Please Read This Again--Edit

(Update: I decided to leave this as the top story on the page for a few reasons. First, because it seems that most people viewed it as a joke. It's not. Second, I made a few minor changes to the conversation my brother and I had at the UC-Depaul game. In my initial entry our converation started with me asking my brother if Adam H gets booed because he's white. The more I thought about it, that wasn't the exact question I asked him, and I think the edit changes the context a bit. Either way, I wanted to be accurate. The third reason I'm keeping this up here is because of a dispute I'm currently locked into with a guy who runs a fairly prominent local website. I think allowing more people to read it will help me win the fight against perceived lack of credibility. I'll provide details in a few days if necessary. Please email me If you have thoughts regarding this piece.

One other thing...I posted two new podcasts over the weekend. Craig and I recorded for two hours Sunday; I'll post something new every day this week. Enjoy.)


I went to the UC-Depaul game Thursday night with my brother. Adam Hrycaniuk played a solid game; he grabbed 11 boards. He also missed some very makeable shots, as he's been known to do. He also got booed. Again. For the umpteenth time this season. It wasn't an incredibly noisy boo, but a boo nonetheless. And while I'm not going to tell you how ridiculous it is to boo a college kid (even though it is), I am going to tell you why he gets booed.

Actual conversation at the game between my brother and I:

Me: Do you think Adam H would get booed if he was black?

(two seconds of thought)

The Brother: Nope.

And that was that. Suddenly it all made sense.

We had never thought about it before, but it became so clear that the crowd loudly voices their displeasure towards Hrycaniuk because of the color of his skin (which is strange, considering the overwhelming majority of the fans are, you know, white). What we didn't mention, but is probably another contributing factor, is that it seems easier for fans to boo Hrycaniuk because he's a from another country, one that's really far away.

If you disagree with me, let me axx you something: Why is Hrycaniuk the only Bearcat who gets booed? Why not Sikes or Gentry, two guys who have had dreadful senior seasons? And again, I'm not advocating such behavior, but it just seems interesting that the tall white foreigner is the only player receiving the fans' wrath.

And what about someone from the recent past, like Robert Whaley. Not only was he maybe the biggest disappointment of the Huggins era, but he had a horrible attitude. Horrible. And I can't recall him ever dealing with this nonsense.

Well, why not?

Thoughts? Email me.

-Brad Spieser (Brad@TwinKilling.com)
3/7/08