Indiana Athletic Director Fred Glass and Indiana radio announcer Dan Dakich made a couple of comments about the incident in Assembly Hall about a “Playboy model.”
Those comments were made about Megan Dills, who actually has a name, and she has written a response to Fred Glass.
[FONT=times new roman]I have attended UK Basketball games throughout my entire life, as a child with my father, as a student at The University of Kentucky and now as an adult. The shade of my blonde hair will turn grey and the youth of my skin will no longer exist, but even with the changes that come with time, I will always bleed blue. The tradition of UK basketball does not have to be spoken or written about, It is a bond that runs as deep as the rolling hills of this commonwealth. I feel safe in saying that we are a family because of the love shared for the boys that wear our beloved blue.[/FONT]
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The word safe was used today by the Indiana Athletic Director in describing the hysteria that was Assembly Hall at the IU vs. UK game this past December. I know that none of you want to relive the game winning shot by Christian Watford, as I can assure you neither do I, but it has once again become a topic. I want to say kudos to this young man and his team for their win that evening but this is not the issue at hand.
I have once again been brought into the spotlight today by the Indiana Athletic Director as ‘The Playboy Model’. This leaves me to assume that all of us who have posed for said magazine at one time or another do not have individual names. This is news to me.
Regardless of what my name is or what company I have worked for, this information is irrelevant in discussing the safety of patrons in an indoor or outdoor sports facility. I would have given Mr. Glass hints on how to use this revolutionary technology called Google before he made such uneducated remarks today on the safety of rushing the court/field.[/FONT]
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I think if we all use common sense we can easily see that thousands of people running at once in a small confined area is not intelligent. I am not saying it isn’t thrilling or that it is a sin, I am saying it is not safe. I am not the poor Playboy model who twisted her ankle. I am an educated woman with a job, a job that is not affiliated with Playboy in any way. This job affords me an income as your job does you.
Taking off from work for any reason costs all of us time and money, which just so happened included medical bills for me. I too value my time just as Mr. Glass does his and as you do your’s. With that said, no one should lose time, money, or suffer an unnecessary injury because they attended a basketball game. I find it to have been a ridiculous outcome to my attending a college sporting event.
Mr. Glass can talk until he is UK blue in the face about his facility on that evening being a safe environment, but we all know that it was not. I do not have children, but I do have nieces and nephews who have attended games with me in the past. If a two year old were knocked down concrete steps in a rush of thousands, I fear that child would not fair as well. College sports should be safe for all ages; a fun, friendly and inviting atmosphere.
These words do not describe Assembly Hall as IU was victorious over UK. It was not just I or the other sports fans in attendance that were at great risk of injury. The UK and IU players were in danger as well, which is evident by the photos of our own Darius Miller on the floor with IU fans jumping over him.
My point is, it does not matter one’s occupation or role in the sporting event, because we are all at these events for the love of the sport and not one of us should leave with injury do to an overzealous, hostile crowd.
Having said that I want to suggest to Mr. Glass that you use the internet sensation I have named above, that being Google, and type in ‘rushing the field injuries’, I promise that it will not fail to shock you. I hope that with your findings you will come to realize that your idea of what a safe environment is for a basketball game will drastically change.[/FONT]
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I know that many of you have been to collegiate sporting events across the country and that this behavior is not the norm. I too have traveled across the nation to watch UK play and I can say the game at Assembly Hall is the one and only venue that I have ever felt uncomfortable being in. I believe that Indiana’s Athletic Director has placed Indiana’s program and fan base in a light that is unbecoming, a light that is quite sad and embarrassing, which the Hoosier Nation does not deserve.[/FONT]
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I want for children to have the experiences that I did as a child when attending their favorite college teams game. But with the attitude portrayed today by Indiana’s Athletic Director, I fear that he is sending the wrong message of what is acceptable behavior.
This leads me to believe that the unruly antics in Assembly Hall that December night will be a common theme at their facility. I can only say that the Athletic Director’s relaxed attitude and complete lack of concern for those in attendance of their facility only validates Coach Cal’s decision to not continue to play IU at home.
It is a series that I would have like to have seen gone on for years and years as it has, but with such carelessness expressed by Fred Glass, I can only be grateful that it has ended.
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Megan Dills[/FONT][/RIGHT]
