Porche Grant Gives Rutgers Fans Her Digits
by Jamie DeVriend on Feb 25, 2011 8:01 AM EST
in Other Sports
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PrintThe FanShot last night gave you the rundown on the Porche Grant incident at Rutgers after yet another ugly loss in women's basketball. (Seriously, what the hell happened to that program? Guess that's another story.) We realize that it's never OK for a player to go to the locker room with middle fingers blazing. It's been a long slog through the conference season with a lot of close losses for USF, and obviously Grant was frustrated, but that's not a good excuse. The two-game suspension Grant was handed by Jose Fernandez was swift and completely fair. Included in those two games is Senior Night, which makes it even worse.
But when I heard about what happened, I couldn't help but be perversely proud of her. I mean, I know Porche shouldn't have done it. But... it's Rutgers. They have JERSEY POW-ERRRRRRR and Jersey manners to match. What visiting athlete in any sport hasn't had at least a fleeting thought pass through their head, telling them to do what Porche did to some aggro Rutgers fan? What fan hasn't wanted to see an athlete twist off and tell Rutgers fans what they really think? They'd do the same thing to you. Or just to the nearest available camera.
Not to mention... we really need some excitement around here. Anything to spice up writing about these teams is welcome. It's been a pretty boring year, and we're only as good as our material.
This is definitely not a unanimous opinion among the staff. But personally, when this site has been around long enough and we have enough material to justify starting a Voodoo Five Ring of Honor, I think Porche Grant should go in on the first ballot for this. I totally approve of this incident. Now never do it again, Porche.
So what do you all think? TO THE VOTING BOOTH.
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Not only do I approve,
I’d say this automatically qualifies her for any sort of “ring of honor” not to mention possibly play of the year unless football does something incredible this season, like beat UConn.
Plus it’s nothing I wouldnt do on malfunction junction daily. Maybe it was just her own way of doing the USF Bull horns
The Three Components Of A Properly Executed Obscene Gesture
I voted no.
As much as I love to see USF giving Rutgers the finger, and as much as I hate to downplay Grant’s gesture when she got suspended for it, I can’t really get behind this one. It lacked oomph. Specifically, here’s what it lacked:
1. The obscene gesture must be justified.
The master of this art, former Miami Dolphins linebacker Bryan Cox, stuck out his middle fingers in response to alleged racial taunting by Buffalo Bills fans. Whether or not this actually happened is debatable, but he did give himself some plausibility. That can win you leniency in public opinion, especially from your own fans. (Though you generally don’t get a discount on the penalty.)
Pure hilariousness will also meet this requirement. James Wisniewski’s response to Shawn Avery wins here. The more subtext the better. I also liked Randy Moss’ fake mooning and Eddie House’s big balls.
2. The obscene gesture must be held for at least three seconds.
This is enough time to establish that the gesture is a rational response to a serious affront, and not just short-term anger. Also, it’s enough time for everyone in a large arena to see it. There’s no set maximum length, but anything over ten seconds looks like you’re just trying to piss off the commissioner.
And spare me the what-about-the-children act. I wouldn’t mind my children having to learn that athletes are real people with real emotions that spill over sometimes. I prefer that to the idea that athletes are faceless, fungible components who can be discarded when their bodies are too broken to blitz on third down or get left-handers out, as modern stat-based sports analysis often suggests.
3. It must be clear who the gesture is directed towards.
A properly executed obscene gesture should reflect genuine anger. In keeping with this theme, it should be very clear who your target audience is. It can be the crowd, or the other team, or a specific person. But there should be no doubt who you’re aiming at. This also makes the gesture easier to explain in the post-game interview.
With this in mind, watch the clip again. One, there has been no justification for this action. From the clip it appears to have been bad officiating and/or heckling fans, but these are normal stresses of competition. Two, the fingers were up for barely a second, betraying the act as a temporary loss of composure. Three, it’s not at all clear who she’s flipping off. The article says “the crowd”, but she wasn’t facing most of the crowd. It could have been the other bench. We don’t know.
Anyway, I think we should reserve a spot in the ring of honor for a greater bird yet to be flipped Rutgers’ way.
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