10 Heels Taken to Hospital; 21 Spartans Arrested

08 Apr 2009

The aftermath of a NCAA Championship nearly always produces the same results: the fires burn, the streets are painted, people body surf, your bud gets a traffic cone melted to his arm, and there are some arrests. However, during the chaos that followed the 2009 UNC vs Michigan State championship game, there was a peculiar outcome.

It seems that over 10 times the amount of people were arrested in East Lansing at 21 people, compared to 2 being arrested in Chapel Hill. Police in East Lansing reported 12 fires and a crowd of 1,700 people outside an apartment complex. In comparison, only 10 people were taken to the hospital and a total of 26 were treated for injuries in the victor’s home streets.

Rioting after a loss is nothing new, but I have only heard of this if there was a shot at the losing team winning. In this case, the game was over by the first television time out. At that point, it was time to either lay off the booze or begin drinking until you believed the Spartans won.

And just to make a point: there were 30,000 plus people packed into Franklin Street, many of which made the trip from the notoriously violent city of Durham. Yet, we all celebrated in harmony and only TWO managed to be cuffed.

Franklin Street: The Celebration from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.

Timelapse: Franklin Street after the victory from The Daily Tar Heel on Vimeo.