It was this state’s proud boast that we were the first in the country to legislate civility in our high school sports.
It was an amendment to the standard sportsmanship rules, and after just three years, it’s boilerplate stuff: Any provocative language about a player’s race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation carries a penalty.
No, trash talk can’t be completely eliminated, but there are red lines. Use a gay slur, and you’re done for the day. Use the N-word, and you’re looking at a suspension and an investigation from the civil rights division of the Attorney General’s office. Ignorance is no excuse. Before every tipoff and kickoff, the ref pulls out a laminated card and reads them to the captains.
All this applies to fans as well, with one difference: It’s up to host school’s officials to maintain standards of behavior in the stands, so clearly somebody dropped the ball Friday night at Jefferson High, where some fans showed up to revel in 120 minutes of roaring, witless hostility.
A viral video tells the ugly story: It was America theme night, and about a dozen fans – fine young patriots who have been freed from the oppressive fist of political correctness – repeatedly taunted an African-American player from Dover with a slur about his skin color.
Throughout warmups, the fans – all white – also chanted “Build the wall!” at their guests from Dover, a school that is 78 percent Hispanic.
Maybe Donald Trump has given these people the tacit approval to stand proudly and let their freak flags fly.
But these are kids, and they need to be taught and retaught. And clearly they belong in the penalty box after the schools and the NJSIAA complete their investigation.
They came not only to offer abuse; they seem to believe that loathsome behavior carries weight in the minds of others and in the outcome of a game. Maybe. But games end after a few hours. Reputations last longer, especially those of bullies and bigots.
Jefferson antics more common than you think | Di Ionno
Some believe that if you pay for a ticket you can spew whatever vile nonsense comes to mind. That probably wasn’t the dynamic here; this is what sociologists call “deindividuation.” The seminal study was by Gustave Le Bon, who wrote of the “mental inferiority” of crowds. He would say a sports crowd – united by definition and foul-mouthed and confrontational out of circumstance – operates by different laws than those that govern individual behavior.
But high school sports must remain distinct. The NJSIAA director, Steven Timko, said it best:
“Given the fan culture at the professional and even college level, it’s a constant battle to reinforce that high school athletics, while entertaining, are not entertainment,” he said. “Rather, they’re an extension of the classroom. Adults – administrators, coaches, officials, teachers, parents, and journalists – need to be mindful of the distinctions between the different levels of sport.”
Everyone slipped this time. The folks at Jefferson get a chance to put things rights, and make it stick.
Aziz Ansari Stand-Up Monologue – SNL
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