The behavior of football fans the past few seasons seems to have degraded into the abyss. There have been accounts of players being assaulted by snowballs, cups of beer, even physical altercations. Fans of visiting teams, while prepared for verbal taunts, are risking their safety when walking into the stands at some stadiums.
Then we have the so-called 'smack talking' fans.
Maybe MOM is onto something. She said that the 'everyone's a winner!' mentality is part of the problem. You know the kind - a kid goes into a soccer game (or other competition), doesn't do anything to contribute, and when the game is over, "Everyone Wins!!!" Or 'Johnny', the proverbial kid, gets promoted to the next grade level even though he can't read, can't add 1 + 1, and doesn't try to learn.
This does nothing but teach kids that they can get away with anything, and it's OK. You can't read? Well, we care about your self-esteem, so here's your high school diploma anyway. You kicked the soccer ball into the wrong goal? Oh, well, you're still a winner. You went to schhol, just like you should, so let's give you an award!
Teaching kids about winning AND losing is no longer being done. When you are 6 years old, losing a game can hurt. A good adult role model (parent, teacher, coach, etc.) should be able to feel that hurt with the child, dry the child's tears, explain that losing is OK as long as you tried your hardest, there is no shame in losing to a better opponent, and that the way to win is to practice, learn, and practice more until you are as good as you can be. One other thing we should be teaching our kids: You will never learn everything about anything. When the day comes that you think you know it all, you should retire, for you will never get any better.
We all know that there will always be fair-weather fans and bandwagon fans, just as there are die-hard fans. There are players that exhibit juvenile behavior (insert name of bratty, attention-seeking player here), and players who keep their mouth shut and let their performance speak for itself.
Players and fans need to learn that respect is earned. As long as they act like mentally impaired third grade felons, that is how the rest of the world will view them, and will treat them accordingly. A good example of this occured a couple of weeks ago, at the Saints-Cowboys game. The game was winding down, the Saints were up 42-17, 3:00 left in the fourth quarter, and had just gotten a first down on the Dallas 6 yard line. One play, and they could have scored, making the score 48-17. Instead of adding insult to injury, the Saints showed some class - they took a knee...four times. Dallas got the ball back, and did the same thing. No running up the score, no taunting, no name calling.
After showing a lot of class by their play this season, the Saints did one better - they showed how to be gracious in a victory....
-12-17-2006, 08:45 AM
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at least you have more balls than your team 
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