EDITORIAL – McAfee deserves respect, not threats

Last Saturday’s Backyard Brawl was an enormous success for Pitt when the Panthers defeated… Last Saturday’s Backyard Brawl was an enormous success for Pitt when the Panthers defeated the West Virginia University Mountaineers with a score of 13-9.

The success was reflected in Pitt fans, who celebrated throughout the streets of Oakland that night.

Meanwhile, Pitt smashed West Virginia’s hopes to play in the BCS Championship Game in New Orleans on Jan. 7. The Mountaineers suffered an enormous disappointment. But no amount of unhappiness could justify what followed.

According to the Post Gazette, WVU kicker Pat McAfee received death threats and verbal abuse from angry fans. Fans screamed at him from outside his house. His girlfriend was verbally abused, and his car was vandalized. And for what?

McAfee missed two field goals in the game against Pitt. He made two mistakes, causing some fans to quickly respond immaturely and inappropriately.

Through it all, McAfee’s past successes were ignored. McAfee was named Big East special-teams player of the week three times.

He was also recently named to the All-Big East second team. He helped his team achieve victory many times.

In short, he is one of the best college kickers in the nation. Yet, all of his positive achievements were suddenly forgotten, and all the focus centered on his mistakes. Talk about being fair-weather fans.

If it wouldn’t hurt his college career, McAfee could easily walk away from the team. He could easily, and probably will, be kicking at a pro level sometime soon. But some WVU fans seem to be unable to understand his worth.

While McAfee is nationally well-known, it is important to remember that he, like many of his fans, is ultimately a college student and does not deserve such harsh treatment.

Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez declined to comment on the death threats and the abuse. He failed to criticize WVU fans for their actions.

In other words, he did not stand by the kicker like a football coach should.

Rodriguez did, however, make it seem as though he cared more about the outcome of the game than about the well-being of one of his most valuable players.

McAfee’s father, Tim McAfee, said, according to the Post Gazette, that “it was a very limited number of people” who were harassing the kicker.

Nonetheless, the situation reflects poorly on WVU fans, especially because the coach is not taking a stand against it. Not only is this hurting WVU’s image, but it will undoubtedly hurt the team’s recruiting abilities because what parent would want their son playing for a coach who seems to care more about the game than the players?

At the end of the day, fans should remember that this is just college football. While some of us take it more seriously than others, nothing warrants death threats and abuse.

We like to think that, given the same situation, Pitt students would not act the same way. Win or lose, true fans support their team and its players.