If you want to storm the court, beat Kentucky

I was very glad to find out recently that I'm not the only one who is against all this "court storming" that takes place in college basketball. I mean, actual important people are speaking out against it now. I suppose it's more of an issue now that Kansas coach Bill Self was nearly crushed when Kansas State students rushed onto the court after the unranked Wildcats upset the no. 8 Jayhawks on Monday night.

So naturally, now that it's become a safety concern, people are wondering how we can stop it. And I'm fine with that, because storming the court is becoming one of the most annoying things in sports.

So your team won a game on its home court. Congratulations. You should be proud of the players and all of the hard work they've done. Scream really loudly about it, sing some funny songs telling the other team to leave, do some trash talking on the internet. There are a million ways to celebrate the win while also showing that you believed in your team the whole time.

To me, when you storm the court, it's like you are so surprised by the outcome of this game that you have lost control of yourself and have no choice but to run down there and be a part of it all. It's all just that unbelievable and shocking. So, at the same time, you're also saying you never expected your team to win. And that's kind of pathetic in most cases.

Just last night, no. 14 Maryland upset no. 5 Wisconsin, and of course, a court storming took place. Guys, your team is ranked 14th in the nation. At this point in the season, you should believe that your team can (and will) compete with anyone on its home court. You should be saying and thinking something like this: "We might not win it all. We may have our problems on the road sometimes. But come to our house, and see what happens."

When your team wins on its home court, please act like you expected this outcome. Respect your team's players that much.

So now Bill Self and others are trying to put an end to this, and I'd like to help out. Here are some thoughts to use when arguing against storming the court.

1. I'm not saying it should never happen. I understand it's a safety issue, but I think for the most part, people are aware enough to not trample over a human being. But let's make it something special at least, right? Once every five years? Once every 10 years? I don't know the appropriate rate, but I think it shouldn't really happen multiple times during someone's college career. It should be a unique and memorable moment. If you ask your college buddy if he remembers that time you stormed the court, he shouldn't be able to ask, "Which one?"

2. You should only consider storming the court if no one gave your team a chance to win. It should be something of a huge surprise, even to you. Of course, you shouldn't spend your four years of college thinking this way.

3. You should only storm the court if this momentum can launch you to bigger and better things this year. Maybe this is the boost you needed. This is the turning point that no one saw coming. And honestly, December and January are way too early for any of that.

4. Following this logic, it should be rare for the opportunity to even arise. It may never happen, in fact. Which is how it kind of should be. This year, for example, from this point forward, I could understand storming the court for one reason only. BEAT KENTUCKY. That's it. If you're a ranked team, and you're hoping to have a successful postseason, no other wins should surprise you right now. If your team isn't having a good year, and you knock off no. 19 Eastern Tech State, then who cares? Big deal. You caught a team on an off night. No one wants to watch highlights to see fans of some 8-21 team rushing onto the court.

I wonder why we don't see this in many other sports, aside from college football occasionally. No one rushes onto the baseball field, do they? The race track? The hockey ice? I guess that would be pretty funny, actually.