FSU Upsets Duke

Florida State students twice rushed the floor during and following the Seminoles upset of No.1 Duke, which lead to only one thought:

What about Cowgirl?

You have all heard the story of Cowgirl by now, Florida State student turned Sports Illustrated columnist. (And some of you might think where is the justice in that? If The Bish can hold down a job at a mid-sized newspaper, then Cowgirl deserves her own little corner of cyber space. And it's not like SI Campus ever had standards seeing that Zach once had a gig there.)

But Cowgirl's safety had become my chief concern as she was spotted sitting courtside as if she is a college version of Dyan Cannon. It�s not hard imagining some beer-infused freshman getting handsy in a pileup as everybody surrounded a triumphant Alexander Johnson.

It�s funny. The Duke players were asked to fend for their lives, twice, but there sure seemed to be an awful lot of security blue shirts around Cowgirl � and rightfully so. Nobody cares if J.J. Redick makes it out alive.

Texas A&M students also rushed the court following its last second win over No. 7 Texas. This will again lead to discussions if students deserve to rush the court. MJD kicked off the discusion yesterday. Duke coach Mike Kryzafghjkhjklski cried after the game, citing security concerns. ESPN commentators complained that students were jumping over them. One school (Cal State Fullerton) even arrested fans who rushed the court last season following an upset win over Utah State.

Get over it.

Rushing the court is college basketball. This is what students are supposed to do. One of my college highlights was getting to rush the floor against UNLV during its heyday. It was a rite of passage for Big West fans in the last 1980s to early 1990s. If you beat the Running Rebels, you were going to be on the floor. It was that simple. UNLV players knew it was going to happen; opposing fans knew it was going to happen; and school administrators knew it was going to happen.

Was it safe? Safe enough. Sure UNLV guard Sunshine Smith might have landed an elbow on *ahem* some people, but it was worth it. (And for the record FSU fans, we once made it onto the floor a touch too early, too, so don't feel so bad.)

It�s time for Mike Patrick and the other talking heads on ESPN to realize that the game is not so much for its viewing audience and the broadcasters than it is for the students that these basketball teams are representing.

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