AeonBlue

February 14th, 2011 at 10:29 AM ^

This is kind of sad. I always thought of most Wisconsin fans as pretty classy, if not a little overenthusiastic. I know it's not right to label the entire fan-base after the actions of one person but it's still pretty surprising/disappointing.

Blue in Seattle

February 14th, 2011 at 2:00 PM ^

it's basically 9 year old style humor, start off with a chant from popular media, "tastes great, less filling" then let it morph into potty talk.  I laugh every time.

also I first picked this up from Tiger stadium in the late 80's, even at the age of 19 I could easily appreciate this humor.  well and I had drunk enough beer to reduce myself to 9 years old mentally

 

maizenblue92

February 14th, 2011 at 10:29 AM ^

I heard about this. No matter how much you may dislike a team or player you have to have a certain level of respect for them. I am glad we never hear about Michigan fans doing this.

Mich_Faithful

February 14th, 2011 at 10:31 AM ^

I mean I hate the buckeyes as much as the next Michigan fan, but you don't spit on anyone ever. Especially the kids who play the game that you don't even know. Classless act and lack of sportsmanship by the Badger nation.

IronDMK

February 14th, 2011 at 11:42 AM ^

I went to Wisco for undergrad in the late 1990's and it wasn't bad in terms of fans being assholes.  But I have watched it change over the past 10 or so years and it's getting really bad.  It's like the students want to be worse than OSU fans now.  They are really getting horrible.  Just not the way a person should represent their university in my opinion.  Thankfully, I'm also a Michigan alum (though it does suck when I have to face the shit at a football game in Madison) so I can claim that the fans of my university are classy.

Fhshockey112002

February 14th, 2011 at 10:39 AM ^

I know it's easy to hate any and all from tOSU but this kid continues to show how mature and solid his character is. IF this actually occured it would have been easy to have another LaGarrett Blunt (Oregon) situation. Being spit on might be the most disrepectful and degrading thing you can do to a person, shame on this Wisconsin fan.

WojoRisin

February 14th, 2011 at 11:36 AM ^

While I in no way condone the action of spitting on another human being (ever), charging into a crowd is about the dumbest thing one can do. Yes, it's extremely disrespectful to get spit on, but I'm not sure  deciding against fighting vs. several thousand students shows maturity and solid character. It just shows a broad sense of sanity. As much as I hate OSU, the kid puts up with a beating every game and doesn't retaliate. That's where his character comes through. We'll see how these allegations sort out.

JimBobTressel

February 14th, 2011 at 10:53 AM ^

Thats disgusting. Effing nasty. I mean, the least Mr. Spitter could have done was aim at a Buckeye fan instead.

Have some decency, yo

ryebadger

February 14th, 2011 at 11:09 AM ^

Disgraceful if it happened. Fortunately Wisconsin is conducting an investigation into this and has the benefit of a state of the art security monitoring system.  It shouldn't be difficult to pull up security footage of the time and place of these incidents, as Sullinger reports them to investigators, and identify the culprit(s). That person (or persons) should be charged criminally.  Remember, Sullinger claims to have been spit on, right in the face, not once but twice, both before and after the game.  Getting at least one of these incidents on tape should not be tough.

In the meantime, you'll have to forgive for being a tad skeptical of Sullinger's accusation. I had questions the first time I saw his tweet. Spit on once? OK. Twice, both before AND after the game? Not really. Somebody walks up to Sullinger before the game, spits in his face and there was no scuffle or reaction. Nobody else saw it. Nobody else reported being told about it.  On two separate occasions more than 2 hours apart, he took a loogie to the face and didn't go after or even point to the perpetrator. No teammate saw it. He didn't tell anyone in the OSU camp. He  just shrugged it off and went on with his business. TWICE.  Moreover, Sullinger did not mention this in his post game interviews but rather complimented the Kohl Center crowd, according to Bob Bishop of the Columbus Dispatch.  Under the glare of all those TV cameras and microphones, with all those people around to support him, he suffers the indignity of being spit on in the face both before and after the game, yet the first time anyone came to know about it was when Sullinger tweeted an hour later? Strange, don't you think?

No crowd is above this. It only takes one asshole. I wouldn't put it past some drunk student or lowlife in a highly charged court storming and I'll be the first to call for his arrest.. The story doesn't make sense, though. It's also ironic that every time OSU loses in Madison we get stories like this. Every time. It's like an OSU loss is a full moon and our fans are all werewolves.  Everyone's well-behaved when OSU wins and OSU's fans are pleased with the result.  When they are disappointed our fans turn into marauding barbarians. Funny how that works.

