Maryland fans storm the court from Wash Post Sports on Vimeo.
This video comes to us from the great Dan Steinberg, from the floor of the Comcast Center in College Park as Duke (4) is vanquished by the Terps. Maryland (22) is now tied for first in the ACC with 12 wins, and could win the ACC were Duke to lose on Saturday. There are some great shots at the DC Sports Bog, which include some of the fires set by students at University of Maryland last night, and the large police presence on campus after the game.
Congrats to Maryland for beating the Dookies, but did ya’ll really need to light things on fire?
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
You’re right, the fires were excessive, the fireworks were excessive. The whole act like you’ve done it before thing should apply. But the whole SWAT team on campus thing was excessive too. My friend got his skull cracked open after being trampled by a goddamn horse, maced, and shot at (along with plenty of bystanders for no reason). The police were slamming riot shields in the middle of the street like the freaking 3rd Reich.
I don’t think the riot act is excessive if kids are, in fact, rioting. Quit burning things, UM.
Ah, this takes me back… I never agreeed with the overly destructive parts, for instance I saw some kids put a park bench through a police cruiser in front of subway on rt one after the Terps won the championship. Of course the cops need to be there to keep things in control. But the vast majority of the students, at least when I was there, were just peacefully cheering for their team, and not being at all destructive. So I think the cops take it a bit too far when they chase crowds just standing on the sidewalk with horses or shoot pepper spray at people who have already dispersed and are heading home, both of which happened to me back in like 2002.
If UMD wants students to be peaceful, then they need to plan celebratory events like a big bonfire or something. you cant really expect a bunch of drunk dumbass college students to just go back to studying after a big game. That doesnt excuse the destructive behavior, but there aught to be another outlet for that energy.
As someone who was around for the 2002 riot that started the “tradition”, the students now take it as a right that they should be allowed to set things on fire. Yes, I’m pleased as hell that we beat Duke but try not to set the place on fire.
The riot patrol is out to keep people from destroying property. A lot of the townies and random other folks use the post-game riots as a chance to trash Route 1 and break into stores, so that’s why they’re out. If your friend was tear gassed (I’ve been there), it’s a crowd dispersal method. Go back to your dorms.
As to the trampled bit, how hard is it to avoid a horse? It’s not like they purposefully run down students and try to stomp on them.
I dont think 2002 started the tradition. It may be the most memorable, but I was there in 2000 when the cops mostly watched and let people be unless they were destroying property.
I agree that the cops are necesary. I just think they need to chose their actions a bit more carefully. As to trampling, in 2002, I was standing in a huge crowd of people on the sidewalk between Ratsies and Rt 1, where there is a brick wall between the sidewalk and road. we were just watching the idiots throwing stuff at cops and getting the deserved beatdown from the cops. Once they had that taken care of and it was mostly a crowd of people just standing there watching, they told us to leave and proceeded to press down the sidewalk with horses and pepperspray paintball guns. Of course, stuck in the middle of the crowd, most people, except those at the edge could really leave, and the storefronts and brick wall confined everyones movement,leaving only one direction out. chasing people in that situation with pepper and horses is asking for someone to get trampled. Also, Once we were back onto campus, walking back to our dorms, the cops continued firing pepper spray on us when we were literally doing nothing but following their orders
I dont bring up this long story to complain or play victim, in fact, in retrospect that was a pretty awesome experience. However, I think it points out that the police need to focus on the people actually being violent and then try to get everyone else to disperse in an orderly manner, not make a mostly under control situation much more risky by scaring the crap out of people in a confined space and then shoot at them seemingly for shits and giggles.
This may just be coincidence, but it seems like after the final four loss in 2001 I think, when students lit a fire that damaged some comcast lines (and of course UMD is comcasts bitch), the police and campus took the rioting a lot more seriously.
Don’t forget about the classy “F U Scheyer” and “F Duke” chants throughout the entire game (easily heard over the TV).
Good thing Mote and Yow went to all that trouble to institute sportsmanship policies back in ’04 after the “F U JJ” chants.