Ok, since none of you seem willing to help me, I've had to do research. One of the better theories I came across was that they were using shorthand to symbolize བར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ. In sports fan language that's the Tibetan Book of the Dead, as annotated by one Richard Gere(sans gerbil).
Interestingly enough, this relates directly to what SU fans are experiencing now. Instead of one death, these folks embrace multiple bardos. It's somewhat akin to the cultural insight Adam Sandler shared with, "Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights". The Tibetan text describes, and is intended to guide one through, the experiences that the consciousness has after death, in the
bardo, the interval between death and the next
rebirth. Without these instructions, it can be a wild and very confusing journey, and it can be easy to get lost and not know where you are or what to do. The way I see it, that is where Syracuse fans are right now...kind of in some in between state not knowing if we are alive or dead.
Some of us are like the fellow in the movie Johnny Got His Gun (
www.imdb.com/title/tt0067277/), which was later immortalized for another generation by the Metallica song "One", and given to yet more generations by me, here. Now this fellow had circumstances worse than our own, and similarly wanted to check out early like the guy who inspired the Van Halen song, "Jump", and like folks who already want to be certain the team is dead. Earlier, a thread had asked something along the lines of "what could be worse?". Rather than bore or gross people out with my own experiences, I figured the answer could be imagining these lyrics as
literal, instead of as a metaphor to our current experience:
I can't remember anything
Can't tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me
Now that the war is through with me
I'm waking up, I can now see
That there is not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please, God, wake me
Back to the womb that's much too real
In pumps life that I must feel
But can't look forward to reveal
Look to the time when I'll live
Fed through the tube that sticks in me
Just like a wartime novelty
Tied to machines that make me be
Cut this life off from me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please, God, wake me
Now the world is gone, I'm just one
Oh God, help me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please, God, help me
Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell
(Mind you, the video has spoken lines from the movie clips that are important to the song, and maybe even one's consideration of existence itself, that are not printed above)
So folks, I still am not sure about this intentional foul signal from fans when there is no such action in the games. It could be that the fans are choosing the symbol closest to death in hoops, a violent foul? Maybe it is their way of saying they wish to be put out of their own misery and move on? It's becoming more difficult for me to get inside the heads of some courtside fans these days.
Certainly we have seen people in their own ways longing for this quickened death. If nothing else, this can serve as a reminder that death may not be quite as cut and dried as we have been taught it is. I think our current experience in this paralyzed state of limbo as fans can help us appreciate this, and maybe be the best preparation to help the Westernized heathen to understand what lies beyond. Or maybe the fans are speaking in code to aliens in some sort of sign language I dont understand. This is the best I could come up with so far. Maybe I could sue Twitter for the emotional distress the fan's antics have caused me? Maybe I'd lose because I'm not dancing around naked in a Red Roof Inn, and am not famous? Or maybe the silly acting fan was trying to help us all keep things on
context? Either way, I'm going to rock out to "One" and contemplate it a bit further as I await selection Sunday, which in more Western terms could be thought of as the final judgement. Will we get a truck stop instead of St Peter's?
Yes Otto, the mantle indeed is heavy, but you reminded me to keep it in context and to do what we can. I will endeavor to solve the mystery at some point. Your encouragement helped me during a troubling time and still motivates me. But darn you twitter, this week was hard enough without you putting more on my plate!