What is the world coming to? Seriously. Not being able to shout "airball?"
School cracks down on cheers Updated: Friday, 06 Mar 2009, 8:33 AM CST Published : Friday, 06 Mar 2009, 8:30 AM CST
...Fall is talking about the age-old cheers that fans have been shouting at Ashland ballgames for years. But now, some favorite cheers are forbidden...
"You can't turn your backs, you can't single out an opponent, you can't single out a team, you can't say anything negative," Olson said.
That includes using phrases like "sieve", "what's the score", "overrated", "airball," and singing "nah, nah, nah, nah, hey-hey-hey good bye".
The rules also forbid booing an official's call, waving arms or screaming during a foul shot in order to distract the attention of opponents, and throwing any object. During a recent Ashland basketball game, some students pushed the envelope...
"Sportsmanship" is a subjective term based on opinion, not hardened-fast precepts. What is "sportsmanlike" to one person or group may not be to another. Rules like this are bound to be broken.
joejlitz wrote:What is the world coming to? Seriously. Not being able to shout "airball?"
That would be insane.
My alma mater had a fan's code of conduct where you couldn't jeer anything against the opposition, but you could get away with a few "airball" chants. Besides, chanting in American sports is extremely tame compared to what you hear abroad.
Kensat30 wrote: What is the point of posts like this? Everyone on this board has an opinion and we all express them differently. People are different and obviously not everyone can get along, but like them or not, opinions hold value even if you disagree with them vehemently. Comments like this: "HA, YOU WERE WRONG", add zero value and I personally find them offensive. If this kind of weak crap is all you are going to add, why even post it? To prove that you are superior to someone you don't like?
Maybe it feels good to rub someone's face in it when you don't care for their personality, but for me that is just wasted space on a messageboard that I come to for information and debate.
If you don't like your team or the opposing team enough to be respectful, don't go to the game. If you want to reserve the right to boo, just save your money and your time and vote with your feet and wallet. Don't come to the game. Don't play in it. This is the type of BS that is wrong in America today. Too many kids get away with acting like punks and never learn about honor or the meaning of the word respect.
At the high school level, the trash talk mentality should not be encouraged or allowed. It's a pretty simple philsophy, children need rules in place or they are going to misbehave. You see this of attitude a lot today in predominantly black cultures where it has become cool for young people to be ignorant and even racist. When you talk trash and act inappropriately at a high school sporting event, you just make yourself look like an idiot and the people around you that actually enjoy watching the game are gonna get pissed off. Worse yet, your bad behavior is going to be accepted by your peers and it will become the norm taking away from the real purpose behind the event: fun and honest competition.
This is like paying $10 to go to a movie theater to watch a movie, and then have a 30 minute cell phone conversation while the movie is playing. It something an idiot has no problem doing and it pisses off the people who care about the movie. Same thing with pointing fingers at someone on an internet messageboard because they made a bad prediction. If no one made predictions or gave their opinions anymore, what would this board be? Just a collection of news stories.
If you don't mind, let's move that discussion to here: High School Sportsmanship Discussion Picking up where Kensat left off in an earlier thread.
I disagree.
If you don't like your team or the opposing team enough to be respectful, don't go to the game. If you want to reserve the right to boo, just save your money and your time and vote with your feet and wallet. Don't come to the game. Don't play in it. This is the type of BS that is wrong in America today. Too many kids get away with acting like punks and never learn about honor or the meaning of the word respect.
If you're just talking about the HS and collegiate level, I guess I agree. Kid-players don't need to be yelled at by adults. As an adult, if I go to a pro game and want to boo, that's what I am going to do. That's part of how I enjoy the game and that's what I pay my money to do. If you're talking about kids paying to go to HS games, I disagree. Kids are kids. They are competitive against each other. They and their schools have rivalries. Why shouldn't they be allowed to talk smack? I don't think that yelling out "Scoreboard!" or turning their backs while their opponents shoot freethrows describes children being "punks." Now if they were chanting "A$$hole! A$$hole!" or being racially insensitive, that's another story. There should be no place for that in HS sports.
At the high school level, the trash talk mentality should not be encouraged or allowed. It's a pretty simple philsophy, children need rules in place or they are going to misbehave. You see this of attitude a lot today in predominantly black cultures where it has become cool for young people to be ignorant and even racist. When you talk trash and act inappropriately at a high school sporting event, you just make yourself look like an idiot and the people around you that actually enjoy watching the game are gonna get pissed off. Worse yet, your bad behavior is going to be accepted by your peers and it will become the norm taking away from the real purpose behind the event: fun and honest competition.
I don't consider this type of thing as "misbehavior." Kids do lots of stuff that makes them look like idiots. That's the way kids are. But we let them be kids and they learn from it. Some days they get to yell "Scoreboard" and others they have to yell out "SAT" because their team really stinks. It can be a humbling experience and a life lesson. As for the "fun and honest competition" remark, I could be wrong, but I didn't think you were one of those posters who supports participation trophies (from reading other threads). I think sports should be fun and honest and I think sportsmanship is VERY important. But I think that most kids know where to draw the line with smack talk before it escalates into something physical. And I think a lot of schools have security guards and/or teachers who are on the look out for things like that.
This is like paying $10 to go to a movie theater to watch a movie, and then have a 30 minute cell phone conversation while the movie is playing. It something an idiot has no problem doing and it pisses off the people who care about the movie. Same thing with pointing fingers at someone on an internet messageboard because they made a bad prediction. If no one made predictions or gave their opinions anymore, what would this board be? Just a collection of news stories.
As an adult, I feel like a guest at a HS sporting event. The game is for the kids who play and the kids who go there. It is their atmosphere. I shouldn't have high expectations on what the atmosphere should be, so I'm not in total agreement with your movie theater analogy. Plus, at sporting events, people yell and cheer and make a lot of noise. As long as it doesn't cross the line of racism, profanity, or other globally offensive-type remarks, I think it should be allowed.
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by joejlitz » Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:46 pm 
