By LARRY VAUGHT
Indiana athletics director Fred Glass has apologized for the behavior by some Indiana fans when the Hoosiers beat Kentucky 73-72 Dec. 10 on a last-second shot that led to fans storming the court.
Vaughtsviews.com reader Juan Perez sent an e-mail to Indiana University president Michael A. McRobbie noting that “in all my 40 years, I have never heard of a fanbase or a community treat another the way IU and Bloomington treated Kentucky fans.â€
Perez said he had been to numerous venues for game and never been subjected to treatment like what he read about, including the story here on Megan Dills being knocked down after the game and tearing ankle tendons — a story that eventually made national headlines because she’s a Playboy model and had to cancel a photo shoot because of her injury.
Here’s part of what he sent to McRobbie:
“I have walked all over campus during game week at the University of Louisville decked out in Kentucky blue. I have never not even once had a situation that would make me not want to visit or attend a game at any of those places again. All of those places (where he has been to games) exuded a welcoming, good nature and warm spirit. Quite often I have come away with a few new friends that I will always remember as a great part of my trip,†Perez wrote. “But I have heard no stories that reflect well on Indiana. I will tell you this, no amount of down years and now on the rise excuses can make up for the deplorable, nasty, horrid way that your students and fans treated a visiting fan base. There are certain things that are acceptable and anyone with common sense knows what is not.
“I really hope that someone who reads this cares enough to address your fan base. I have never been so disgusted with an entire university and fanbase for allowing and encouraging this type of treatment of others. What has taken place, and on the scale that it has taken place, is deplorable. Things happen when fans get together, but not on this scale.â€
Glass, Indiana’s vice-president and director of intercollegiate athletics, responded to Perez Friday in this e-mail:
“I am writing to apologize for the unacceptable behavior by IU ‘fans’ that you describe. Thank you for bringing these troubling events to our attention. I want to assure you that we take this matter very seriously. I have directed our staff to issue additional security alerts and to promptly deal with fans that harass or intimidate fans of the visiting school. We have also directed our staff to be on active look out for fans acting in a belligerent or intimidating manner toward people wearing our opponents’ school colors.
“Again, thank you for bringing these serious issues to our attention. Hoosiers pride themselves on their hospitality, and I often receive letters from opposing fans commending our fans and staff for their sportsmanship and friendliness. That is why the behavior you describe is all the more unacceptable. Please know that as result of your note, very strong steps are being taken to try to prevent it happening again.â€
Again, I did see IU staff at the game trying to stop the vulgar chants and try to control the crowd after the game with no success. I’ve also been to plenty of Kentucky-Indiana games where there were no issues and as I wrote after the game until students started jumping over the press seat where I was to leap to the floor level I had a great time conversing with the students around me.
But many UK fans who attended the game have related horror stories and Glass is not denying there was a problem, and I give him credit for that.
“I had kind of hoped that maybe they would institute an initiative that fosters a warm spirit and welcoming attitude. Pride and class in their own fan base. One step at a time I guess,†Perez said.
One step indeed, but a big step by the Indiana athletics director to acknowledge there was a problem. Now we’ll see if Indiana fans that hammered UK fans for citing the unruly behavior will take Glass to task, too.
31 Responses to Indiana athletics director apologizes for “unacceptable behavior by IU fans”
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When IU plays in Rupp, we will beat them and our fans will show them how to behave.
Complaints coming from the worst fan base in the nation…LOL
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Received update from another fan who also received the same apology from the Indiana AD. Kudos to the AD for addressing the issue
I need to get me a job as a form apology writer. The opportunities are endless, and two stock paragraphs should get me to retirement.
well , well ,well…. You know what , i am glad of that of the response of Mr. Glass, and once again , rivalry or other, you should not fear for your safety and a cotton pickin sporting event. I hope this puts an end to it, and i hope that fans can visit either school without conflict. Geesh. Good luck indiana on the rest of your season and it would be a nice rematch in the big dance.
after all the rancor around here all week from those admitting to be IU fans, and denying/defending the conduct that the IU AD now condemns, where are these people posting their apologies to the many fine VV readers and followers who had to endure their endless ugliness from these people.
I was at the game and downtown after the game on the streets and in resturants before and after the game. There were Kentucky fans present and saw no behavior that was fearful for a kentucky fan or abusive. There was a Kentucky fan in the middle of the I.U. student section the whole game who had fun with the other students. I think this was a tuff loss for overly serious fans to handle.
