The St. Lawrence crowd jeered early and often. While possibly egged on by the RPI band yelling “T” to complement the crowd’s chants of “S-L-U,” they quickly went from a sported back-and-forth to embarrassment. They called band-members “queers” and “faggots,” and several possibly drunken fans kept threatening to come up and fight with the band.

Clarkson’s band embodied a rude host. I had no problem with them calling the band “Troylets” and a “safety school” (even though the very notion of RPI as a safety school when compared to Clarkson is laughable). One specific action, however, stood out in my mind as outrageous. The Clarkson band walked over to the RPI band, surrounded them, and after a claim of “here’s what a real band is supposed to sound like,” began to play right up in the faces of the RPI band. Fortunately, the RPI band had the same song in its active set, and played right back at Clarkson’s.

I’m not sure why these two groups of fans and the Clarkson band acted this way. Maybe they were frustrated that their team was losing. Perhaps they’re mad because they live in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do for fun besides tip cows, drink heavily, and go pet other assorted livestock. Maybe they’re just meatheads. Either way, there’s really no excuse for their behavior. I would be embarrassed if RPI fans acted like that. Don’t get me wrong; I’m no saint at sporting events either. I love to heckle, and I feel that it’s an art I’m close to mastering. But there’s a fine line between being clever and being a cretin—a line which the North Country fans repeatedly crossed this weekend.