I would agree, if people were heckling tank commanders and medics, but they're heckling football players. I'm not thrilled by my tax dollars going to pay for the army to have a second rate football team. Moving on, let us not forget this fucking disaster of obnoxious fans ruining a sport for everyone else:
Yes but given the academies' service requirements, today's football players are tomorrow's tank commanders and medics.
Given how much time most football players dedicate to the game, and how little they spend studying, this is very troubling.
Psssh, child please. You don't know true hate until you've attended an Iron Bowl. For those not in the know, the Iron Bowl is home to the fiercest rivalry in all of sports, Auburn vs. Alabama. You can try and claim another rivalry as the most intense, but you'd be wrong. You can't understand the levels of hate that the teams and fans have for each other until you see it in person. Red Sox and Yankees fans would cower in fear at the level of hate exhibited when Auburn and Alabama clash each year. It simply can't be described, friends will stop speaking to each other that week, the state essentially stops, it's madness. Thanks to Harvey Updike, a Bama fan who named his kids Crimson Tyde and Bear Bryant, it's now escalated to bio-terrorism.
What's so retarded about the rivalry, is that it involves virtually no graduates from either school. Almost all of my friends from UA supported Auburn in the championship. Most of us look at the rivalry as just something that makes the games more interesting. But damn, people who didn't go to the school? Those are the biggest bunch of fucking retard fans ever. I think they get so out of control because they simply don't have anything else worthwhile in their lives. It's embarrassing when I'm at a bar cheering on my team, and some redneck asshole takes it too far. Alright buddy, let's make one thing clear, this is my team, you're just a fan. Shut your mouth and know your roll, jabroni. RMFT
The things the author is complaining about are the reasons I love college basketball and get bored with the NBA.
Amateurs. All of you. Back in my day screaming at the top of our lungs whenever the other team did anything was the least of their worries. Our coach had to send emails out via the student control org or whatever it was telling us to quiet down a little because he could not talk to the team during time outs. Michigan State was claimed to be the worst place to have an away game because of the amount that we heckled the other team. Aside from dressing up in any insulting way to the other team, we would make almost crude signs attacking the other team and its players and coaches. We would go too far many times as the refs would have to call a time out and warn our coach. God, I miss college basketball. I admit, it was borderline unsportmanlike, but we did anything and everything to get our team the W. Off topic a little bit, but semi-relevant I don't know if you guys remember the "riots" we had at MSU in the past years, but the couple I went to were in '05 when we lost in the Final Four to UNC when we were the underdog; we got teargassed because the cops thought that our gatherings of thousands were going to cause trouble and burn down buildings. Yes, I know the definition of a riot, but we were peaceful and didn't get hostile until the po's started shooting tear gas canisters at us. Then, and only then, did couches start burning. And the other gathering I went to was in '08 when thousands gathered in our residential area and partied like drunk college kids after one of our games. Our most notable was back in '03 when we lost in the championship game and cars were burned, windows were broken, vending machine's destroyed, etc.
Not actually true of the academies. These kids have to do all of their schoolwork, all of their military requirements AND attend football practices and games. They are held to a higher standard than your average college player, and should be lauded for that. Also, Army? Dude it's fucking West Point. I don't care HOW good you are at football, if you don't deserve to go to West Point and be an Army Officer, you're not playing there.
This. Being competitive is one thing, enjoying the thrill of a rivalry, showing your team support, getting riled up and having a good time. Being a douche nozzle is another thing. Get that weak shit outta the stadium, rink, field, etc. It ruins the experience for a lot of folks when you hear some clown screaming obscenities about the QB's mother, or how the pitcher is a fag with a small dick. Having a thick skin is important when playing anything competitive, but dealing with mickey mouse shit is always a downer.
I've been in and around some bad rivalries as a player and a coach. Most students are able to stay mostly mature, but some just get downright ridiculous and over the line. I was watching a HS game of which I had helped train and coach some of the players over the summer. It was an intense private school game where they were playing for the district title. One of the post kids from the home team had failed earlier in the year, so as he was on the free throw line the visiting fans started chanting "algebra ... algebra" as that had been the class he failed. The visiting team's post player -- who had come over to the states from Africa that year -- later got fouled and went to the line. As he stepped up to get ready to shoot, the home fans started chanting "HIV ... HIV ... HIV" in retaliation. These are the same fans that would cuss out other players, coaches ... calling them any derogatory name they could think of. It was pretty embarrassing for everyone involved.
If the players aren't mentally strong enough to deal with the heckling, they deserve to be berated. When I returned to the school I transferred from during my senior season, a group of golfers sat behind my goal in both halves just to heckle me. The students yelled anything and everything they could think about, including making comments about my sister by name. My sister, who was in the stands watching, laughed about it at dinner afterwards, because there was no way she would ever "fuck a pussy golfer." They also had a cheer for me, "There's only one [NoMames], only one [NoMames}, with a pocket full of sweets and a cheeky smile, [NoMames] is a fucking pedophile." There's a reason that school has only lost two games at home in the last five years, because no one likes to play there. Everyone knows it going into the games and no one really complains. Even the tables and get a bunch of drunk students to come to your home games and lay into the visitors.
This author bitches about fans being too loud towards the opposing team in timeouts, but forgets that UConn, at least in conference play, has to be the away team as often as they are the home, so they have to deal with it, too. Whatever, as if this is something new. Every scholarship player in D1 college basketball was a star in high school and played in important, heated games. You think they and the coaches are not used to it all of sudden? Please. "I fucked your mom" and "Player A is a fag" not only crosses the line, but lacks inventiveness. The best student sections are loud and creative. One of the best examples of student section inventiveness came earlier this year at a high school game I attended. Two of the top teams in Cincinnati were playing and both school's student sections were trading blows. The home team's levy recently failed and they had to cut bus services. During the game, the visiting team's students started chanting "We've got busses" which got a big laugh from the rest of their fans. Later in the game, as it became more clear that the home team would win, the home students started chanting "Start those busses." Both harmless in my book.
