The Baylor Bears beat the Rice Owls 21-13 on the road Saturday, but much of the discussion wasn’t about what the teams did on the field, but what the fans shone onto the field. That would be laser pointers; there were multiple stoppages of play over laser pointers being shone on the field, and investigations into who was shining them.
Meanwhile we have a laser pointer scandal. pic.twitter.com/O6sP9RhS4U
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 22, 2019
The announcers (Dave Ryan and Corey Chavous on CBSSN) also apparently blamed Baylor for the lasers over their color, which seems like odd logic, as Bears’ players were being targeted:
The color commentator is literally trying to argue that the laser pointer being pointed on the field must be a Baylor fan because the laser pointer is green.
Like they sell laser pointers by collegiate affiliation.
This game is completely off the rails.
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) September 22, 2019
The announcer really just suggested that it might be someone from Baylor shining a laser pointer at our own QB while we're on offense? Because it's green?
— ODB (@OurDailyBears) September 22, 2019
This announcer’s running bit about Baylor being behind the laser pointers because the lasers are green is unfunny, unprofessional, and doesn’t make enough sense to make a joke about in the first place
— Conner! (@ConnerSaurusRex) September 22, 2019
This isn’t the first time that laser pointer usage has interrupted a sporting event; we’ve seen it a number of times before, including with a Houston Rockets-Utah Jazz game in 2016, a NFL game in Mexico City later that year, and this same Baylor-Rice game that year. But it’s interesting to see this happen multiple times during a college football game, and to see the officials have to address it.
[The Dallas Morning News, photo via Timothy Burke on Twitter]
