ESPN's Wilbon on UVA: 'I wish they'd kept the sign ban'

By Lindsay Barnes III |
Published online 12:26pm Tuesday Oct 7th, 2008
and in print issue #0741 dated Thursday Oct 9th, 2008

Michael Wilbon, seen here on the set, has co-hosted ESPN's daily talk show Pardon the Interruption since 2001.
PHOTO BY BEN GOODNIGHT/FLICKR

It turns out that not everyone in the national media was against the ban on signs at UVA sporting events. A month after his colleague Rick Reilly said Mr. Jefferson's University was guilty of "good ol' fashioned totalitarianism" for the clampdown on signs, Washington Post columnist and co-host of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption Michael Wilbon came down in favor of the erstwhile ban yesterday.

Responding to a question about the ban in a live chat on the Post website, Wilbon said, "I wish they'd kept the ban. Signs get in everybody else's way, which is mostly self-indulgent. Why do people feel the need to do everything except watch the game? Drink to excess, hold up signs...for what?

"I don't get it," Wilbon continued. "I don't want to have to ask some inconsiderate person in front of me to put down his stupid sign so I can see the game I paid to see. Sorry."

On Thursday, October 2, UVA announced it was lifting the ban in time for Saturday's home football game against Maryland. Athletic director Craig Littlepage reasoned in a press release that the ban had, "become a distraction and has taken the focus away from supporting our student-athletes."

2 comments

Music Lover October 8th, 2008 | 8:47am

Actually, Wilbon has a point. At the old RFK Stadium the Redskins would allow signs placed on the wall or over the railings, but would not allow signs that were held in such a way as to block somebody's view. The team and stadium were always very vigilant about that policy, and it never stopped fans from expressing themselves in a variety of ways.

Mariane Matera October 19th, 2006 | 9:17pm

You are right, Sherlock. It is the Times-Dispatch.