Originally Posted, Saturday, January 30, 2010
I’m going to tell you up front, this blog entry may step on some toes, but I feel strongly that this needs to be said, so if this makes you mad, so be it, but more than likely, if you’re one of the angry ones then you need to take a step back and think about what I’m about to say.
On the front page of the program for the Spring Hill High School Invitational Basketball tournament is the following statement.
“As a member of the Kansas State High School Activities Association, Spring Hill High School supports good sportsmanship at all our our school’s activities. We want you to cheer enthusiastically FOR your team, but not AGAINST the other teams, their fans or the officials. We want these games to be enjoyable for every individual. Remember, all participants are trying to the fullest extent of their ability. Please remember to appreciate their efforts through your courtesy.”
The most telling part of this statement is the part that says to cheer enthusiastically FOR your team but not AGAINST the other teams, their fans or the officials.
Unfortunately, in the last three or four games I have attended there have been glaring examples of how NOT to abide by this simple statement and I’m going to cite each now.
In the seventh place game of the Spring Hill Tournament, between Louisburg and Bishop Ward, there were understandably few fans in the seats for the 11:30 a.m. tipoff. Spring Hill has a large, beautiful main gym, and there were probably less than 100 people there, few cheerleaders and no pep bands, needless to say you could hear just about every conversation in the building, every squeak of a shoe, every coaches instruction, and every officials call.
There was one fan in particular who was berating the officials unmercifully, questioning just about every call, for or against his team. The officials heard him, yes they did, in fact, during time outs late in the game, the official visited with me about the loud mouthed fan. He expressed his disdain for the treatment he was receiving and said he wished he could just go up in the stands and hand the fan his shirt and whistle and tell him “if you think you can do better, here you go!”
The problem was, if the official had done that, the fan would have vehemently refused the offer.
The second example occurred Wednesday night in the semi-final game of the Louisburg girls tournament between Louisburg and Belton. It was a close game, the Wildcats trailed several times by as much as ten points, but kept coming back and finally won the game by three points.
Now the Louisburg student body has some of the best support of any school around. This night there was a large contingent of boys cheering on the girls and that’s great!
The problem I had was this, some of the cheers and cheering tactics used in the college ranks have started to filter their way down to the high school and it goes against everything that the above statement embodies.
The guys were cheering AGAINST Belton as hard as they were cheering FOR Louisburg. The were yelling during free throws, doing the “Boing, Boing, WOOOO!” cheer as the Pirates brought the ball down court and passed in their offense, and finally, when a Belton player fouled out, they mocked the player by doing the “LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT . . . SIT DOWN!” cheer as the player returned to the bench.
These are HIGH SCHOOL athletes, some are freshmen and sophomores, 14, 15, and 16 year olds, they should not be berated and yelled at while they are still trying to LEARN to play the game. Good sportsmanship needs to be nurtured at this level, not destroyed.
Finally, last night at the Paola High School boys game with Eudora, a Eudora fan sat one row behind and just off to the side of the Cardinal bench. He was rude, obnoxious and classless in his treatment of the officials. He questioned every call that went against his team, and every call that went for Paola.
Don’t think the officials couldn’t hear him, I heard him and I’m about as close to the court as you can get without being inside the lines. I could hear this guy at the other end of the floor during the second half.
Something needs to be done, and here’s what I think should happen:
When a fan, a group of fans, or the entire student body gets out of hand, the officials should warn the offending team’s bench that the fans are out of control and are not abiding by the rules of good sportsmanship and common decency. It can be up the the bench, i.e. the Head Coach or Athletic Director, to get the offending parties under control.
If the behavior continues, the officials should assess a technical foul to the bench of the offending fan or group of fans.
If that does not stop the behavior, then a second technical should be assessed, which would mean the head coach of the offending team would be kicked out of the game an would be asked to leave the gymnasium. If a few of these jerks saw their behavior get their head coach kicked out, the behavior would stop.
Kicking the fans out doesn’t do the trick, most of the time they just sneak back in, find a different place to sit and keep quiet for a game, then it’s right back to the same old crap the next game.
The high school game should be fun, sure there’s pressure, but let’s let the kids be kids while they can, and let’s let everybody play the game, after all, it’s just a game!
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