What's more embarrassing to Southern Miss – band's racist chants or fact they didn't know Puerto Ricans r U.S. citizens? #idiots #stupid
— Jose de Jesus Ortiz (@OrtizKicks) March 16, 2012
A racist chant by some members of the University of Southern Mississippi's band during an N.C.A.A. basketball tournament game sparked outrage and an immediate, regretful response from university officials.
The chant of "Where's your green card?" to an American player born in Puerto Rico was not the only such episode in basketball this month. Nor was it likely to surprise those familiar with soccer's most extreme hooligans, notorious for their regular outpourings of racism.
The chanting on Thursday could be heard in the background as Angel Rodriguez, a Kansas State player, lined up to shoot a free throw, as a video clip by BuzzFeed showed:
Martha Saunders, the president of the university, issued a statement on Thursday afternoon:
We deeply regret the remarks made by a few students at today's game. The words of these individuals do not represent the sentiments of our pep band, athletic department or university. We apologize to Mr. Rodriguez and will take quick and appropriate disciplinary action against the students involved in this isolated incident.
An earlier version of that statement misspelled Mr. Rodriguez's name as Rodriquez, according to a report by Kansas City's local Fox television affiliate.
In a postgame interview, Mr. Rodriguez avoided questions about the episode and focused instead on his team's performance in fending off a second-half challenge and outlasting their opponents down the stretch. Kansas State defeated Southern Mississippi, 70-64.
"We were fortunate enough to take the punch and stop the bleeding by making another run and getting stops and executing on offense," Mr. Rodriguez said.
This month, a CBS News station in San Antonio reported on a high school basketball team's celebration, which was marred by what appeared to be a racially motivated chant of "U.S.A., U.S.A." by fans after a mostly white team defeated a team of mostly Hispanic players. The local schools superintendent apologized for the chant. "Obviously we were disappointed that this happened," the superintendent, Kevin Brown, told the station. "That's not who we are as a community."
But the characterization of that chant as racist precipitated its own cycle of outrage, as The Week reported.
Bad behavior by fans tends to be more clear cut, and often more extreme, outside of the United States, especially among soccer fans. In France, a police report found a resurgence of racism and white supremacy among fans, Agence France-Presse reported last month.
Video posted online, but since removed, was described by the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur as showing fans calling players "monkeys" during one August game. In January, according to the magazine, a player was arrested for making a Nazi salute. The news blog Rue89 said some fans of the team in Lyon had chanted "White Power, one color" during a recent match.
As for Thursday's chant, some found unintended humor in the fact that those asking taunting Mr. Rodriguez seemed not to realize that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States and those born there are American citizens.
"As a Puerto Rican I knew this could happen," wrote Jorge Rechazado, who identified himself on Twitter as a Texas resident. "I can't help but laugh at their absolute FAIL."
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