THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
NEWS
3A
ATHLETICS
Some KU fans rattled by insults at South Florida game
BY B.J. RAINS
South Florida fans celebrate after their 37-34 victory against Kansas on Friday night. Some Kansas fans have complained that South Florida fans cussed at them and insulted them. Fans have sent e-mails to USF's athletics department, and officials say they are looking into the complaints.
rains@kansan.com
Jon Goering/KANSAP
KU fans who traveled to Tampa, Fla., to watch the Jayhawks Friday night expected to see a great college football game between two ranked teams.
Not only were fans disappointed by the 37-34 loss, but they also thought some South Florida fans were rude and disrespectful.
"Ive gone to KU games all over the place, and this was absolutely the worst experience I have ever had at an opposing field," said Pat Porzelt, 1987 graduate and Kansas football season ticket-holder.
Porzelt said that the insults were heaved by both men, women, students and adults and that they started before the game and lasted until well after it was over.
"I was walking through the parking lot, and a guy got in my face and started calling me names that I have never been called in my entire life," Porzelt said. "And that was before the game even started. It was pretty bad. I can't even tell you some of the things people said because they aren't printable."
Because South Florida has had problems with its student body's behavior at games in the past, the school started a campaign called "Be Respect-A-Bull," which was "aimed at promoting a higher level of pride, sportsmanship and honor," according to South Florida's athletics department's Web site goUSFbulls.com.
Chris Freet, assistant athletics director for communication at South Florida, said that the school was aware of the behavior on Friday night and that it was looking into ways to improve it.
"We know there's at least a couple of instances from Kansas fans that had negative experiences this weekend." Freet said. "Unfortunately, not everyone is abiding by the idea of respecting the incoming fans and the visiting team. Later on this week, we will try to find some resolutions
to ensure better experience for visiting teams. One problem is too many problems."
Hostility among fans is nothing new in college football. Some Nebraska fans had their tires slashed by Kansas students during a game at Memorial Stadium in 2003.
Ken Short, Topea graduate student, made the trip to Tampa with two friends and expected to talk football with some USF fans. He said a few were complimentary
of Kansas, but a large portion of the fans flipped him off, cussed at him and insulted him.
"I'm prepared for that kind of behavior at a Missouri game or a Kansas State game, but not at a non-conference game in September against a team we've played one time." Short said. "We all had our blue on, and a large portion of the fans just hurled insults at us and were disrespectful to us and just treated us very badly."
Some fans e-mailed the athlet.
ics department at South Florida voicing their displeasure.
Brent Kassing, KU alumnus living in Orlando, Fla., drove to Tampa with his wife and two young children for the game. He said he was so upset with what he saw that he immediately e-mailed officials at South Florida when he got home.
"Try getting to the stadium in there where you have to walk by giant beer bongs with hundreds of students all chugging beer," Kassing
wrote in the e-mail, which was also sent to The University Daily Kansan. "How do I explain that to my children? How do you get into the gate safely without fearing for your life and your kids?"
Kassing also wrote, "Inside the stadium, in the Kansas section, things weren't any better. USF students who walked by or were within the section seemed more interested in taunting and foul language than the game. I saw some older KU fans (if you count 50s
as older) outraged and potentially looking to jump over the rails to strangle those kids."
Short and his friends said that they would travel to at least one more road game this season and that they hoped the atmosphere in the stands would be better than what they experienced in Tampa.
"I expect it to be much better," Short said. "It would be hard to be any worse."
— Edited by Lauren Keith
2008
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