Sportsmanship ???

[BillyMac]

A few weeks ago there was a Forum thread on Wisconsin sportsmanship guidelines (air ball chant, et al.).

https://forum.officiating.com/basket...tml#post976254

Here in Connecticut, fans at two high schools have again challenged what is, and what is not, acceptable to be yelled by fans at a high school basketball game:

Capitol Prep reacts after Farmington High students taunt them over SAT scores | Myinforms

http://www.gametimect.com/boys-baske...omplaint-ciac/

To summarize both articles (above), fans of the losing teams chanted "SAT Scores" near the end of both basketball games, seemingly to show school pride in an academic superiority (while accepting a lack of superiority in basketball), thus disrespecting the opposing high school.

We very often hear a "Football" chant when a high school that beat a rival opponent in football is now losing a basketball game to the same opponent.

School spirit? School pride? Disrespect? Sportsmanship? Political correctness? Correctness? Tough questions.

What if losing basketball team's fans chant "Chess Team"? "Robotics Team"? "Math Team"? More tough questions.

What kind of creative chants can we get when Yale plays Harvard, losing Harvard fans chant "Supreme Court Justices"?

Or the California Institute of Technology plays the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, losing MIT fans chant "Nobel Prizes"?

Disrespectful? Maybe?

Inappropriate at a basketball game?

[Terrapins Fan]

Personally, I believe in freedom of speech and expression. Sports is a release from our mundane lives. As long as there's no profanity and nothing personal, I have no problem with any chance and we have a lot of them at our games..

This is political correctness run amok which is not unusual.

[Raymond]

Can we come up with a new way to express our opinions about speech without using the cliche political correctness?

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Terrapins Fan

... freedom of speech and expression.

As a retired teacher, I am very aware that the Supreme Court has decided that, in some limited cases, students do shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate.

"The constitutional rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings … the freedom to advocate unpopular and controversial views in schools and classrooms must be balanced against society’s countervailing interest in teaching students the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior."

"Educators do not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the style and content of student speech in school-sponsored expressive activities so long as their actions are reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns."

"A school must be able to set high standards for the student speech that is disseminated under its auspices "

"School-sponsored publications, theatrical productions, and other expressive activities that students, parents and members of the public might reasonably perceive to bear the imprimatur of the school . . . whether or not they occur in a traditional classroom setting, so long as they are supervised by faculty members and designed to impart particular knowledge or skills to student participants and audiences."

Is yelling "SAT Scores" at a basketball game, to disrespect another high school, socially appropriate behavior? There's the rub.

[crosscountry55]

Billy, that's an interesting read. I'd be interested in reading the whole thing and any dissents. Do you have the case name/citation?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Can we come up with a new way to express our opinions about speech without using the cliche political correctness?

It is getting old that every time someone has a standard for what is acceptable, that it has to be "political correctness." Well I have been around this world for some time, and there were always standards of behavior with students when they were representing their schools or still students.

Peace

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

A few weeks ago there was a Forum thread on Wisconsin sportsmanship guidelines (air ball chant, et al.).

https://forum.officiating.com/basket...tml#post976254

Here in Connecticut, fans at two high schools have again challenged what is, and what is not, acceptable to be yelled by fans at a high school basketball game:

Capitol Prep reacts after Farmington High students taunt them over SAT scores | Myinforms

Boys basketball: Middletown AD files complaint with CIAC over behavior of Pomperaug student section [Updated] - GameTime CT

To summarize both articles (above), fans of the losing teams chanted "SAT Scores" near the end of both basketball games, seemingly to show school pride in an academic superiority (while accepting a lack of superiority in basketball), thus disrespecting the opposing high school.

We very often hear a "Football" chant when a high school that beat a rival opponent in football is now losing a basketball game to the same opponent.

School spirit? School pride? Disrespect? Sportsmanship? Political correctness? Correctness? Tough questions.

What if losing basketball team's fans chant "Chess Team"? "Robotics Team"? "Math Team"? More tough questions.

What kind of creative chants can we get when Yale plays Harvard, losing Harvard fans chant "Supreme Court Justices"?

Or the California Institute of Technology plays the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, losing MIT fans chant "Nobel Prizes"?

Disrespectful? Maybe?

Inappropriate at a basketball game?

Would it be OK to chant "We're smart. You're not."?

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Billy, that's an interesting read. I'd be interested in reading the whole thing and any dissents. Do you have the case name/citation?

Bethel School District. No. 403 v. Fraser, 1986

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 1988

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

... I have been around this world for some time, and there were always standards of behavior with students when they were representing their schools ...

Agree. How do these standards apply to student fans yelling "SAT Scores" at a basketball game to disrespect another high school?

We're Number One, Football, Chess Team, Robotics Team, Math Team, Supreme Court Justices, Nobel Prizes, Air Ball, Ignoring, or (worse) booing, opponent’s starting lineup?

All disrespect the opponent's school to some degree.

Most Forum members have been involved with high school sports their entire life (athletes, parents, fans, coaches, officials). What's appropriate, and what's not?

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

Would it be OK to chant "We're smart. You're not."?

That's exactly what the "SAT Score" chant implies.

Appropriate, or not? Correct (forget politically correct), or not? Socially appropriate behavior at an interscholastic basketball game, or not?

Further food for thought. The losing Farmington team, with fans yelling "SAT Scores", is from a suburban, upper class (rich), mostly white, community and the winning Capital Prep team is from an urban, lower class (high rate of poverty), community, with mostly black students (but the school is one of the finest charter/magnet schools in the nation (100% of graduates attend college), with rumors of "recruiting" athletes (six of the top 20 female AAU players in the state attend Capital Prep)).

The losing Pomperaug team, with fans yelling "SAT Scores", is from a suburban (almost rural), almost all white, community, and the winning Middletown team is from an urban community, with a highly diverse student body. (Note: Student fans were correct about higher SAT scores in both instances.)

"SAT Scores". What does it really mean? What does it actually disrespect? Intelligence? Race? Diversity? Social class? Poverty? Geographic location? Culture? Recruiting? Charter/Magnet school?

And then, there's a "feel good" aspect to all of this:

http://www.courant.com/sports/high-s...311-story.html

[Mr.C]

I am a current middle school teacher and attend the basketball contests of my students and occasionally will officiate games when they need help and we constantly revisit the role of a spectator in class and recall examples of what we heard at last night's contests. They are good kids and understand what we discuss but when they get in that gym..... it's like they are different people. It's getting more difficult to attend these events as time goes on.

[BillyMac]

(https://youtu.be/jwB8ph7VAXw)

And then:

Capital Prep's Elmore Says Team Has Been Treated Unfairly - Hartford Courant

This story just keep getting better, and better.

[BillyMac]

... and the hits just keep on coming (https://youtu.be/wU0Pp2n6ooE):

Now, there's an online rumor (I can't pin it down) that a State Senator announced a State Senate Subcommittee Task Force to study Feelings at Interscholastic Athletic Events.

I really hope that it's just a rumor, and that I can never pin it down.

[BatteryPowered]

My personal opinion...

STOP WHINING!

Life's not all about your poor little feelings. Guess what...at times in your life someone is going to say or do something, or something is going to happen, that is going to be unpleasant. Big freaking deal.

What is the quote "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission." (apologies to whoever said this first...probably butchered it).

[Rich]

These threads do nothing but reinforce what I think about posters (few of whom I'll ever meet).

One I heard this year at a private school: "Your dad works for my dad." Never shut down or even addressed by the game management.

Can't help but smile when that team loses.