[BillyMac]

... The year prior, the same student section reportedly taunted Asian American and Polynesian players from Hunter High when the team visited Roy High for their annual basketball match-up. According to witnesses, the spectators called members of the visiting team “dog eaters.” … The student section did not repeat the slur at last month's game, opting instead to bark …

As a game official, not knowing what occurred last year, the barking by itself might not get my ears up, and I might just pass it off as super obnoxious distracting fan behavior not crossing any ethic/racial/etc. line in the sand.

... In addition to the barking, the Roy High students could be heard shouting other offensive comments, such as “go home and eat more rice.” ...

Now this would get my ears up that would lead to a tête-à-tête with the site director.

To show how bad things have gotten, for the first 90% of my officiating career the word "site director" hardly ever came up. Their most important job was seeing that the locker room door was unlocked for us at halftime and after the game, and they were only noticed (squeaky wheel) if they didn't do that simple job.

Now we use the word "site director" all the time in regard to fan behavior, and it comes up at almost every single local board meeting where we're encouraged to identify them as soon as we walk in the door and to be aware of where they are located throughout the game, even in my middle school games.

Over the past three years, or so, Connecticut interscholastic basketball (and other sports) has had many occurrences of racial epithets, some subtle, other not so subtle, from fans directed at both players and opposing fans, sometimes leading to fights among fans.

As a lifetime Connecticut native this embarrasses me.