Sports Fans Suck
Congratulations to the Patriots on another AFC Championship win over the San Diego Chargers. It was a tough game and the Pats didn’t play very well, but the defense stood strong and prevented the Chargers from scoring any touchdowns. What bothers me, and what inspired the title of this post, is the reaction of the Patriots’ fans when owner Kraft and players like Seau congratulated the Chargers on their hard work and great playing: they booed. That’s friggin’ lame.
What’s worse is that just a little while ago, Patriots fans (including myself) were shocked to hear Indianapolis fans booing a 14 year old girl for wearing a Patriots jersey while being honored for winning her age group in the NFL Punt, Pass and Kick challenge. It’s one thing to boo a bad call or to boo unsportsmanlike conduct, but it’s entirely another thing to boo a kid for representing her home team or another team that just played their guts out. Whatever happened to sportsmanship? It’s not just for the players on the field, people, its for the fans in the stadium too. How about showing a little class?
The same thing applies to the fans of the Red Sox, whom I consider to be some of the most boorish fans on the face of the earth. Is it really necessary to swear up a storm during a ball game where you’re surrounded by little kids? I’m all about free speech, but I’m also all about personal responsibility. And does the whole “Yankees Suck” thing make any sense to anyone? They obviously don’t, and chanting it in the stands or plastering the stickers on your truck don’t do anything to impress anyone, instead just demonstrating what a moron you are.
It amazes me when anyone complains that kids aren’t learning sportsmanship these days. From where would they learn this skill? All their role models, and I’m not talking about professional athletes but the people who are with them day in and day out, demonstrate nothing but classless and unsportsmanlike behavior. If they don’t learn it from the people they watch and play with, where are they going to learn sportsmanship?
I’m not saying we need to act prim and proper at games, nor am I suggesting that we should never act up in the stands. Hell, I’d be the first booing that idiot on the Steelers who guaranteed that they would beat the Patriots because he acted out of line. All I’m saying is that there is a time and a place for everything. Just as it seems obvious to me that booing kids is dumber than shit, it also strikes me that booing the losing team is equally as stupid, especially when that team is being praised by the winners (who are showing a bit of sportsmanship themselves). Show a little class, people.