What makes that good is that it was coordinated (pretty hard to do with a complicated cheer), timely, and didn't last all damn game. It's basically the same as trolling on the internet. 95% of the time it's obnoxious and stupid and you should be punched in the back of your knee for it. But sometimes, there's some really creative, smart stuff. My favorite cheer (other than Rammer Jammer) is from my local hockey team (UAH!): When one person shouts it, it's pretty lame, but when 20% of the arena shouts it, it's pretty hilarious.
There is something special about sitting in a crowd of hundreds of people who are sharing the same feelings you are at that moment and all of them cheering together. I compare it to being at a concert, everyone is there for the same thing, everyone knows every word of every song. Everyone comes together as one and it's awesome. Of course joking about rape is not anywhere near funny but the gay thing is. I mean you're a college level player and it's hurts your little feelers that a sign said you're gay? Seriously? Take off your gear and give back your uniform, you're not tough enough. You'll notice they only really pick at the best players, take it with a grain of salt and do what you're there to do, win. That's the only thing that'll shut them up. To me this is yet another representation of the pussification of things these days. It's everywhere and it's pathetic.
I am a passionate sports fan, and while I see nothing wrong with what the fans at UConn were doing. Well, outside of cheering for UConn. GO ORANGE!!! I have seen some really bad things done by fans, and I hate it when lines get crossed. Two situations come to mind. The first came while I was in undergrad at an early season basketball game against a cupcake team (Univ. of Maryland - Eastern Shore, if memory serves). Their team had a player who clearly had some sort of handicap/deficiency, I'm not sure what it was, but it was obvious to the entire crowd. This player wore the number "00". Towards the end of the game, this player was inserted into the game, which was then followed by the student section derisively chanting "double zero". I was embarrassed to be sitting among my peers that day. There's a big difference between giving your team an advantage and making fun of someone who is doing his best despite being at a significant disadvantage when the game was won long before he even entered the game. The absolute worst thing I ever saw came while I was in high school. I went to the conference championship basketball game between the 2 biggest schools in my hometown. The best player in the game was taunted in the most horrible way I can ever imagine. His mother had committed suicide something like one year prior, maybe even less. A student from the opposing school blew up the newspaper story to poster board size and held it up when the player went to the free throw line directly facing the student. Things got pretty out of hand for a moment as the player had to be held back from attacking the student, and fortunately the student was thrown out of the gym. These schools had pretty bad rivalry going, but this instance crossed every line of decency imaginable.
I Firmly believe that fans should show the utmost sportsmanship at all times. Applaude your team, yet do not berate the opponents. They are playing their hearts out, and should be commended for that. I attended college in the Big XII; Home of civility and sportsmanship. Sould you ever have the opportunity to attend the Red River War, you would be treated to cordial fans, and polite exchanges between the Oklahoma and Texas fans. My own school, The University of Missouri, has a rather spirited rivalry with Kansas University. I would never utter a hurtful thing about a KU player, or student. I have far to much our long time adversaries! That being said, M - I - Z! FUCK - K - U! And as a corallary statment, RAWK SQUAWK CHICKEN HAWK FUCK K U! You see, it is ok to say such things about KU students/fans because they are a bunch of pole smoking, soulless, spread legged, fudge packed, brain dead, puppy kicking, rapist. So saying such things about them doesn't hurt their feelings because they have none. So in summation, KU are a bunch of poopy faces.
My school's band had to quit playing the song where the crowd yells "HEY" because we yell "HEY YOU SUCK!" and then the last few bars we sing along to the music and say "fuck em up fuck em up go big red". I work as a police officer at my school so an unruly crowd just means more work for me, but I have to say it upsets me they flat out told the band not to play that song. We also get emails with youtube attachments that contain videos from our athletic director asking students to not be rude. Remember when people used to be allowed to have fucking fun?
My favorite part of that game was this cheer I modified, which spread through my part of the student section (based off this old classic): HEEEEEEY ERIC! (hoo! hah!) I wanna KNOOOOOOWW... why you BEAT THAT GIRL! (dum dum dum dum!) At least Devendorf wasn't retarded. Stay classy, Cuse. Anyways, all I ask with your cheers is that you be clever. No "___ Sucks!" or "Winning team! Losing team!" That shit is fucking retarded. Be smart, and at least I get a laugh out of it. And that's all that really matters anyway, is my amusement. My freshman year, Georgetown played a club hockey game against crosstown rival George Washington right after a campus norovirus outbreak. All the opposing fans (outnumbering us 4-1) showed up wearing surgical masks. I gave them points for creativity, and it was all the sweeter when we came back from down 2 to win 5-2. Getting raucously drunk and climbing on the Plexiglas while screaming "PLAY SOME DEEZ!" might have had something to do with it.
Jesus Christ you could be the biggest pussy I've ever met online. "Double zero" makes you embarrassed? Change your fucking tampon. The kid was on the team because he wanted to be treated like everyone else, so he's going to be mocked like everyone else when his team is getting their ass kicked. Next thing I know you're going to tell me that we can't chant "He's got a pineapple, on his head" to the black buy with dreads because we're being racist. I do agree that there's a line that shouldn't be crossed, but this is far, far from the line. You've never played sports, have you?