At least no fires were set along Route 1 in College Park in celebration of the Terrapins’ rousing victory over the Cavaliers in Charlottesville on Saturday night.
At least no property was destroyed. At least no revelers were arrested.
It was a slow night for the Maryland State Police, the U.S. Park Police and the University of Maryland Police.
It was a time to celebrate both the double-overtime success of the basketball team and the absence of police overtime afterward.
You could call this a tiny step forward in the ongoing effort to take the mayhem out of the basketball program.
As it is, too many of the red-faced basketball fans at the university are still struggling to hold their pyromania tendencies in check.
It has become something of a mini-tradition in College Park to burn and cause havoc along the Route 1 business district after the Gary Williams-led team has scored a basketball coup.
Outsiders are left to scratch their heads in puzzlement, most recently after the Terps defeated the Blue Devils nine days ago, which resulted in burning, destruction of property and 15 arrests.
The student-inspired drill has become so old by now, so tired, that it merits only a passing mention in newspapers and on the airwaves. It seems there is an element of conditioning in all the parties. The Terps win; the students burn. And we yawn. That is what they do at the University of Maryland. The final horn sounds, and the euphoric dolts reach for a match.
You would hate to be the business owner who has to foot an increasing insurance premium because of this foolishness. Being in a fire zone is as problematic as having a home on a flood plain.
These poor business owners, interested or not, are in the distasteful position of having to follow the fortunes of a basketball team. A big win necessitates an unscheduled appearance at their store in order to protect their livelihoods and property.
By now, especially following the death of an innocent bystander on the periphery of a raucous celebration in Boston last fall, you would hope that the Maryland knuckleheads would have a clue. Nothing good ever comes out of a mob scene. You merely are putting elements into motion that result in bad consequences, or worse.
The students do not necessarily burn alone, as officials and authorities have pointed out. Those who have no connection to the university obviously know where to go to act out their bad intentions.
The students at Maryland, in trying to outdo the Cameron Crazies, merely have succumbed to bad taste. Their profane attempts to be cute during a game reveal a lack of wit. At least the Cameron Crazies come up with an amusing chant on occasion.
All this detracts from the game in what is the premier basketball conference in the nation.
No sideshow is necessary, really. Just let the players enjoy the atmosphere.
But in this age of so many desperately seeking to be noticed — to the point of eating icky stuff on reality shows — the Maryland students figure this is their way to be more than a footnote of the event.
Inside the arena, they are victims of fuddy-duddies who are not hip to the young generation. Outside the arena, they are victims of police who overreact to mobs.
They inevitably stick to various versions of these claims amid the objections.
In a way, as they see it, it is all just a big misunderstanding.
Funny, if it was their property at risk, the Maryland students would be clamoring for police to swing into action.
There would be no misunderstanding then.
See that student’s laptop computer on the desk there?
Why don’t we drop it from the top floor of the dormitory in joyous honor of the 16-8 Terps?
That would be kind of neat, don’t you think? No?
Please, let’s stay in the moment.
We can drop the laptop computer from the top of the dormitory and worry about it later.
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