By: Corey Krajewski
While the Men’s Basketball team took to the court in Brooklyn this past weekend, the Bonnies faithfully took to the stands. Despite losing in the second round, the Bonaventure men gave a commendable effort. The same cannot be said about the Bonnies in the stands.
During the Bonnies quarterfinal matchup with the Dayton Flyers, several Bonnies fans took it upon themselves to embarrass the entire crowd. At the end of the first half at least one student threw a drink from several rows up in the stands at the players of Dayton as they entered their locker room. There were also fans allegedly dumping beer directly onto the Dayton players as they entered the locker room after the game. The players of Dayton did not deserve this reception whatsoever. By all measures they played a fair game, and they declined to taunt the Bonaventure section at the end of the game when they had to walk right into it. Yet students and alumni took it upon themselves to do these rude actions towards the opposing team.
Bonaventure staff had to work with the staff of the Barclays Center in order to find and remove the offenders, and while they were successful, it is appalling that it had to come to this.
Bonaventure and the A-10 teams as a whole are guests in the Barclays Center, and it is an honor we get the opportunity to use such a stellar facility. This makes the disrespectfulness shown by the Bonaventure fans all the more disheartening.
On top of these behaviors, the Bonaventure crowd brought with it from the Reilly Center the now typical cursing, obscene gestures, and inappropriate public drunkenness we have all come to expect out of the student section. The section at the Barclays center was not just current students, but also alumni. Both groups had members showing classless behavior throughout the game.
St. Bonaventure basketball fans are known to travel well, with contingents at nearly every basketball game the Bonnies play, be it in Fort Collins, Colorado or New York City. The behavior of students and alumni on the road makes what could be a source of pride into something that embarrasses the school.
Events like the Atlantic 10 Tournament present an amazing opportunity for Bonaventure to present itself to the entire nation. As a small school in a rather unknown location, it is beneficial for us to present ourselves in the best way possible when we face any sort of national prominence. For someone unfamiliar with our school to see the way some of our students and alumni acted this past weekend, I doubt they would have any interest in gaining further information on the institution.
Corey Krajewski is a contributing writer for The Bona
Venture. His email is crajewcj11@bonaventure.edu
