School pride is one thing. Violence is is quite another.
When the former turns into the latter, it isn’t the positive sort of pride talked about at pep rallies and locker-room speeches. Instead, it’s the kind of pride talked about as a deadly sin in the Bible — right along with wrath.
On Monday night, we saw plenty of wrath spilled out on a basketball court in San Antonio, Texas.
According to Yahoo Sports, the incident occurred after the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions beat the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals 76-72 in overtime.
After the game was over, something — it’s unclear what from video — went awry in the traditional line to shake hands.
The result was an all-out brawl where neither coaches nor other players could manage to separate the feuding players.
“Oh no — this is not good,” an ESPN+ announcer can be heard saying over the mayhem. “This is really not good. We’ve got punches being thrown. This is really bad.”
Announcers said that a “young girl” had been “hurt and hit” in the crowd during the fracas.
Should athletes be more harshly punished for behavior like this?
They also said that one of the staff members — it’s not clear from which school — had “blood on his face” as a result of the all-out donnybrook.
“We need to get this — we need to get this settled,” a clearly unsettled ESPN+ announcer said as the brawl continued despite the court mostly being cleared of players, coaches and other participants.
The Full Incarnate Word vs Texas A&M-Commerce postgame FIGHT. Probably the worst we’ve seen this year pic.twitter.com/9P6rkHu6z9
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) February 20, 2024
No one from either school — nor from the Southland Conference, which both schools are a part of — had comment on the brawl at the time of Yahoo Sports’ report. However, all three had issued statements as of late Monday night.
“The Southland Conference is aware of the end-of-game situation that occurred between the Texas A&M University-Commerce and the University of the Incarnate Word men’s basketball teams tonight,” the conference said.
“We will be working closely with both universities to review footage and issue an appropriate disciplinary action. Unsportsmanlike behavior is unacceptable in the Southland Conference and the safety of our student-athletes, coaches, spectators, and officials remains a top priority.”
The Conference’s Statement following tonight’s Texas A&M-Commerce and UIW contest. pic.twitter.com/ZRJmDgLHDH
— Southland Conference (@SouthlandSports) February 20, 2024
Incarnate Word and Texas A&M-commerce athletics, meanwhile, issued separate statements about the brawl in which they jointly “apologize[d] for the behavior exhibited by our respective men’s basketball programs following the game on Monday night.”
“There is no place in college sports for such actions,” the statement read. “The unsportsmanlike conduct that occurred after the game does not reflect the values of the universities involved, as well as the Southland Conference and their member institutions.”
Joint statement from UIW Athletics and @Lion_Athletics #TheWord pic.twitter.com/QiS24FdmlL
— UIW ATHLETICS (@UIWAthletics) February 20, 2024
Joint statement from @tamuc and @UIWAthletics. pic.twitter.com/55r9bImaBD
— A&M-Commerce Lion Athletics (@Lion_Athletics) February 20, 2024
This sort of thing is a master of understatement. Consider that neither of the teams are doing particularly well this season, with Texas A&M-Commerce holding a 10-17 record, 4-10 in conference, and Incarnate Word at 8-18 with a 3-10 conference record. For comparison, Southland Conference leader McNeese State is 23-3 overall and 12-1 in conference.
Both meetings between the teams this year have been won by Texas A&M-Commerce, although that’s hardly saying much.
In other words, the only thing at stake here was making themselves look good — making themselves look like athletes committed to sportsmanship, like proper representatives of their school, like the kind of young men who will grow into older men their families and their universities can be proud of.
None of that happened. Instead, we were “treated” to a viral brawl that allegedly injured innocent bystanders. Nice work.
