Listen, Syracuse has been so horrendous lately that their head coach, Greg Robinson, wasn’t even remotely surprised when he was fired last week. (CLICK HERE for the story.)
“I don’t think it really comes as a surprise to anyone. It doesn’t come as a surprise to me,” Robinson said at a news conference.
Having said all that, Robinson *was* allowed to finish out the season as the coach, and sure enough, was able to beat Notre Dame on Saturday.
Why am I telling you about this? Only because the Fighting Irish fans were so ticked off that they began pelting their OWN PLAYERS with snowballs. Typically, fans in snow-heavy cities will pelt the opposing teams, or sometimes the refs, with snowballs.
When was the last time you heard of fans targeting their own guys?
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (Associated Press)—Notre Dame football players were pelted by snowballs from fans sitting in the student section during their loss to Syracuse on Saturday.
“To throw snowballs at their own team, I didn’t think that was a smart thing to do. I guess [they thought] it was funny,” defensive tackle Pat Kuntz said after Syracuse upset the Irish 24-23.
South Bend was hit with about 10 inches of snow Friday. While the field had been cleared before the game, there was still snow along the fringes and in some areas of the stands.
Fans at first threw snow in the air, but then quickly switched to tossing snowballs toward the Notre Dame sideline. Defensive lineman Ian Williams got hit in the helmet, defensive end Ethan Johnson was struck on the left cheek, and a St. Joseph County police officer on the sideline looking into the crowd got hit in the chest. An NBC cameraman also was a frequent target and several snowballs reached the field, although none landed near where play was occurring.
When the Irish defense held a meeting on the sideline, injured linebacker Brian Smith stood on a bench to try to shield his teammates. But when a snowball hit Kuntz, he stood and faced the crowd and appeared to challenge whoever threw it to come down on the field.
“I was pretty mad about that, but whatever the fans want to do,” Kuntz, a senior who was playing his last game at Notre Dame Stadium, said flatly.
At least one fan was seen being led away by police.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
All of this is doubly-bad news for Charlie Weis. First it looks like his stomach stapling surgery “didn’t take,” and now he’s about to get canned, just like Greg Robinson.
However, something tells me ol’ Chuck won’t be saying, “It didn’t come as a surprise to me...”
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