Taunting

I’m disappointed after reading this story about a policy against “air ball” chants at high school basketball games.

The policy is well-intentioned, but I hate the idea of someone being able to enforce consequences for something like this. Air ball chants are time-honored. I remember the feeling of launching a crappy shot, knowing it was going to whiff, and waiting for that chant as I got ready to sprint back and defend.

Aiiiiiirrrr baaaallll. It’s not hateful, not personal. In fact, the more raucous the chant, the more it means the opposing fans respect you, or at least your team. Well, I took it that way.

I tried to think of possible justifications for outlawing the Air Ball chant, along two lines: timing and related jeers.

Timing

Timing is about when you do this. It’s kind of stupid if your team is up 40 to keep laying it on the opposition, in my opinion. It’s even more — and more literally — stupid if you’re down 40.

A big reason I love youth sports is that it helps build character. Mostly for the athletes, but also for the fans. And it just doesn’t look that great to me when a team is getting destroyed to keep cheering against them. Keep cheering for your team, by all means. But lay off the other team, even if they’re the hated rival. Believe me, they already feel bad enough about getting pummeled. Not your job as the crowd to rub it in.

All that can be a teaching opportunity if needed. The administration, athletics department, parents, etc. can educate. Might not sink in right away, but that’s OK. And on the other side, for the team getting blown out and throwing up air balls….ideally the opposing crowd is going to show some class. But if they don’t? They get some more character building opportunity. Are they going to stop playing because they can’t win? Hopefully not. Are they going to stop putting up shots because the opposing crowd will razz them if you miss? Hopefully not.

Related Taunts and Jeers

What about the other part, the related taunts and jeers? The ones that do cross the line to being personal or hateful? No place at all for that!

But it’s tough to define it well, at least beyond existing civil laws already on the books. It’s a little bit like pornography; you know it when you see it, or in this case, hear it. Theoretically, the crowd at a sporting event will not break the law. If they do break the law, there will be more serious penalties than a school district policy can impart.

You can try to have a policy, but a lot of times, there will be gray area, and it will be subjective, and a lot of people will be unhappy with any decision that isn’t 100% obvious.

Maybe the administration thought since they couldn’t define well what was acceptable and what was not, they decided to be safe rather than sorry. Just outlaw it all. You can cheer all you want, in a positive way with positive words directed at your team. But if we let an innocuous Air Ball taunt go, it’ll be harder to enforce it when some knucklehead does cross the line. And maybe there was some other history or other context.

The point is, maybe they decided enough was enough of whatever was happening, and they absolutely needed a policy of some sort. Even then, if you want to have some sort of policy in place, it’s better, IMO, to state the sort of behavior you would like, and what you’re trying to teach. The point of any policy like this, I hope, is to be able to have a conversation with someone, to teach them, to warn them not to do it again. I think it would be easier to say we want to promote this sort of environment, and if you work against that, we reserve the right to deny you admission. Again, anything way over the line can, and should, be taken care of by other authorities.

Maybe I’m giving people too much credit, but from what I’ve seen at different sporting events, people are generally supportive of the idea of a positive environment, even if they’re a bit clueless or get caught up in the emotions of the moment. I think generally you can get good results by implementing some low-key education and relying on social pressure.