a quick yet crucial reminder to those fanatics in attendance that, when coaches yell, "Shoot!," they're referring to only the basketball?
Dan Satter is a junior history and journalism and mass communication major from Framingham, Mass. Reach him with comments and questions at satter@email.unc.edu.
