School pride is one thing. Violence is is quite another.
When the former turns into the latter, it isnāt the positive sort of pride talked about at pep rallies and locker-room speeches. Instead, itās the kind of pride talked about as a deadly sin in the Bible ā 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 ā itās unclear what from video ā 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.
āOh no ā this is not good,ā an ESPN+ announcer can be heard saying over the mayhem. āThis is really not good. Weāve got punches being thrown. This isĀ reallyĀ bad.ā
Announcers said that a āyoung girlā had been āhurt and hitā in the crowd during the fracas.
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They also said that one of the staff members ā itās not clear from which school āĀ had āblood on his faceā as a result of the all-out donnybrook.
āWe need to get this ā we need to get this settled,ā a clearly unsettled ESPN+ announcer said as the brawl continued despite the court mostly being cleared of players, coaches and other participants.
No one from either school ā nor from the Southland Conference, which both schools are a part of ā had comment on the brawl at the time of Yahoo Sportsā report. However, all three had issued statements as of late Monday night.
āThe 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 menās Basketball teams tonight,ā the conference said.
āWe 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.ā
Incarnate Word and Texas A&M-commerce athletics, meanwhile, issued separate statements about the brawl in which they jointly āapologize for the behavior exhibited by our respective menās Basketball programs following the game on Monday night.ā
āThere is no place in college Sports for such actions,ā the statement read. āThe 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.ā
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 thatās hardly saying much.
In other words, the only thing at stake here was making themselves look good ā 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 ātreatedā to a viral brawl that allegedly injured innocent bystanders. Nice work.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.