Yesterday, we lobbed some bombs at Gonzaga fans for their chant of "Brokeback! Mountain!" to "taunt" opposing players during a game against St. Mary's. A Gonzaga reader writes in to shed some light on the situation.

Basically, the chants were directed at a St. Mary's player, Daniel Kickert from Australia. This isn't the first time that the Kennel Club has had issues with Kickert;, basically the dude is a huge prick. Anyway, someone with a Myspace account got a picture of Kickert, one in which he was kissing another guy. [the accompanying picture, we're told]

This jumped off on the zags message board the week before the game. Tons of chants were thought up such as "kissing kickert ... kissing kickert," which really isn't all that bad, to some other not so nice ones.

The thing that gets me, is that in none of these articles about the situation, nobody said the reasoning for the chant, which was the picture. The media has basically painted GU as a school full of homophobes. I'm not saying that making fun of gay people is right;
the Brokeback chant was immature, but it lasted like 10 seconds. Take college kids, bring ESPN to every game, mix lots of beer ... and you get some crazies.

The picture of Kickert, which we can't verify is actually him, has been sent to us before. We tend to think this is one of those times when a bunch of kids got drunk, yelled something loud enough to get it on television and then was overreacted to by the Gonzaga administration, which sent a note to all students that of course made it to the press.

By the way, this "Brokeback Mountain" thing appears to be catching on; several "Brokeback Mountaineers" signs were spotted at the Georgetown-West Virginia game over the weekend.

Gonzaga administration's full email is after the jump.

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Sent: Friday, February 10, 2006 10:17 AM
Subject: [GU] Fan behavior for College Game Day

To the University Community:

Our men's basketball team has done exceptionally well this season possessing, as it does, the longest home winning streak in the nation and as a result, the focus of the nation is upon us. That focus becomes even sharper this weekend as the ESPN network showcases Gonzaga's team, campus, and fans during College Game Day.

While the accomplishments of our athletes have made us proud, and the demeanor of our assembled supporters in the Kennel has been worthy of praise, inappropriate conduct was observed by many, and reported on Public Radio, at our last home game. Among the usual good-natured chants and cheers of the Kennel Club, demeaning and disrespectful chants, interpreted as slurs involving both gender and sexual minorities — and one, St. Mary's athlete in particular, were heard. While we don't believe that this conduct is reflective of our students or fans in general, we do believe these actions are inappropriate and reflect negatively on Gonzaga University. This is extremely distressing to us and to many of the faculty, staff and students who are proud of the principled traditions that Gonzaga embodies.

These incidents have generated significant dialogue among Gonzaga community members. We cannot make the point more eloquently than others already have. A faculty member said: "These chants are troubling and certainly do not demonstrate the foundations of social justice on which GU is founded." The advisors to the Kennel Club have stated: "We hold our students to a higher level of expectation, a higher level of decency, and a higher level of respect. All of us within the Gonzaga community know of our commitment to our mission and our commitment to respect self and others. These commitments are not to be left at the door of the McCarthey Athletic Center or the sidewalks of Hamilton or Ruby. Rather, they are life commitments that we intend our students to live by now, and throughout their lives."

Intolerance is not acceptable within our Jesuit, Catholic and humanistic mission of this University. We offer our most sincere apologies to those hurt or marginalized by this incident, regardless of the intent of those responsible.

College Game Day and our game against Stanford is an important day for the University and the student body. The manner in which we present ourselves to the world offers us an opportunity to shine as examples of exemplary fan behavior. We want to emphasize how important it is to represent our University favorably and to project a positive image. We ask that we all conduct ourselves in a manner that reflects our pride in Gonzaga, ourselves, and each other.

Be safe, and enjoy the weekend. Go Zags!

Robert J. Spitzer, S.J.
President

Stephen Freedman, PhD
Academic Vice President

Sue Weitz, PhD
Vice President for Student Life

Ennis Zigs, But Jack Twist Definitely Zags [Deadspin]

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