Bloomington basketball fans continue to have no chill, chant "Tom Crean Sucks" at son's game

Occasionally, we get reader e-mails from wonderful folks like yout that think this is a good place to consume Indiana University web #content. We can't be omnipresent and see everything -- so sometimes we rely on y'all to pass things along. This morning, I woke up to THIS in my inbox (sic):

hey kyle,

love the site -- you guys are an oasis of intelligence in a desert of crazy.

anyway, not sure if you saw this, but the fanbase's classlessness continues:

"Idk but she and Tom were at BHSS tonight for sectional finals. Riley got in and the South student section gave him a "Tom Crean sucks" chant. Cringed when I saw that. That can't help her opinion on Bloomington right now."

not sure it's worth sharing or not, but i had to email it to someone. just nuts.

best,

(REDACTED)

wait

hold on

need a minute

ok

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE

First caveat, I wasn't in attendance at this game -- nor was any member of our staff. Second, it allegedly occured at a high school basketball game, where immature, classless fan chants fester like mold in a dark bathroom closet. There's a lot of stupid things said and shouted that aren't representative of any larger group. With that said, the recent Stevens-induced insanity of Indiana fans makes it completely conceivable that they'd choose to dog the man when he's just attempting to be a father and watch his son's dang basketball game.

PSA: Walk to the mirror, crack open a cold beer of your choice, and take a deep breath. This is COLLEGE BASKETBALL, and y'all need to chill out. Let the man have some peace and enjoy the simple pleasure of watching his son play basketball.

Indiana basketball is blessed with wildly fanatical, generally optimistic, and usually supportive fan base that is large enough to support this site, Inside The Hall, Peegs, InsideIndiana, the Assembly Call, and six others I'm probably forgetting. It allows for, unequivocally, the best atmosphere in college basketball inside the loudest building Coach K's ever been in -- Assembly Hall. It's unique, special, and the intensity and vigor with which Indiana fans cheer their team should never be dismissed, muted, or surpressed.

But there comes a point when a little self-reflection and context becomes necessary.

The #iubb twitter hashtag is filled with 40-something-year-olds with Brad Stevens' face as twitter avatars, engaged in man-worship of a messiah that probably won't ever come to Bloomington. Message boards are filled with dudes clicking the refresh button like someone's about to post winning lottery numbers for the next decade, all in the hopes of finding some probably-just-conjecture morsel of information that will lead to some self-created assurance that Indiana will have a new basketball coach next season. The atmosphere at last Tuesday's Iowa game was downright toxic, and now some individuals have resorted to blasting and ridiculing him at his son's sporting event. Good job.

We've often come out against booing the home team on twitter, admonishing those that have chosen to do so in the Hall. Many reply with two arguments -- first, that I PAY FOR TICKETS, SO I HAVE THE RIGHT TO BOO, second -- WELL HOW ELSE SHOULD WE VOICE OUR DISPLEASURE? In truth, you're right. There's no constitutional provision or anything in the rule of law that stands in your right to boo at a basketball game. And maybe it is a vehicle for you to voice displeasure. But to that, I ask: do you really think Fred Glass is going to fire a coach only because you booed him with three minutes to go in the Iowa game from your sixth-row-of-the-balcony seat? What's the point? If you answer yes to that question and choose to admonish the home team anyway, opposing coaches will be licking their lips and the rest of the country pointing-and-laughing while Indiana basketball fans choose to show their rear-ends on national television.

But this didn't even occur in Tom Crean's workplace. This admonishment occurred at his son's basketball game, as he was out in your community -- a place where he's given back his time and money frequently for the betterment of others off the basketball floor.

So enough. Chill out, take a deep breath. Basketball is a game, and this is a many with a family -- and a son who has to listen how much his "Dad sucks" probably quite often as he has to walk about this community. Regardless of how you feel about the product on the floor, it's a pretty reasonable request to show the man's family some common decency in the community.

You're better than this, Indiana fans. It's time to show it.

UPDATE (1:43 PM):

And here you go:

@crimsonquarry I was at the game and I heard it. I couldn't believe it and I was shocked. Felt terrible for Riley and his parents.

— TJ Dilger (@TjDilger) March 9, 2015