This week, a group of hockey fans in North Dakota raised eyebrows after they showed up at a game apparently dressed like members of the Ku Klux Klan, according to several media reports.
The three fans, who were photographed in the stands at the state high school semi-final game between Grand Forks Red River High School and Fargo Davies on Friday, were seemingly dressed in typical Klansman regalia -- white robes and pointed hats covering their bodies and faces.
According to North Dakota news website Inforum, the trio was sitting with a crowd of Red River students, who were also dressed in white.
Shane Schuster, a student at the University of North Dakota, posted a photo of the three Red River supporters on Twitter early Saturday morning:
I guess the red river highschoolers are racist? @caitlinknoell @thor_skoe @hunterhalonen @rosslien #wtf twitter.com/ShaneSchuster/…
— Shane Schuster (@ShaneSchuster) February 23, 2013
However, as Deadspin points out, school administrators have seemed rather nonchalant in light of the incriminating photograph.
"To be very honest, I think you’re looking for something that is not there,” Fargo Public Schools Athletic Director Todd Olson told the Grand Forks Herald, adding that "white-outs" (the tradition of fans donning all-white garb to hockey games) are an accepted practice.
Fargo Davies Head Coach Brian Davidson, who said he did not see the hooded supporters, called the idea of fans dressing up as the KKK "pretty tacky."
According to Inforum, Mark Rerick, the athletic director of Grand Forks Public Schools, and Bill Chase, head coach of Red River, have "declined to comment on the incident."
However, Lou Babiarz, sports editor at the Bismarck Tribune, tweeted on Saturday afternoon that Rerick had contacted him about the Red River fans:
No word yet as to what this email said.
h/t: Sports Grid