Cheering on one’s favorite sports team or simply enjoying a good competition should always be a relaxed and positive experience. It is a time when people spend their hard-earned money to escape their busy lives for a few hours, and fill it with excitement and happiness amongst family, friends and fellow fans. Yet, if any of you have ever been to a sporting event, you know there are always those fans, intoxicated or sober, which rather choose to fill that time with negativity, having no regard to how it negatively affects those around them.
Since I can remember, from time to time, while attending a sporting event, I have always stood witness to either one or several individuals who will scream either profanity or vulgar comments at coaches, players, referees or fans of the opposing team, and find that it is both hilarious and positively impactful for the team they represent. However, instead of leading to such results, their actions significantly damage the experience of those around them, who deserve much better because they paid the price for it. Whether it is a fan, who spent money on a ticket to experience suspenseful competition, or a team, who practiced all week to put on a great performance, their investment is damaged by such negativity and they are robbed of what they had hoped to gain.
As a former student-athlete and an avid fan of select teams, I can personally share that I have had damaged experiences as a result of negative fans from both perspectives. Playing football in high school, my teammates and I would always hear irate parents, who would scream towards the field about things happening during the game, which not only embarrassed their children, but also distracted our focused mentality from what we should have been caring more about. From a fan's perspective, especially at collegiate and professional levels of competition, I have consistently heard negative fans call opposing players and coaches inappropriate names and express hopes of them sustaining injuries during competition. More recently, I even witnessed a fight break out in a restroom during a National Football League game. This was due to the actions of a drunken fan that started an argument with a fan of the opposing team, and then proceeded to begin a physical altercation when the opposing fan talked back. After being exposed to such immaturity, I typically leave the event thinking equally as much about what those individuals said or did, as much as what took place during the actual competition.
Sporting events are truly an amazing spectacle, which possesses the power to unify communities in a way that few other events can. It is something that individuals of all ages should feel safe to attend, providing the opportunity for parents to bring their children to take in the beauty of what such an experience has to offer. Yet when individuals commit negative actions amongst people who simply want to enjoy their time in that environment, it not only sets a bad example to those not old enough to understand the proper way to cheer on positive competition, but also represents the team and community they claim to support in the absolute lowest of standards. If we as positive sports fans hope to limit these nuisances from ruining athletic events in the present and future, we must take it upon ourselves to speak up in a peaceful manner to these individuals or report their actions to the venue’s security. If such a strategy is successful, maybe we could all, whether it be fans, players, coaches or referees, enjoy those few hours of excitement and happiness that we invested in.
