Good grief. Even as a a-hole teenager I didn't chant crap like that.

Only because you weren't smart enough to think of it? :D:rolleyes::p

I swear this is true, College of Wooster girls volleyball team had C.O.W on the leg of their shorts. 1981 but still seemed wrong! They were not tiny girls mostly.

So you have a problem with a group of kids calling a goalie a "sieve"? When you are letting a lot of goals get past you, you are indeed a "sieve".

I don't know where some of you soft wimps come from, but it seems like your kind is taking over the world. We can't say anything that even one person might interpret as demeaning. You pick on a kid for one second and you are a bully guilty of bullying. There are already plenty of leagues/sports for youth that don't keep score because Little Johnny or Little Sally might get beat and have their ego ruined for life.

People in this world need to relax, grow a thicker skin, and learn to ignore other people. I'm so tired of the "offended" crowd screaming to get their way.

Believe me when I say that I've never been part of the "offended" crowd. I'd never suggest to turn off the scoreboard.

Calling an NHL goalkeeper a sieve is one thing. Saying that to a 14-year-old in a high school setting is simply not appropriate. The NFHS and every one of its member organizations tell us to teach/preach sportsmanship to our youth. This is not good sportsmanship.

Kids are going to sometimes cross the line. That is what adults are for. That is what teachers and administrators are for. And if you think kids will not call a big girl in their mind names from the cheerleading squad, we are even more naive. I agree it is not appropriate, but this outrage is funny. Kids when I was coming up said a lot worse and then some. But we knew that if we said those things out loud we would likely get in trouble.

All I hope is that we do not have to police this when half of the things said we will not really be paying attention to or understand. There are jokes between schools that it takes awhile for someone not at those schools to understand. Let the AD and Principal deal with this stuff. Keep us out of it please.

Peace

This, I agree with. It's the job of the site/school administrators to take care of this. Not the contest officials.

Related matter:
Last week, Women's Varsity game, the background music during warm-ups, which is often played sooo loud, was Rap music, and one of the songs had the "N" word, and other things, as a part of the lyrics. This was at a Charter school, and the principal was there, and was the announcer.
I mentioned to the principal that he/they need to be more aware of the music content . . . he had no idea what was being said in the lyrics! He seemed surprised that I brought it to his attention!
Whether it's the student section, an individual, or the music, there are limits to propriety.

Kids do that stuff to each other in life, in athletics, in study hall. I honestly don't think this stuff bothers 99% of kids. It's the 1% and the wimpy parents that get all bent out of shape about it.

If we are going to teach sportsmanship and make it a priority, lets start at the college and pro level. Tons of trash talking and rubbing it in the face of your opponent. I don't mind at all, but if we are worried about ridding sports of that stuff, let's start there. Kids see it on TV and think that is the way to go about it.

So how do they handle the passive-aggressive type chant that takes sports ribbing in stride?

I speak, of course, of the student-body riposte at some well-to-do schools that takes place when their teams are getting waxed: "That's all right, that's OK, you're going to work for us some day!"

Unsporting?

My youngest played in one of those leagues (Upward). He has Asperger's and is not mentally focused enough to participate in competitive sports.

I guess the existence of my son and that league offends an accomplished athlete and official such as yourself.

I know one thing -- it's much easier to put people in certain "buckets" based on responses to threads like these.

Plenty of studies having to do with this subject. Had you said 1% you would've been closer.

Interesting, while at time silly discussion, which (as all such discussions seem to) devolves into reductio ad absurdum.

To me what is appropriate varies dramatically by level. I see little connection between what is appropriate at a high caliber varsity game (young men and women) and at a junior high game (boys and girls) or a 5th grade game (young boys and girls). And I agree (absent unique circumstances that actually disrupt what is happening on the court) they should not be a referee issue, but game management/school officials. (I know in my high school many moons ago, an administrator was always responsible, home or away, at varsity games to make sure we didn't go too far -- and I have seen the same thing in games I have watched now.)

Wisconsin is probably a unique circumstance.