    

notetoself

February 14th, 2011 at 11:44 AM ^

According to your story, the Wisconsin fan passes you and starts walking up the ramp. Then you say you were struck on the right temple. The spit then proceeds to ricochet off the temple, striking Sullinger between the third and fourth rib. The spit then came off the rib turned and hit Sullinger in the right wrist, causing him to drop his baseball cap. The spit then splashed off the wrist, pauses — in mid air, mind you — makes a left turn and lands on Sullinger's left thigh.

That is one magic loogie.

Beavis

February 14th, 2011 at 12:46 PM ^

People died at Wiscy back in the 1990's whenever they beat Michigan.  That should be "Exhibit A" in fandom intensity.

In fact that last two games I've been to in AA have been against Wiscy (2006 - after graduation, and 2010... sorry I don't live close enough to make it more games).  And both times there have been incidents outside of Rick's on Friday night, and then during the game as well.  At least OSU fans know to keep their mouths shut in the stands (well, during my days in school they did - I imagine that's changed now).  Wiscy fans have long been the biggest dicks/bitches in the B10.  It's not secret.

lilpenny1316

February 14th, 2011 at 3:03 PM ^

...University negligence.  We actually had to study that case in one of my Sport Law classes (RIP Pat Maloy).  There was no stadium or University plan in place to handle the influx of students rushing the field.  Nor was there a plan handle that crisis once it occured.  That's what caused the situation and made it look worse than any other "rush the field" scenarios.

Oh, I was in Columbus for games in 1990 and 1998 and the fans in the stands or the streets were crude in language and overall behavior.  The talk in Detroit on the radio this morning is that OSU fans are the worst. 

ryebadger

February 14th, 2011 at 3:21 PM ^

What incidents? Let me guess: you personally witnessed a Wisconsin fan, or more likely a drunken group of them, get loud and hostile until they attacked a group of schoolchildren who were at the game on a field trip. They ripped the arm out of this little girl's socket until the elderly nun chaperoning them tried to intervene, but the Wisconsin just fan beat the nun with the detached arm. These guys were so ruthless they only stopped long enough to turn the arm around so they could beat the nun with the bloody stump side. Man, you should have seen the teeth come flying out of her mouth. Then they forced the rest of the class to collect the nun's teeth and make beaded jewelry out of them, which the attackers then sold to other Wisconsin fans who stopped by to share a laugh at the carnage. Did I mention these guys were drunk and the victim was a nun?  They eventually heard sirens and ran away, with rivers of blood, piles of flesh and screaming schoolchildren in their wake. Of course there were dozens of witnesses since it was right outside of Rick's, but for some reason there wasn't a police report or single media account of the bloodbath. Weird.

I've been to hundreds of big ten football games, including dozens at Michigan Stadium. You know what I've seen? Taunting. Everywhere. From fans of every school. I've been taunted mercillessly in Ann Arbor, sometimes aggressively and not good naturedly. It might surprise you to know that of the 110,000 people at your games, not all of them spent time studying Cicero in the UgLi.  Did it bother me? Of course not. It only made Ann Arbor like everywhere else. Some places may be a bit more intense than others but I've never seen the fighting, the spitting, the throwing of glass bottles or batteries, the raping and murdering or other tales of Mad Max lawlessness that fans of one school manufacture to make their rival look bad. Not surprisingly, these tall tales always surface after a loss. It's human nature, a mechanism to cope with frustration. Rather than simply tipping their hat and moving on, some fans have to degrade the character of their opponent to feel better about themselves. I notice, for instance, that both games you referenced were Michigan losses. What, there were no mass graves following Michigan's win over UW in 2008?                   

By the way, your exhibit A of "fandom intensity" (whatever the hell that is) is 100% inaccurate in every manner. Nobody died, for one. The incident, which I personally witnessed, was a failure in both stadium design and security protocol. Fans tried to rush the field but couldn't get past the gates at the bottom of the section, which security left closed.  Rushing the field is not unique to Madison, as we witnessed during your game vs. illinois this fall. Plus, they've rectified the condition. Nobody has been hurt since, including when fans rushed the field after beating OSU last October  (that is, aside from the dozens of Buckeye fans who I am certain reported being bludgeoned with their own limbs outside the stadium after the game).     

Tater

February 14th, 2011 at 2:49 PM ^

I detest TSIO as much as anyone here, but you do not spit on a player.  Anytime you do anything physical to a player, you have "crossed the line" and it should be a misdemeanor with at least a one year ban from attending events at the venue.  

If it can be proved that this happened, the BT should fine Wiscy; there is no motivation like money when it comes to rules regarding crowd control.  

Soulfire21

February 14th, 2011 at 3:56 PM ^

I mean, I've thought about spitting on many a Buckeye... never done it though.  There's a small, evil bit of me that loves it, but reason says it was in poor taste.