When sports entertainment gets weird

In the SEC basketball tournament, Alabama is getting weird again.

Such is the life of a team at the center of the controversial spotlight on the big stage of college basketball. Every day something different breaks down the walls that separate sports as entertainment and sports as a sign of the times.

The spotlight will only get bigger with the win, and now Alabama is in the title game of the SEC Tournament after beating rivals Missouri 72-61 Saturday. Alabama hosts Texas A&M at Bridgestone Arena on Sunday at noon.

Basketball player Darius Miles has been indicted by a grand jury for murder, the Tuscaloosa District Attorney’s Office released Friday on the first day of Alabama’s SEC championship. The news broke when his former teammate was playing against Mississippi State.

Of the games I’ve covered as a sportswriter, that one ranks at the top of the list for the most bizarre day at the office.

Some misguided fans in the arena got into the vortex Saturday and offered a glimpse into an aspect of the Alabama story peddled among grotesque fans celebrating a tragic murder. At the SEC, the league defended itself with the slogan “It Means More,” and things could quickly turn ugly.

It did it in Nashville on day three of the SEC championship game.

Alabama played in the early game against Missouri, which ended at noon. The second game of the day was Vanderbilt at home against Texas A&M, an 87-75 loss to the hometown team. With Vanderbilt playing Game 2, why would a group of Vanderbilt students scream as loud as they could an hour before Alabama’s game?

Heckle Alabama star Brandon Miller in offensive fashion “Brandon Killer” songcertainly.

Vandy’s is the SEC’s “smart school,” but on this day some of its students use only half their brains.

Students should be kicked out of the arena. Instead, they were allowed to stay and watch the game with the others when Miller took over. Miller was the player who transported the gun to the scene where Harris was shot. Still, Miller has been solid on the floor and raised his expected value as a future pro. Against Mizo, he had 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, and he dominated the game from the start of the second half until the buzzer.

He himself did not do so without making a sound.

“let us [expletive] go! During a stoppage, Miller screamed at the press and the crowd. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey sat in the front row, close to Miller’s sweat and spit.

There’s nothing wrong with giving fans a little performance art. Miller is not yet a professional player, but he already understands his role as an entertainer.

Miller’s presence on the court was a tipping point in Alabama basketball considering how close he was to Harris’ death, but I can only be disgusted by the behavior of a couple of self-proclaimed Alabama fans watching the game shaking his head. Two grown men — specifically, not students — wore Alabama shirts that read “Killin’ way through SEC in ’23” on Saturday.when approached for advice ElnetOne of the men told colleague John Talty “get [expletive] from my face.

Of course, it’s unfair to link the entire fan base to the actions of a depraved couple, but these jerseys are notable for understanding the toxic fan culture surrounding Alabama basketball this postseason. Alabama’s anti-SEC fan base is also responsible for creating this sludge that the SEC is now struggling with. From the moment news of Myers’ arrest broke, a segment of SEC fans loudly celebrated the opportunity to amplify Alabama’s mistakes.

Wanting the worst for Alabama as a dissenting fan is not the same thing as wanting justice for Harris’ death, and the nuances of the difference aren’t hard to understand. This is the difference between dignity and shame.

How we got here will continue to haunt Alabama and create an embarrassing scene for the SEC in one of its signature events.

That’s because the Jan. 15 shooting death of 23-year-old Jamia Harris in Birmingham will remain the biggest moment of the season for Alabama basketball. Miles was charged with aiding and abetting the murder when he handed over the gun to friend Michael Davis, according to police. Davis then used that gun to allegedly murder Harris.

Compared with the events of the night, these games were just another episode, as the walls separating sports entertainment and social indictment continued to crumble.

Joseph Goodman is chief sports columnist Writer for Alabama Media Group, “We want Bama: A promising season and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘Ultimate Team'”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.