CBS Sports Network’s Inside College Basketball addressed the Oumar Ballo situation Friday night, with Adam Zucker and Gary Parrish saying fan threats to players are becoming more common in the sport.
Ballo and the Hoosiers lost to Oregon in the Big Ten tournament Friday, and afterward, the center shared with the media that he’s received “death wishes” and “death threats” on social media this season.
“He mentioned death threats and sort of emphasized that there’s a certain segment of the fan base at IU that is not making things easier but is in fact making them much more difficult than they should be,” Parrish said. “It sort of echoed what Purdue coach Matt Painter had said about the Indiana fan base a few weeks ago.”
Zucker jumped in to say threats to players have made news elsewhere.
“We’ve heard about this at Kansas, we’ve heard about it alluded to by Coleman Hawkins as well at [Kansas] State,” Zucker said. “It’s everywhere.”
“Maybe it’s time for folks to start listening,” Parrish said.
“And stop worrying about how their gambling results are showing up in some of these kids’ in-boxes,” Zucker said.
There’s no question the transformation of college sports in recent years has changed the dynamic between fans and players. Lucrative NIL deals for athletes have raised expectations for fans. At the same time, the rise of sports betting has created an unlimited supply of victims ready to rip a player for missing a shot (or even making a shot, if it created a “bad beat” for them).
Couple that with the rise of more social media platforms than ever before, with players embracing that culture, and you have the potential for toxic fan-player interactions.
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.