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[Heron TSG]

Well, I just got home after leaving a session of basketball pep band, where we played music and cheered for our team, having a good time. However, all was not well. Our conductor urged us to shout and stomp whenever the opposing team had the ball, and I refused to partake in this unsportsmanlike behavior. I asked my conductor why I would want to ruin the game for the other team, and I just got a blank look, followed by the statement "It's not unsportsmanlike, that's just how the game is played.". I immediately left, putting away my music and instrument before leaving the building and walking home. Before I could finish leaving, though, the vice-principal of my school asked me why I was leaving half way through. I told him that unsportsmanlike behavior was against my personal beliefs, and I got another blank stare, followed by him explaining that I was overreacting and I could just sit there and not yell and stomp. I told him that I had joined the pep band, and that I wasn't going to sit there and harass a visiting team. I was all for cheering for our team, but I wasn't going to boo the people visiting our school to play a game.

Sports are supposed to be played fairly so that everyone has fun and nobody's feelings get hurt. The other team's fans weren't booing our team, and I wasn't going to insult people just because they were playing well. Why is it an overreaction to stick to your personal standards and quit a group that goes against them?

[Tellemurius]

sports have been the original way for competitions for proving the best without killing.

[sonerohi]

Because we think of dissent as simply a refusal to actively participate, while still supporting the group, and view indifference towards the group as open efforts to go against them. Crowds, like for sports, have an us-or-them mentality. If teams A and B are playing, and you go and watch, even if you only really like team C, you had better still cheer hard for the section you sit in.

[Bouchart]

Should have yelled "boo-urns."

[Heron TSG]

sports have been the original way for competitions for proving the best without killing.

That... doesn't make any sense in this context.

Because we think of dissent as simply a refusal to actively participate, while still supporting the group, and view indifference towards the group as open efforts to go against them. Crowds, like for sports, have an us-or-them mentality. If teams A and B are playing, and you go and watch, even if you only really like team C, you had better still cheer hard for the section you sit in.

The situation was more like this. We were supposed to be there to support team A. The conductor told us to instead do the opposite to team B. This violated the reason I joined pep band, so I left. In the end I neither supported nor un-supported both teams.

Should have yelled "boo-urns."

I don't get it.

[FallingWhale]

Perfect.


As a theatre tech I don't have to and I don't go to pep rallies and I don't go to games.

[nenjin]

I fondly remember the days of plotting the best and most steathly escape route out of school when pep rallies became mandatory. When the administrators and security guards started trafficking the halls before classes even got out to go to the rally, walkie talkies in hand......ah man. Good times. It's like we were paratroopers or something. We'd reconvene at someone's house and we'd be like "Where's Jerome? Did he make it?!" "No man, I saw him at the west doors. They had their hands on his arm."

Congrats for taking a principled stand. I hope you're prepared for the ridiculous fallout.

[Muz]

I don't see it as being unsportslike. Yeah, it's how the game is played. It's not a gentleman's game, you boo theirs, you cheer your own, but when you knock someone down, you help them get up and whether you win or lose, you shake the other person's hand and say good game. Even more so for "rougher" sports like football, but IMO, basketball is one of those tough sports too.

You're not really getting anything out of these games but "bragging rights" most of the time. So you brag about it, rub it under their skin, and expect them to have thick enough skin not to actually take it personally. And they'll do the same to you.

Or you could just sit there quietly and watch, but if I wanted to do that, I'd watch golf or cricket.

[nenjin]

I know it seems unreal, but some people just do not buy into the competitive mentality. Considering it's a pep band though....yeah, no doubt they looked at you funny. Americans don't understand not fucking with the competition's head. We're competitive to a fault.

Like, our rule is you keep the smack talk to a minimum when we play FPS with each other. Because no one, NO ONE likes people fucking with their head while they've got their game on. Stomping your feet isn't smack talk....but it's right on the line of sportsmanlike. The typical definition of unsportsmanlike here tends to be something on the order of 3rd degree assault of some kind

[Heron TSG]

I don't see it as being unsportslike. Yeah, it's how the game is played. It's not a gentleman's game, you boo theirs, you cheer your own, but when you knock someone down, you help them get up and whether you win or lose, you shake the other person's hand and say good game. Even more so for "rougher" sports like football, but IMO, basketball is one of those tough sports too.

If that's how the crowd is supposed to act, I guess I just won't be part of the crowd anymore, simple as that.

[Blargityblarg]

Hrm. Crowds at my cousin's basketball games are generally limited to a few parents and people waiting for the next game to start; and it's usually limited to applause when a goal is scored, but that's probably due to a) the size of the crowd and b) basketball not being anywhere near as big a thing here as in the Land of the Spree.

[The Merchant Of Menace]

Good on you for standing by your morals anyway. That is all.

[Heron TSG]

Good on you for standing by your morals anyway. That is all.

Thanks!

Hrm. Crowds at my cousin's basketball games are generally limited to a few parents and people waiting for the next game to start; and it's usually limited to applause when a goal is scored, but that's probably due to a) the size of the crowd and b) basketball not being anywhere near as big a thing here as in the Land of the Spree.

That's about how it is here, except for Varsity games. Then we get maybe 150 people.

[Urist is dead tome]

Booing the other team because you were told to is weak in my opinion.

[Footkerchief]

Shouting and stomping isn't booing.  It's about as offensive as cheering for the home team.  The other team doesn't care -- they'd find it much more unsportsmanlike for your team to stay weirdly quiet.