For Fandom Not Hatred

Sports fans have always been known to do anything for their team, including going shirtless in below freezing weather just to show their support. But sportsmanship has reached a new low with the latest chants at sports games — screaming “Who’s your daddy,” “You let the whole team down” and “Overrated” to the opposing team can become a little too personal.

These chants and comments are not only disrespectful to the players but also the game. The personal attacks on the players are cheap shots for things people can’t control.

But how do fans know they’ve gone too far or when it’s time to stop?

The goal of fans should be to root their team on — not tear the opposing team down.

This behavior isn’t confined to the big leagues — we see this unsportsmanlike behavior in East’s student section. The South basketball game was full of nasty chants about players’ height, headgear and even one player’s mom.

“It’s alright, it’s okay, you’re going to work for us someday,” coming from the East bleachers wasn’t the only controversial chant being yelled. Fans from South had their share of dirty comments as well, shouting things like, “Daddy’s money.”

This behavior is unacceptable and East sports fans need to have more respect for the players and the game.

The more these chants are yelled, the more they become normalized, and the more East’s name becomes associated with hateful and unnecessary taunts.

These hateful chants from the bleachers can affect the East community. We don’t want to demonstrate that dehumanizing players through mean chants is OK. We want to set a good example for others in the community.

Cheering for your team in a lighthearted way is important and serves as a reminder to the players that you went to watch them play their best game, whether they win or lose. Chants such as “roller coaster” and “go bananas” are chants that keep the student section hyped, all while being respectful to the other team.

Chants that are meant to take a jab at the opposing players are not only uncomfortable for the players and some of the people in the student section, but for the families too. There’s a whole side of the gym with bleachers dedicated to families, so if you don’t want your grandma to hear you chanting those words then keep your mouth closed when others start to chant.

The players don’t need the added boos and snarky chants that the crowd comes up with either. It has to be hard for the varsity basketball players to focus on passing the ball when the student section is yelling, “butterfingers!”

A player who just gave up a shot in a neck and neck game should not have the added pressure of being ripped apart by the crowd to the guilt of missing that shot.

Students don’t practice six times a week to show up to the game and get made fun of for being too short. Behind any athlete’s game face are feelings just like everyone else.

After missing one shot you’re automatically the designated “airballer” and shaking that off is hard, or yelling out, “10 seconds!” when there’s really 20 seconds left is just sad and embarrassing to the shooter who just attempted a half-court buzzer beater when he really could have just gone for a layup.

Of course the point is to get into the heads of the rival team and affect their performance, but we don’t need hateful and targeted chants to do that. A win because of hateful chants may be a win for the team’s record, but it isn’t a win for the school’s good reputation.

That’s not to say that you should never chant, but use effective ones that don’t specifically target the opposing team, like the good ole “I believe that we will win” chant.

Arrowhead Stadium is a prime example — it’s the loudest stadium in the country which gives its players a great advantage at their home games. According to the NFL, greater crowd noise does create an advantage for the home team regardless of what the chant is.

It’s the hitting free throws, shooting penalty kicks and kicking a field goal that are made more difficult with an insulting chant.

To prepare for big rival basketball games like East vs. Rockhurst, East will practice with the audio of a packed gym full of loud cheering fans to get into the zone of what they will endure on game day according to junior Nick Arensberg.

But what the audio recording doesn’t include are the hateful chants and cheers that each crowd will make up to personally mess with the players game.

It’s our job to be the bigger fans and not go along with the social norm and put an end to the hateful chants and cheer on our players with a positive outlook on the game and create an example for others.