Obadiah wrote: ↑5 years ago
Normally I have great respect for the Dayton Flyers fans though I have a brush with some of their more obnoxious fans in Brooklyn, but this piece from the Blackburn Review prior to our recent game with them is disturbing. The opening paragraph is clearly an overt display of racisim which has no place in college athletics. It is despicable.
"Rhode Island, as a whole, is a very Italian state and I assume that URI’s student body reflects this, so keep an eye out for any Guidos and Guidettes among the dozens of students in attendance. Italians’ olive-hued skin has a way of looking grey during the winter months, so don’t be alarmed if you think you see some black-haired zombies in the Ryan Center.
In the second he takes an ignorant pot shot at URI as an academic institution. Talk about being behind current information and reality.
"Much like UMASS, URI is a state school in the Northeast, so all of the students are slightly embarrassed that they go there. What’s up with there being good state schools scattered around the rest of the country, but there are none east of Pennsylvania?"
And in the third paragraph disparages our fan base and in the process uses a dated Ryan Center photo as shown by the old floor and students sitting behind the visitors bench. And silly me, I thought journalism was topical and up-to-date.
"Anyway, the reason people are hitting up Kingston is to watch the Fly Boys in a Saturday matinee. Rhode Island is known for being the smallest state and their dog shit fan base takes that to heart, as their paltry attendance shows. They would do well to emulate their superiors at Providence College, they might learn a thing or two."
These vile comments are not worthy of a resident of even a sophisticated place like New York City, but they come from a fan in Dayton. Enough said.
I laughed. It's internet shit talk.
It's also true - as a full blooded guido I look grey right now and I'm actually contemplating whether I can stick it out another few months or if I just lay out in the snow to get my color back. I feel like a black haired zombie tbh. Just don't whine about people shitting on us on the internet. It's funny, laugh at it, and respond.
Let me give it a try:
"The Flyers play for a university in the beautiful metropolis of Dayton, Ohio - which is full of fun things to do like pack up and get the fuck out of there because it sucks. With a historically great basketball team, thankfully it gives the locals something to have pride in when they take a break from cooking meth or determining the existential physics of how many fries they can fit into a carton.
Thankfully, if their fans can afford it, they'll have an opportunity to go to Rhode Island on Saturday and experience food that hasn't been microwaved for what I am sure would be a first time. Though I am sure they will wind up sticking to their roots and eating a steady diet of subway or applebees - I'm sure the Ryan Center pretzels will be the fanciest thing anyone from Dayton has seen since William Howard Taft stopped there to campaign in 1882.
Coincidentally 1882 was also the last time Dayton was relevant in anything other than mid-major college basketball.
Though they have a bustling local economy full of laid off autoworkers from the 90s waiting for the return of those manufacturing jobs any day now, and their crime rate is 90% higher than anywhere else in the county.
An exciting winter night in Dayton can be watching a Flyer basketball win and then coming outside to see your wheels missing and then get beat with a bat for your wallet - which beats a typical Dayton summer evening of just coming outside to see your wheels missing and then get beat with a bat for your wallet.
Its no wonder that Dayton fans are excited to get an opportunity to push their 1984 silverado pickups out of their state and 30 years into the future by coming to the Ryan Center on Saturday.
