A fun time was had by all over the weekend when the Syracuse University men's basketball team played host to the Duke Blue Devils.

Saturday night, 35,446 people crammed into the Carrier Dome, which was not only a record-setter, it made the Dome temporarily the 56th largest community in the state of New York.

Tens of thousands more watched on TV.

And afterward, everybody had a great story to share about SU's 91-89 win in overtime.

Everybody except Leslie Gilman and Shane Hackett.

They are two Duke fans from the Rochester area who were sitting in section 113 across from the student section. They were tossed out of the Dome by a security guard who, according to eyewitnesses, watched every move they made from just after halftime until 20 seconds were left in overtime, when he ejected them.

You can read details in staff writer's John O'Brien's story, but suffice it to say Syracuse University appears to owe the couple not only a public apology, but their money back and an invitation to the chancellor's suite for the next home Duke game.

From what we have learned from witnesses, the guard became some kind of discipline stalker. He harassed the pair of fans and swore at them repeatedly; engaging in just the kind of behavior he was being paid to prevent.

Look, we know it's easy to get caught up in the moment and sometimes grownups act like jerks - even though the length of time that passed here went way beyond "a moment."

And we understand that when a crowd of fans wearing orange whips itself into a tribal frenzy, it's tempting to convince yourself that picking on fans in blue is somehow helping the home team.

But honestly, verbal abuse and ejections?

SU officials say they're looking into the incident. We urge them to take the complaint seriously and act quickly because bullies in uniform are a menace. SU fans, no doubt, will be in attendance when the Orange visit Duke on Feb. 22, and we would expect them to be treated with respect.

In the meantime, we hope Gilman and Hackett will not hold this encounter against all Orange fans, some of whom are rightfully speaking up in their defense.

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