Saturday's college basketball game between the Arkansas State Red Wolves and the Texas State Bobcats was interrupted by a wheelchair-bound fan. He rushed the court while wearing a shirt with the rather coarse message, "I love M*LFS."
The incident was captured on video as expected and has been reposted who-knows-how-many times by now. Here is the moment itself, with the video being shared on X by The Field of 68:
It all happened when Arkansas State guard Caleb Fields was shooting free throws--a relatively "safe" situation for the fan rushing the court as the players were idling in the lane.
As one could clearly see, the fan's wheelchair was promptly taken off the court. The broadcasters, as expected, pointed out and commented on the fan's very "inappropriate" attire as the court rusher was escorted. They also said that they believe the incident was "staged," but there's no clear, verifiable information saying it was.
But apparently, the story doesn't end there.
How did the 'I love M*LFS' guy get onto the court?
As per several X users, the person who escorted the wheelchair guy out also pushed his wheelchair onto the court (via WhiskeyRiff, original post on X). So far, it seems nobody has been able to identify who the two people are, but fans have had their theories to try to explain the incident.
Some on the web believe that the guy was doing (or at least was forced to) some sort of daring that he might've lost. Either way, there is no immediately available and verifiable information on the identities of the wheelchair guy and the person who escorted him off the court.
Avery Felts scored 17 points as Arkansas State defeated Texas State 79-72.
Fan interruptions are rare, but nothing new in college basketball
Fan interruptions are rare in sports, mainly because events always have security at hand to prevent them. There was no security available at the Arkansas State-Texas State game to stop the wheelchair guy rushing the court.
As a result, this incident at the Bobcats and Red Wolves game is nothing new. It's not even the first one during the past couple of months, as another fan also interrupted the game between Lindenwood and IUPUI last December. The fan tried to check into the game, wearing a full LeBron James jersey:
Like the "I love M*LFS" guy, the fan was promptly escorted off the court by venue security with no further incident.
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