Officials Weigh Booing Ban at High School Games
Some High School Sporting Officials in Washington State Want to Throw Unsportsmanlike Behavior Off the Field
(http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/ESPNSports/story?id=2922183&page=1&GMA=true)
March 4, 2007 — - From brawls on professional basketball courts to out-of-control parents at Little League games, unsportsmanlike behavior can be a problem.
Now, some high school sporting officials in Washington state are considering tough new rules -- including a ban on booing.
Those who support the ban say that too often, spectators are cruel.
"It's the organized effort to try to intimidate or try to make fun of someone that becomes personal in nature that can escalate then into other concerns that we might have," said Mike Colbrese, executive director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
Colbrese and his colleagues said they have trouble hiring coaches and referees because of the abuse they take. By banning booing from the stands, they believe they can create a more welcoming environment on the court and field.
Experts agree that behavior at school sports events is not what it used to be.
"Parents are more intense, family members are more intense, siblings are more intense," said Christine Brennan, a USA Today sports columnist and ABC News consultant. "Everything is ratcheted up."
The Interscholastic Association claims it just wants to reinforce good sportsmanship.
"I'm trying to figure out why people think booing is acceptable in the first place," Colbrese said.
The Boo Police?
At the Washington state high school basketball championships Saturday night, the fans were on their best behavior. But some weren't pleased that their right to boo might be taken away.
"The crowd should be able to say what they want to say," said one woman. "They pay their money. They should be able to boo if they want to.
Another fan was skeptical about how officials could police booing.
"What are they going to do, put everybody out of the stadium?" she asked.
Even Brennan can't picture a stadium free of negative commentary from the stands.
"I wouldn't know what to do if I were at a sporting event and no one booed," she said.
For now, spectators of high school sports can heckle and holler with the best of them. But if officials have their way in Washington state, fan behavior will improve -- no ifs, ands or boos.
Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures
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How far overboard is this going to go? Come on people!
First, we stop teachers from marking papers and grading tests and assignments in red ink because it's "too harsh" and may inadvertently hurt students self-esteem. Of course it has to be hurting their self-esteem! We can't be using red ink to, say, help the comments and grades stand out from the blue and black inks that kids are using!
And now this. No booing allowed at high school games? Are these people serious?
Bad things happen in the world. That's a given. There is disease, there are bad people who will hurt other people, there's war... I don't even know if I could list all the bad things that these children will be exposed to in their lifetime.
And the more we try to shelter children from this harsh reality, the harder it will be for them to react appropriately when it happens to them.
When are we going to get out of this "out of sight out of mind" mentality? It doesn't work, and it never has. Yes, children need guidance and direction; yes they should be spared whatever hardships we can spare them, but we shouldn't hide them away from the world that is in a lame effort to mask the atrocities that are there.
Doesn't this go against the idea of free speech? People have the right to boo. The players and coaches should know not to take it personally. I'm against this because it's just ridiculous.
Lessons are part of life, and never should they be taken away. When a teacher marks a grade, regardless of the grade, on my paper in red ink or marker, it does not bother me. I do not understand the difference to the reason why a person cares what color a grade is in. Life is hard, if someone needs to understand that the best place to understand that, for me, was in school. Just as well with booing, I have been booed on the basketball court and when I received academic awards. It is part of life. In order to be successful in life one must learn to take the good with the bad. I am sorry if children don't like rejection because I know it hurts, but all the pain someone goes through only serves to make them stronger in the end.
Another important lesson is that even though other people are hostile and like to harass people, it's a bad idea to do it yourself.
Punishing students for it teaches them that lesson, which lessens a problem (long-term) instead of just telling those who aren't a part of it to "get over it."
That's the definition of social progressivism, I might add.
Of course you will always have somebody that is hostile and makes life hard. But no one ever, in my lifetime at least, has ever said to me life is easy. Yes, you should teach your children to be the better person and not stoop to another's level of stupidy, however, Isaac has a point. School sports are meant to help raise a student's self-confidence. And you said below, people screaming insults and booing at the students can hurt them in the long run, BUT NOT EVERYONE. What you fail to see is that not everyone is the same, therefore, you have one student who is being booed and screamed at and he grows up just fine, no problems. Then you have a student who is screamed and booed at and yet, he/she goes and shoots up the school or grows up to murder people for fun. You said before you shouldn't boo yourself, yes, and you should teach your children to not boo or insult and scream at people. So therefore, it isn't the people booing or insulting the students that's the problem. IF you raise your student to be the more self-controlled and logical person than their peers, then no matter how bad it hurts to be booed at or insulted they WILL get over it and move on. Life is hard and getting over that fact and moving on is how people exist and move to make it better.
So because some students aren't hurt by other students' disrespectful behavior, disrespectful behavior shouldn't be against the rules? Parents don't have a lot of control over how their kids act at school beyond what school/school activity rules say, because they won't find out if there's no rule broken.
I'm unbothered by public nudity and teenagers making out in school hallways. Some other people are unbothered by this too. They're considered inappropriate for the same reason--that they make people uncomfortable and distract them despite doing them no physical harm or material damage.
"Free speech?"
"Red Ink?"
A thousand teenagers screaming insults at a group of students trying to do their best at something they have invest hours a day in isn't the same as a legitimate teacher evaluation for quality of work.
Harassment is illegal because it infringes on others' rights. Screaming insults at someone, or harassment, is intended to hurt their confidence and their performance.
High school sports aren't about fanatical, victory-obsessed fans, they are about building student confidence, and often scholarship opportunities.
Preventing students from harassing each other isn't putting a problem "out of sight out of mind," it's discouraging students from creating problems.
