Rick Pitino was leaving the court at halftime of Louisville’s 74-63 loss at North Carolina Wednesday night when a fan said something, well, not very nice.
Pitino was not having it, understandably. Here’s video of the incident:
Pitino was livid! He kept returning fire all the way up the tunnel!
And you probably didn’t think the culprit was going to look like that guy, did you? A student maybe, or a hardcore face-painter, sure. Instead, it was a guy who looks like he came in off the local par-3 course for the night.
The look on the guy’s face is priceless, too. It’s the expression of every person ever who says something really dumb without expecting to be called on it, only to be called on it immediately.
Pitino spoke about the incident after the game:
“He just got in my face and said something I didn’t like. But, you know, I take it from the students all the time. I expect it from students. But from an adult? And then turns his back on me like he’s a coward. And he is a coward!”
And this was all the insight Pitino would offer into what was said to spark the confrontation:
“Something kind about me.”
Pitino’s point about adults versus students is a solid one, and it’s reasonable to expect different standards of behavior from adults. Whether or not it’s reasonable to expect different standards of behavior from a Chapel Hill crowd than a crowd at a different venue is a bit more difficult to assess, but North Carolina coach Roy Williams seems to think they should aim for a higher standard.
Whether or not that’s a bit pretentious about the level of class displayed by the home fans, it’s still a pretty solid acknowledgment and apology from Williams. That’s all he can really do, but he didn’t shy away from it at all.
What should happen to the fan who was ejected? Personally, I think they should make him throw away what I imagine to be his closet full of baby blue polos, but maybe that’d be cruel and unusual. In the end, North Carolina won 74-63, but the fan wasn’t there to see it. That’s already some punishment…
[Matt Clapp on Clippit]