Here’s your apology Professor. We didn’t do it and you guys are a bunch of idiots anyway. Not one got abused but you’re “overly serious”! Gee it sounds like more abuse than an apology. It’s sorta like that lame apology. I’m sorry you felt insulted but nobody else does????? What a joke. I know the word hoosier means “an awkward, unsophisticated person” but I never thought I’d see IU fans do their best to live down to that standard and take pride in it. But here we has what is ostensibly an educated person slinging insults like an atrocious drunkard.
Yep, this is the Indiana I remember so well. Take my word for it. At least half the people in that state act just like the doc here. “We didn’t insult you ignorant jerks” is not an apology. It’s an affront and a slur. I know I’ve repeated myself many times now but it really is amazing just how pervasive this behavior is in the state of Indiana. I have listed many horrendous examples of how they don’t care for anyone than themselves from keeping wild dogs that attack and kill, to leaving overdosed “friends” to die in an icy ditch, to shunning a neighbor with obvious problems which resulted in a suicide I have seen incredibly callous behavior by “hoosiers”. That word is pure profanity in my book. Stick that in your Funk And Wagnalls doc.
It was a blind sqirrel victory for a fan base that only won 6 games last year, that is coming off three straight losing seasons. It was the only the fourth win in 21 years. 17-4 in the last 21 years means even a BLIND SQUIRREL IN AN ALL OUT BLIZZARD WILL OCCASIONALY FIND A NUT.
There are no tough losses this early in the season only learning moments. IU’s fans and COACH acted like they just won the NCAA Championship. Crean going into the crowd to kiss his wife all after a regular season win. WHAT A JOKE!!!!! THE LOOSIERS NEEDED IT FAR MORE THAN UK DID. I WAS SURPRISED CREAN DIDN’T CRY!!!!!
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE OR STAY HOME
Now that has been said and done,lets move on and cheer on the cats tonite! Oh another thing lets keep the Hoosiers on the schedule its good for the game and don
Since that has been said and done,lets move on and cheer the cats on tonite!! Oh by way lets keep the Hoosiers on the schedule.
‘
There is no way on this green earth that the AD did not know what was going on. I am sure someone told him, just like 2 years ago Cal found out about ladies cars being towed at the women’s clinic.
What do emails have to prompt an apology and yes, I do believe he is sending out a form letter, nothing personal to it.
I always thought IU was classy, but they are not.
Go Cats!
lol. dr. u people are hoosiers. lol.
I wish the other fans would get off this site. I know the hits are good for Larry, but it gets ridiculous!
As an IU student at the game who did not particpate in the vulgar chanting, Im sorry if the stories that I have heard from UK are true. However, being in the middle of the student section at that game, I can tell that I have seen/heard things from UK fans that are way worse than anything that we said or did during the game. But please do not group all of the fans with a few drunk idiots.
It’s amazing the amount of IU fans that claim that nothing vulgar was directed at the UK fans in attendance in Bloomington. The “classy indiana fans” YouTube videos of their crowd alone discount these drive by commenters. The personal stories from UK fans who made the trip bury them.
Kyle that is utter BS. Do you want to hear recordings of the “F” chants during the game. I have NEVER heard that from any UK fans. You live in a dream world. Did you hear Vitale fear for his safety and for the safety of his grandchildren? Did you see Larry’s report on the way the fans were incredibly reckless and dangerous after the win?
Better yet show me ONE UK fan who has matched the vulgar garbage posted on this web site by IU fans. I’ve been coming here for years. I’ve never seen the language used by IU fans in all that time. UK fans don’t do it.
Again I can P-R-O-V-E these things are true. I have tapes and digital recordings dating back for years.
I’ve been to UK games, Ohio St. games, Bengals games, Reds games, pro basketball games and even World Cup Soccer games among lots of other things and I have NEVER seen the kind of behavior I can prove occurred during the IU game. I sat in front of 20,000 screaming Buckeye fans at important football games against big rivals (USC, Penn. St, Illinois, and didn’t once hear the kind of things I heard on tv from IU fans. I have sat in the student section at UK against pretty much every SEC rival including Tenn. and nothing ever happened like you described. Ever.
How you figure everyone else is like you is amazing. They aren’t.
Hello King,
Yes, I would like to hear the “recording”. Would this be video, or just an audio file? The reason I ask is because I was at the game, and I don’t recall any chant like that.
On a somewhat related side note, I didn’t see anything from the student section that I haven’t seen as other college basketball game. If fact, I saw that lone kid wearing blue in the IU student section clearly saying stuff to those around him, but no one was engaging him. Of course, that stopped once the game started.
