FRI 30 JAN 2004
Fans don’t give respect they crave
For a group of thousands of students who constantly demand respect from their administrators, many sure don’t practice what they preach.Here’s an experiment for you: Go to a UI basketball or football game and take a minute to survey the scene around you. You’ll undoubtedly see the following: UI fans yelling at the referees every time a call goes against the Vandals; those same fans shouting rude and often inappropriate remarks at the opposing team; band members mocking the opposing team, making themselves look like fools in the process; and parents trying to shield their children from it all.
Case in point: Saturday the UI women’s basketball team lost a nail-biter to the Cal State Fullerton Titans at the Cowan Spectrum in Moscow. During the game, many Vandal fans repeatedly mocked and laughed at an overweight woman on the CSF team.
Furthermore, the Titan’s coach was a woman who appeared to be older than a lot of coaches (probably — gasp! — about 55). Several fans and band members proceeded to prove their “coolness” every time the coach stood up by yelling stuff like, “Try not to break a hip!” and making mimicking gestures such as leaning over with one hand on their backs to represent her supposedly decrepit physical status.
All the while several parents accompanied by children looked very uncomfortable as they tried their best to shield their youngsters from the students’ antics, as well as from the chants of “Bullsh--” — a charming little tradition used when the referees are thought to have missed a call.
Are these respectable actions for students who help compose a student body that demands respect from so many other people? Now, the fans in question certainly don’t represent the entire student body. However, even the fairly small amount of people that attend UI sporting events can and often do represent our school in a negative way. The University Place fiasco was the administration’s black mark on our school; why should we as students continue the tradition?
When a team comes to Moscow and the Vandal fans act inappropriately, that is a bad reflection on the university. Even though sports are a tiny portion of a university’s makeup, the way students act at extracurricular activities speaks volumes about the kind of people who attend that school. Do UI students really want other universities viewing them as immature imbeciles who can’t sit through a two-hour sporting event without acting like baboons?
And since when does participating in intercollegiate athletics make someone a robot undeserving of fair, humane treatment? Audience members who verbally and physically mock participants who have put in hours upon hours of hard work to hone their respective craft would be strictly shunned at any other UI event. Imagine going to a UI music concert and taunting the director while the person next to you repeatedly hurls insults at the first-chair trombonist about his stupid haircut. This scenario would never happen, but apparently all bets are off once the game clock starts at a football or basketball game.
It is time students and alumni start treating players and coaches from visiting athletic teams with the same respect they yearn for and expect from the UI administration.
Otherwise, we might see an influx of ex-UI athletes learning to play the trombone.
J.A.
UI Argonaut, 301 Student Union, Moscow, ID 83844
Argonaut: 208.885.7845 Advertising: 208.885.5780