For the Tribune

It was a wonderful thing to see the Minnesota Gopher men’s hockey team win its first national championship since 1979.

Wednesday, April 10, 2002

It was a wonderful thing to see the Minnesota Gopher men’s hockey team win its first national championship since 1979. Don Lucia and his players deserve to be commended.

The riot that followed on the University of Minnesota campus, however, was a study in stupidity.

The University of Minnesota students, of course, aren’t the only ones who have displayed such behavior following a big win by their college team. A riot of even bigger proportions happened at the University of Maryland following the school’s victory over Indiana in the NCAA basketball championship. In fact, the Minnesota campus riot was probably influenced by the one in Maryland.

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating in the streets after winning a championship; even waking the neighbors by yelling, singing and chanting is tolerable for one night.

That students would feel the need to break car windows, tear down concrete garbage cans and do other sorts of vandalism to require a heavy police force is absolutely ridiculous. It also likley illustrates yet another danger of alcohol on college campuses.

The riot-after-the-championship tradition may be a popular one these days, but it certainly isn’t a good one.