A new flag set sail over Diddle Arena last week. In fact, three Sun Belt flags replaced those with the traditional Western logo.

The new flags symbolized a changing of the guard at Diddle for the six days it would host the the Sun Belt Conference basketball tournament.

I will call it the SBC evil regime.

The new regime invaded Bowling Green in mid-sized rental cars and over-sized charter busses, ready to abuse all the power they could get their hands on. All in the name of keeping Diddle as neutral as possible.

But what do you expect when you rally a group of desk jockeys together and toss them into the real world?

Armed with tan, button-down shirts with the regime’s evil insignia on the breast, SBC officials imposed their agenda of neutrality upon Western fans with great pleasure.

They even used mercenaries masked in campus police uniforms to enforce their brilliant scheme.

The ejection of our beloved Big Red at the tail end of the championship game represented the straw that broke the camel’s back for the regime.

The mascot that gained national recognition as a fun-loving leader of cheers was expected to stand in the corner and behave like a good little boy.

Give me a break! He is a mascot for crying out loud. Mascots are supposed to get the fans excited about the game!

But the evil regime felt otherwise and ordered their mercenaries to eject the lovable ball of fur after he paid a visit to the rowdy student section.

Repeated phone calls to Dr. Jeanne Boyd, Sun Belt Associate Commissioner of Championships went unreturned in an effort to find out whose rule it was to keep fans off the floor.

As confetti and balloons fell from the rafters following Western’s championship victory, police were busy creating a barrier on the stairs leading to the floor, preventing overjoyed students from celebrating the victory with their team.

Although an officer was injured in the chaos, any rule to try to stop the students from displaying their school spirit on national television is wrong.

The only thing missing from the post-game spectacle was pepper spray and swinging batons.

Students from North Carolina to Milwaukee-Wisconsin have been allowed to storm the court with little opposition in the past week.

The SBC must be above that kind of childish fun.

A comparison of last year’s SBC tournament in New Orleans to this year’s is staggering. Last year, Western’s conference title was won in front of a few hundred Topper fans and a handful of left over Mardi Gras revelers.

In the three games Western played this year, fans waited in line for hours to get seats.

Sounds like the SBC has a serious case of little man’s syndrome. They aren’t big enough to escape their distinction of being a mid-major conference, so they take it out on the fans of the perennial champion.

The Sun Belt made a crucial mistake this weekend. You never bite the hand that feeds you, and without Western fans, the SBC tournament would have resembled a funeral.

A funeral with the SBC as the guest of honor.

Reach Michael Casagrande at [email protected].