The Case Against Purdue Fans

Michigan State fans hate Purdue fans.

Wisconsin fans hate Purdue fans.

Indiana fans, obviously, hate Purdue fans. And know how crappy West Lafayette is, too!

Even the best Purdue writer on the web right now, Tim Cary, thinks Purdue fans are rude. Oh and by the way, those fans were Chris Kramer's mom.

Here's the deal, people. I have been to every game of the Big Ten tournament until today. There have been amazing games and awful ones, standout players and choke artists, great random fans and really irritating ones.

But the one constant throughout has been the POOR SPORSTMANSHIP of the Purdue fans infesting the upper deck of Conseco.

They moaned, whined, and cried every single time a whistle went against them on Friday. And that was a lot of whistles - 52 fouls were called that game. Seriously, an incredulous cry went up from Boiler Nation every SINGLE time they lost a ball out of bounds or got a foul. It was unreal.

And then yesterday, as I tried my damnedest to be civil to the angry folks in black and gold sitting next to me, all they had was dirty looks and barely contained rage. No sense of humor. No willingness to talk basketball. Or have fun.

Look, I know losing Robbie Hummel for the season hurts. And I know that it's not fun watching your team get crushed 37-11 in the first half. But, as I pointed out, I have sat through endless awful games this year thanks to the Hoosiers - I have sympathy. My angry West Lafayettian neighbors took this as a personal insult to their "amazing" team, pointing out that "we're number six in the country, where's IU at?" And they were NOT joking.

I need to point out that there are lots of good Purdue fans out there, I'm sure of it. I saw a few stick it out til the bitter, bitter end of the Minnesota debacle yesterday, and I went out of my way to give them props for it.

But when you storm out with 6:30 left in the second, stopping only to flip off the Indiana fans who have bent over backwards not to trash talk, and even to sympathize, during a game that I would have LOVED to spend chortling over "Boiler Doooowwwwwwnnnnn...." - Well, that's not class. That's a way to ensure that every other fan of the Big Ten roots against you next weekend.

Please, good Purdue fans, prove me wrong. Have some class. Enjoy your team as well as you can. And try and ditch the negativity.