In 1992’s “A League of their Own,” a film about the the all-women baseball leagues that played during World War II, Tom Hanks famously proclaimed that “there’s no crying in baseball.”
More recently, Denzel Washington in “Remember the Titans” proclaimed that “water is for cowards. Water makes you weak. Water is for washing blood off that uniform, and you don’t get blood on my uniform.”
These quotes are indicative of a general attitude that athletics, particularly starting in the college and minor league ranks, should be rough-and-tumble places that do not reward weakness.
While a tough-as-nails attitude certainly has a place and time in a locker room, it’s when that attitude expands outward to the fanbase that things begin to get unreasonable.
In Ohio, a high school football player has begun receiving threats from Ohio State fans after he recommitted to rival Michigan from the Buckeyes, following the firing of former coach Jim Tressel last fall.
For Kyle Kalis, an offensive lineman from Lakewood, Ohio, the threats began shortly after he committed to the Wolverines, deciding to switch because he had “committed to Jim Tressel, not to Ohio State.” Some OSU fans even expressed sincere wishes for this high school student to tear his ACL, a career-threatning injury.
Sports is already rife with controversy: as I type this, a story is breaking on Sports Illustrated about a point-shaving scheme at the University of San Diego. Every time the TV gets clicked on, there’s always a story about a player wrapped up in controversy.
And don’t even get me started on the Penn State scandal.
Athletes do not need any help creating scandal, it seems to follow them around like a hungry dog. When the fans get involved by doing stupid stuff like threatening high school students or blasting an assistant coach over a lost game, it does not help anybody.
In fact, it just adds to upper-level sports’ image problem.
Games are meant to be fun for the players. We as fans watch them because they are fun to watch. It is fun to cheer for our favorite teams and will them along to victory. Some of my most memorable moments have been when I’ve watched an underdog team come from behind for a thrilling win.
Sure, with any sport there’s a certain amount of heckling and namecalling. That’s an integral part of being a fan. However, there is still a line that some people cross, and it is those kinds of fans that sports does not need.
So, go on. Drink your beer, jump out of your seat, scream the occasional insult about that left tackle’s mother and cheer your heart out for your team.
Just remember that alcohol is not an excuse, superfandom is not an excuse, and tradition is not an excuse. Fans should be above boorish behavior like threatening harm upon a high school student because of the college he chooses to go to.
We love when athletes show good sportsmanship, perhaps it’s time the fans took some of those lessons to heart.
