Fans should not take attention from team

Once again, the women's basketball team has provided us with a fantastic season, but it's not quite over yet.

Now that the women's team is in the Final Four, it has to beat Southwest Missouri State tonight to advance to the national championship game for the second time in three years.

Simply being in the Final Four two out of three years is special, but if the Boilers make into the national championship game, they will have accomplished more than any of us could have dreamed they would. Not to mention if they become national champions once again…

Despite the media not believing in them all season, they have simply gone about their business every day. They have represented themselves and this University with class and dignity.

If they win this weekend, we should only hope to represent ourselves as fans with the same class.

Let us not be the same fans of two years ago that thought it would be fun to break and burn things in some kind of weird celebration ritual. I can't think of anything more fun than bathing in tear gas after the game. Besides, these riotous celebrations have become so cliché.

Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys always said (though he didn't coin the phrase), "When you get into the endzone, act like you've been there before."

When Purdue wins the national championship on Sunday night, let's act like we've been there before too, especially because we have. Think not of burning couches and breaking chairs if the Boilers are victorious tonight either.

Just remember that if we celebrate through the same acts of violence and destruction that seems to accompany many national championship celebrations recently (especially our own two years ago), we take the attention off of the accomplishments of the team and put it on ourselves.

This is selfish.

It wouldn't be fair for us to take the attention off the accomplishments of this group of women because of our actions. It's shameful if a group of bonfires gets more coverage than the victories of the women's team.

After the national championship in 1999, people I know from all over the country would call me or e-mail and say, "I saw the riots on the news; who won?" I was so ashamed when that happened last time.

So you say, "Well, didn't they figure that the win was the reason for the riots?" No, since we also rioted last year after the men's team LOST to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight game.

At any rate, many people in this area remembered more of the negative things about that special night than they did about how courageously the women played.

This is not an attempt to discourage celebrating Purdue's magical season — quite the opposite, actually. Let's simply celebrate wisely.

Student athletes are expected to obey a certain code of behavior. They are in the spotlight for most of their college careers. When they do something wrong they pay, sometimes a little too severely. In fact, student athletes can get into trouble with the team if they even say the wrong thing at a press conference.

When they do have a lapse in judgement and make a mistake while under the watchful eye of Big Brother, we, fans and media alike, become their biggest critics. We criticize them for making a public mistake because we hold them to higher standards. Yet, when we focus our energy in the wrong areas and celebrate in an illegal manner, we become the biggest hypocrites.

The women's team has advanced much further into the tournament than 99 percent of the media thought they would. We should be proud and offer them our continued support this weekend.

So, celebrate the women's accomplishments this weekend. Just do so with the same kind of class and dignity the Boilermakers have demonstrated all season long.

Good luck Boilers; bring home another banner.

Keith Thomas is a senior in the School of Liberal Arts. He can be e-mailed at editor@purdueexponent.org.

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