Personally, I did not witness anything worse than what I seen at past cbb games I’ve attended (and I’ve attended a lot, include hundreds of non IU games) and this includes behavior from UK fans two years ago in Bton. Well, actually I did see a lot of UK fans reacting like they were threatened but I never saw them threatened in any way. I walked out of the game within their general proximity of one Cat fan, and he was acting like an A bomb went off but I did not see anyone threaten him in anyway. I would have to say he was reacting to something in his mind more than reacting to something in the real world.
Lastly, some of the “stories” from UK fans appear more to do with the fact that IU beat them and Cat fans needing something to sooth there egos over that loss versus them being true.
This past week I’ve heard stories from Cat fans about their cars being overturn, fan’s spat on, hurt ankles forcing canceled nude photo shoots, and a UK family verbally accosted at one Bton bar, and then stunned when it happened at another bar less than 150 feet away. And in all of these instances, there is one important question never addressed. Why didn’t any of these people call on an authority? No calls to an usher, a bouncer, a police officer, or a medical worker for assistance or help? Doing that would have rectified the situation, wouldn’t it? So then, why didn’t any of these people call the proper authorities?
Before the game was played coach Crean was telling the IU fanbase he did’t want folks, dressed in blue, in the arena……I believe this set the stage for the boorish behavior we all saw on TV.
Im sorry please let me claify a couple of things from my last comment. Yes the IU students were chanting the f word and I always regret it when we do. I was also not implying that Uk fans chant the word at games as well, it was more of comments that Ive heard that say away from games.
State of Denial!!!!
As an IU student, I’m sorry. I can’t think of any reason, let alone a game, to injure a member of an opposing fan base. Once again, I’m sorry, and if this is what you see of our fan base, I now understand your criticisms of Indiana. They are now deserved.
Once again, I apologize for my school’s behavior, and I hope we see a change in the very near future.
Jeff, we can all learn from you
The main issue is this has not been addressed publicly by those in charge, either in the paper or on tv. Until it is done, it leaves a bad taste for UK fans relationship with IU period. Will it or not not? That is the 64k questions, I doubt it will because if it was to be it would have been done already. As for me a UK fan who always enjoyed the game between IU and UK, I think it is time to move and drop the game from our schedule. Coach Cal doesnt like to play people he likes so this is a great reason to drop the game.
I hope we can drop this subject, as I said in an earlier post it is he said/she said. It is over and done with, move on. Nothing we say is going to sway the other party, no one is going to step in and take action against what happened. The slap in the face from the IU AD is enough to make me want to throw up. The only thing left to do is to show this team next year how much class and how nice the UK fans are we then come to visit.
I agree with Linda S. However I will say this. Drop Indiana from the schedule after next years game. I would rather watch our team play Duke, Michigan State, UConn, Texas or any other top 10 program at neutral site or home and home for two years and rotate. That way we always have to quality competition and a variety.
Agreed play next year and the PASS on another. Their boorish fan base does not deserve another game with UK.
I think we should drop the game at Rupp too. The last thing we need is for some UK fan to try to get even and give the whole program a black eye. IMO the series should have died years ago when Davis said he hated UK. The school doesn’t need people like that on the schedule and we all know Bob Knight continues to fan the flames against UK after all these years.
That guy is mental and he is obsessed with UK. And the fans seem to love him now. It’s like Ohio St. fans suddenly resurrecting the legacy of Woody Hayes. Did they forget he punched a player from another team?
These same Indiana fans baited Knight into situations that got him fired btw. I’m telling you guys, Indiana culture is as rotten as it gets. They even destroy their own and they take pride in it. I’ve seen this many, many times from that bunch. I’m not kidding a bit. You just have to live there to get it I guess. It’s BY FAR the worst place I ever lived and I’ve lived in other mid-western cities including some big ones like St. Louis. The people were generally great there.
Quit the crying UK fans. Lets face it u LOST LOST LOST. If u won we would not be hearing any of this.
By the way have u ever heard of an accident. Sorry she got hurt, but i could of got hurt jumping up and down in my living room when Watford hit that game WINNER.
(if this is in bold, sorry. not sure why it is)
i followed up on this story, and the very mention of Megan Dills removes any legitimacy from the complaints. That she got hurt is regrettable, but certainly not an example of horrible IU fans. She got run over by a crowd storming the court. It happens. There are no reports of actual abuse by Hoosiers that don’t boil down to UK fans’ insecurities.