More specifically, the WIAA exists to:
Recognize that the primary responsibility of secondary schools is to educate youth;
Establish standards to insure the safety, health and general welfare of all participants;
Protect students, schools and personnel from exploitation by special interest groups;
Emphasize interscholastic activities as an integral part of the total educational process; (you don't encourage booing in PE class or in a high school theater, do you?)
Formulate and maintain policies which will cultivate the ideals of good sportsmanship;
Design all activities to provide for fair and equal opportunities for all participants;
Promote uniformity of standards in interscholastic activities;
Provide a clear channel of communication for member school districts;
Recognize excellence in performance as a result of training and practice in the competitive process.
Encourage and promote diversity of its membership at all levels of the Association.
This seems to be one of those many pointless things that people dwell over way too much when we could be spending our time on more important matters. You said it perfectly when you stated that "Bad things happen in the world. That's a given. There is disease, there are bad people who will hurt other people, there's war... I don't even know if I could list all the bad things that these children will be exposed to in their lifetime." Instead of concentrating our time on mindless topics that many will not think twice about lets concentrate what little time we have on this world for progression on a world wide scale on events that matter. Another very good post Fanaile Essence.
If you like debating about topics such as this one I encourage you to visit this cool site, The Last Forefront (www.lastforefront.com). It has a recently upgraded forum that makes it easy to share your views and read about
What "events that matter" should the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association spend its time on?
I may not have been specific enough when I stated events that matter. I do realize that the WIAA may find this to be an important subject but many do not. As to what the WIAA should spend their time on is not my place to say. Perhaps the people involved in the organization that are pushing for booing to be stopped could spend their time in other organizations that are working toward making more profound changes rather than just sportsmanship, although that is important.
The trouble with saying "more important issues exist, therefore this one shouldn't be dealt with" is that most issues seem trivial in comparison to other issues. Abortion versus genocide. Animal cruelty versus sexual predation. There are six billion people to have a "cause." If these problems aren't solved it isn't because of people who are trying to fix small problems, it's because of people who are trying to fix no problems, or who are creating them.
More to the point, the Executive Board of the WIAA is made up of professional school administrators. Their profession is to keep order in schools. Sportsmanship is about respect, and respect is important for order in education and in a professional environment. For the players, that's what the game is. If nobody went to school sports games, the teams would still be there, because high school sports are about the players developing as people. It is not "ridiculous" for a group of school administrators to do their job.
"In the real world," it is not acceptable to harass people you're competing with--in anything. Professional sports allow it, but professional sports fans frequently move from booing to breaking and throwing things. It's a dangerous mentality and has no place at school-sponsored events.
fans who grow out of control...need to have some self control. then we wouldnt have to think of banning booing. it's just so rediculous. at taekwondo events ive participated in, parents are only allowed to yell certain cheers. and martial arts doesnt get out of control like these crazy little league events do. i mean theres always going to be booing. its part of the experience... people just need more self control. just my opinion. peace
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I can't believe this. It's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
Alright, well, yes, I agree with Lastforefront. There is way to much death, poverty, orphans, and even life threatening diseases in this world to worry about "Booing." I used to go to the local college hockey games, and god the booing IS PART of what spectators do. It's tradition. Are we all going to get punished for Booing the opposite team, or the ref, or whatever. Now if people are throwing things, it's probably not the whole crowd, am I right? Society at a whole is not that stupid or angry. Maybe a parent or 2 at a high school game get's upset at some unfairness and lets it get out of line, but that doesn't mean the whole crowd does. It can't be can it? Not the whole crowd is for the same team anyway.
Seriously, things like these are going to cause problems. If people with power are going to go overboard someday. If Booing is outlawed in crowds, whats next, huh? Seriously. America is no longer going to be a free country. If more ridiculous things like this come up, we're going to have to watch every tiny thing we say or do.
Here in Fairbanks, the jail is full, so those convicts who have charges that are less serious have to wait to serve their time until there is room for them in the jail. Now think of what is going to happen in a few years if ridiculous things like "Booing" is reason for a person to be jailed. Do YOU want your taxes lowered or increased? I know what I'M SAYING sounds ridiculous, but it's a possiblity. You can't make society perfect, no matter how hard anyone tries.
You speak as though high school is a constitutional democracy rather than an academic and social training facility.
How do I do that? I'm saying that it's petty a thing to worry about. And if stuff like this continues to be big debate issues then it's going to make everyones lives twice as hard. For example. About 2 or so months ago I heard on our local radio station a man was sentenced to jail for 2 years for playing his radio to loud and giving his neighbor migraines. Do you think that man should have been sentenced to jail at all? If things like this keep happening all of our jails are gonna be full for people who barely did anything, and we're all going to be paying more taxes.
I'll agree with the other responses and the blog on one thing: this rule really isn't important.
It's not important for a news story, or for a blog, or for a big discussion.
For a regularly-scheduled Washington Interscholastic Activities Association board meeting, however, this is about on the level of dress code and ticket prices. It's trivial when it makes the news, but it's their job.
The whole reason this discussion is happening is that a reporter decided that the WIAA student behavior policy was somehow newsworthy. The only explanation for that is sensationalism. The idea that this would be a big "boo battle" is irritating and offensive to many people, so by making it sound like one the reporter gets them to read the story.
I'll agree with the other responses and the blog on one thing: this rule really isn't important.
It's not important for a news story, or for a blog, or for a big discussion.
For a regularly-scheduled Washington Interscholastic Activities Association board meeting, however, this is about on the level of dress code and ticket prices. It's trivial when it makes the news, but it's their job.
The whole reason this discussion is happening is that a reporter decided that the WIAA student behavior policy was somehow newsworthy. The only explanation for that is sensationalism--it's not the importance of the information, but the shock value of the story. The idea that this would be a big "boo battle" is irritating and offensive to many people, so by making it sound like one the reporter gets them to read the story.