New definitions of sportsmanship

I went to a high school basketball game in Worthington last week and I saw the most outrageous displays of unsportsmanlike behavior. The situation was no better the next evening when I covered the Minnesota West women’s game against Anoka-Ramsey. And then last night I was at a local prep hockey game here in town.
In all three instances, I saw people in the crowd cheering for their favorite team. Clapping, obviously. And several of them cheered openly. You could hear them all over the building. In all three cases, fans of both teams were behaving in this manner. Some fans even questioned the eyesight of the officials loud enough for them to hear. I was shocked.
I mean, this is 2016. In this enlightened era, it is of utmost importance to be polite at sporting events and to avoid, at all costs, disrespecting opponents in any way.
Fortunately, we have the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) to thank for putting sportsmanship issues in the proper context. Last week the state sports body banned several chants that, traditionally, have been commonly heard at events all over the country.
You’ve surely heard the chant, “Air-ball! Air-ball!” at basketball games after an opponent misses the backboard and rim completely while attempting a shot. This student chant will no longer be allowed at Wisconsin high school games because, according to the WIAA, it is “clearly intended to taunt or disrespect.”
Other items on the no-chant list include: “Scoreboard” (as in, “Look at the scoreboard, you fool, you’re behind by 35 points!”), “You can’t do that”, “Fundamentals”, “There’s a net there”, “Sieve”, “We can’t hear you” and “Season’s over.”
It’s only a matter of time before the list of banned phrases are expanded. Because, as we all know, it’s just as easy to sing “Na, na, na, na … Na, na, na, na … Hey, Hey … Goodbye!” as it is to say “Season’s over.”
These are modern times, and it’s a new generation. Your father’s cheers and jeers at sports events are no longer acceptable. Imagine a group of students in a cheering section yelling at a football game today, as I remember doing 40 years ago, “Ree, ree, ree, kick ‘em in the knee … Rass, rass, rass, kick ‘em in the other knee!” How disgraceful!
Well, first of all, let me say congratulations to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association for striking a blow for decency. I suppose it’s only a matter of time now before the Minnesota State High School League follows suit.
And if I may be so bold: Perhaps they should start by banning clapping at all sporting events. It may seem like a harmless thing to applaud your favorite team when they do well, but it makes the other team feel bad. It makes them feel excluded.
And once that’s done, we probably will want to eliminate the state tournament concept because, well, playing down to only one state champion is the most exclusionary thing of all. Just give everybody a participant ribbon, I say.