Extreme fan behavior

In my many year covering high school basketball, I’ve heard some pretty creative taunts from various student sections. A few years back during Shaun Green’s senior year, a game between Skyline and Olympus took the cake as the two student sections offered up witty taunt after witty taunt.

This witty bantering is decreasing, however, as administrators perhaps overly censor what their students are saying at games. After all Murray’s administrators wouldn’t even let Murray’s student body chant ‘warm up the bus’ at the end of Friday’s game. To their credit, the students just started jingling their keys.

Based on a few emails I received on Friday night and Saturday morning, I can see why certain schools are overly cautious because it sounds like things got out of control on Friday in Utah County.

Here are three emails I received, and I will let the readers judge for themselves:

….

1. Tonight I took my kids, ages 14, 12, 9, and 7 to the Mountain View vs. Provo High basketball game. The sophomore and JV games went on without a hitch. However, sitting through the varsity game was very difficult, and by the end of the game I felt like I was in a prison. We were subjected to vile, racial, obscene, rude and very distasteful language and gestures. All of this came from the student body from Provo High. After listening to multiple taunts (such as attacks on their looks) at the players and officials, someone yelled ‘screw you’. I stood up and said ‘hey watch your language, there are little kids here’. As soon as I turned around and sat down, someone yelled ‘expletive’. That hurts to even type that. I felt totally violated. I was shaking and offended and appalled that students from another high school would come into our gym and have such a lack of manners. I went back into the stands to where I heard it from and asked who said it. No one had the courage to even say who said it. Then I asked whoever said it to leave because we didn’t want that kind of language used. An assistant principle and someone who I believe was a counselor from Provo came up and said they’d take care of it, so I went back and sat down.

Almost as soon as I sat down the crude language started up again and when I looked back at the ‘counselor’ and the assistant principle they were smiling and laughing and giving high fives to the students from where the offense had occurred.

Occasionally I would look back and try to see who was using such bad language and being so rude, and when I did I would see kids holding up their middle fingers, although not directly at me.

I feel great disappointment in the lack of standards from the students at Provo High, but also a lack of respect for the administrators of the school and also for the parents. None of the parents of the players said anything about this behavior. In fact after the game, a players mother told me that I just needed to train my children at home to ignore that kind of language because they will hear it at school any ways.

I feel frustrated that no one is willing to take any responsibility to fix an obvious problem. The coaches, administrators, and parents are all just as much to blame as the students, because they did nothing about the behavior. If this is what high school sports is about at Provo High, then perhaps they should do away with athletics completely. I have no desire to go to any more games involving Provo. I feel like I’m being force to stop supporting my son and his team because of the fear of being verbally accosted. That is a situation no parent should have to face.

I hope that something will be done about this problem. A high school sporting event should be a ‘safe’ place for families. My 7 year old should never have to hear the kind of language she heard tonight, but especially at a basketball game. The speech at the beginning of each game regarding sportsmanship is of little value if no one at Provo High will enforce it. A win is the only thing that seems to matter in the minds of those associated with Provo High. I personally would rather have the loss, and still have some integrity.

….

2. I know you are just a sports reporter guy, and I’m just an athlete’s Mom, but I just need to say something to someone. Our MVHS boys played Provo tonight. I was sitting with my camera directly in front of the Provo cheer squad and within moments of the start of the game, I could tell we were in for an offensive, rude, unacceptable and disrespectful evening. From the beginning un-sportsman-like cheer as our boys ran onto the court, there was nothing but crude and offensive chants and language hurled our direction. The several times I stood to ask them to please watch their language, I was mocked and laughed at and told to sit down. Amazingly, their parents, seated nearby, seemed unconcerned at the foul language that kept being shouted at us. Finally we asked officials to come and escort those kids out of our home. There were no adults supervising them or controlling them. Their were no officials from there school who seemed to have any authority over their actions. Their parents laughed and thought it was funny. In the mean time our children were hearing language that was totally unacceptable.

I could go on and on.

I just wish something could be done about the crude and rude behavior of the kids in our schools. It was especially disturbing that the Parents of those kids got such a kick out of their behavior. I actually got lectured from a players mother about how their behavior was perfectly fine and kids in every school hallway talk like that and swear like that and if we didn’t like it, ”welcome to the real world.” Well, that’s not a world I want to be in.

The whole experience of playing Provo was horrible. I hope that someone somewhere will teach those kids some better behavior. All participants, from their coach to their nonexistent faculty advisors took no responsibility or care for their deplorable behavior. We had to have our children leave or put iPod earplugs in to escape the foul language.

I wish something could be done. Please limit the glory you give them in whatever you write up. It was an unacceptable evening.

…

3. I hope this e-mail is heard and someone can do something about it. I was at the Provo -Mountain View Basketball game on Friday night. From the start the attitude and trash talk from the Provo student body was making me very uncomfortable! I was sitting in front of the student body and was shocked to hear the disrespect and vulgarity coming from those kids. At one point one of them said “expletive” to one of MVHS players. A few of the parents stood up and asked them not to use that language, they had little kids that heard it. One of the students yelled to this mother “expletive” (I’m sure you can fill in the blanks). Then a few Dads stood up – the kids just confronted the request of grown men and kept it up. Soon a police men and a couple of adults from Provo came up and tried to put a stop to it. Well, after the police man left. They started it up again and the Provo lady who had shown up to talk to the kids – just stood there with a smile on her face as they continued showing their lack of intelligence. They also started throwing racist slurs at an Asian woman sitting next to me. I was appalled to say the least! The Provo parents laughed it off – the coaches shrugged it off – and the students get away with it! They are the #1 team and yet they have NO CLASS it’s sad to say they learn it from those they look up to. Please do something – Please.

….

I imagine this will be a highly charged topic, so I?m curious what our readers think?