I've been stunned lately at the lack of basic civility that I've seen on display in certain college sports settings. At the Wake Forest / NC State basketball game this weekend, Chris Paul was suspended for punching another player in the nuts. That seemed appropriate, but when I heard what had set the player off, I was shocked. Before the crotch punch, in unison, the NC State student section chanted "I killed your Grandpa! I killed your Grandpa!" to Paul. Paul's grandfather had been fatally assaulted in a hate crime several months prior to the game. And the student section had that kind of hatred in their blood to taunt the kid like that??? Shameful! I can't believe that the adults in the audience, or at least the administrators didn't come down on those students like a jackhammer. It reminded me of the time that Pac-10 fans used to taunt Steve Kerr with "I... Killed your daaaady!" during games. Kerr's father, a U.S. diplomat, had been famously assassinated in the middle east a couple of years earlier. This kind of taunt is becoming the norm in college basketball arenas, and I just can't understand it. And these are supposedly "educated" kids whose parents are paying thousands of dollars a year to give them their liberal arts educations. I guess you can't teach civility or class. They they have no moral core. And everyone sitting around these groups that don't MAKE them shut up are equally as spineless in my book. People have to police themselves in these situations.

I guess I haven't been to enough college hoops games recently to be exposed to this king of thing. On the other hand, I've been to a bunch of college football games, including the Orange Bowl. The SC fans and Oklahoma fans were extremely decent to each other before and after the game. Sure, there was smack talk, but in a good-spirted way. That's the spirit of college athletics -- Oklahoma took a beating but will live to fight another day. Losers gave their due to the winners, and the winners took it respectfully. If SC had rubbed it in the OK fans' faces, it would have been classless.

Its not just college dude.

I helped coach the jv team at a local hs team and would always stay and watch the varsity team.

And there would be chants like that not regularly but occasionally when a close rival was being throttled.

Maybe i am wrong but i notice it usually happening when a team is desperate and usually facing a deep comeback.Not to say that warrants those kind of actions.

Whats worse is the violence in hs and college sports.I have personally noticed a handfull of fights this year.Sadly enough half of them where from parents in the stands, and in some cases the parents are not even from opposing schools??

One of them even made it to the local 10'oclock news.Mainly because it was 2 parents brwaling at a middle school girls game?For no apparent reason besides playing time.

Who knows...i think the parents fighting has to do with the whole.My kid is not getting a fair shake or the fact that the parent neglects to see the "mediocre" skills that his son/daughter has.Every parent should think their kid has potential...but if it has reached the hs level and he is still a bench rider.Then just realize he is a mediocer player at best.

Anyways...i dont think it is just a college thing.It happens in hs and then just gets worse in college.

This is getting to be very bad. JJ Reddick has been slammed by almost every college he has gone to, it is getting a lot of coverage on ESPN but it isn't really changing anything. What do you expect from a bunch of drunk college students though? You can't stop the kids from getting intoxicated before the game and you can't really do anything to a couple thousand fans. After all, ticket sales would plummet if you tried to implement a rule in which people under the influence were not allowed into the games. I really don't see any reason to be so cruel to the players. What do they get out of it? Anyone who cares about a team so much that they feel the need to offend other players, has serious mental issues. What I find funny is that they only do this to the best players on a particular team, they could care less about the players on the bench, but the most talented players have to be prepared for a verbal beatdown, if it were not so mean it would be honorable.

As for the parents, I don't blame them for the actions of their children. If anything I thing that the main reason for what is occuring is the increasing ignorance of the American population.

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As for the parents, I don't blame them for the actions of their children. If anything I thing that the main reason for what is occuring is the increasing ignorance of the American population.

Say what you will about basketball fans, but I'm not going to sit here and let you badmouth the United States of AMERICA! (animal house...)

You don't blame parents at all?? If my parents heard me say, "F** YOU, J.J." at a basketball game, or anywhere, for that matter, no matter how obnoxious J.J. might be, I would have gotten my ass kicked by said parents. But lets set aside the parents issue. I agree with MGE here. If you're at a game, sitting next to some jackass that yells out to a player, "I RAPED YOUR GILRFIEND!!!", you should do one of two things. Personally kick that person in the ass, or, if you don't have the balls to do that, simply go get an usher who will escort that person out of the building. I've seen both avenues work effectively. But to sit back and do nothing is like being the "righteous" white person sittng back in the 50s and 60s while others called black folks "nig**ers" to their faces. It can't be tolerated.

I completely agree with your point, RayRay, except for one thing. "GirlFIENDS are dangerous and should probably not be allowed anywhere near wholesome American rapists.....they might turn them BAD!

Girlfiend, girlfriend...what's the diff?? Serves me right for using such an extreme example... though I think I heard that one in H.S. Nasty bastards some people are.

Well that comes down to what parents are allowing there kids to see and be deemed "politically correct." I'm sorry, but when you are 10 then Eminem or Snoop Dogg isn't what you should be listening to. You shouldn't be watching South Park, you shouldn't be reading Mad Magazine. It's pure and simple, kids are brats today. It's all this hands off parenting crap. "Time out, time out, time out." When they are adults it will be "electric chair, electric chair, electric chair."

I agree with RayRay and N-Z that parents are at least partially responsible for the attitudes (and, by questionable extension, the actions) of their college-age kids, but it's too easy to put the whole blame on the parents. RayRay's dead on in saying that any parent who allowed their kids to shout "F You, JJ" is not doing a very good job of parenting, and is setting a bad example.

But there also comes a point when nurture becomes a mere excuse for the bad actions of people who ought to know better. College kids, drunk or not, should know not to say or do certain things. I think the fans who are "ignorant" (as Mike rightfully says) think that a ticket to a game is a license to be an insufferable prick should be kicked out. The excuse that pros are millionaires and should be able to take it is beside the point (and it certainly doesn't apply to college kids!): as the title of the post implies, it's about a little bit of civility. That doesn't mean you can't boo, or heckle, or root: but mean-spirited stuff isn't that.

For the record, the lack of civility isn't limited to sports arenas: its clearly visible in how people treat clerks at the store, how people act towards each other in person, how people speak to each other on line, and even in our news formats from all of the favored talking heads. The way people treat their cell phone calls in public places (have you ever had someone you were having a conversation with put their hand up to you when they get a phone call? I just walk away!) and the way people treat the movie theatre as a place to yell, shout, and have loud conversations are just symptoms of the fact that there are a lot of people who have no respect for the feelings, preferences, and desires of others. A whole lotta solipsism, methinks.

Oh...and there IS a differencee between girlFRIEND and girlFIEND. I've had both...the former you're glad to have, and you're sorry when she's gone. The latter you're sort of glad to have, but after she's gone, you wonder how you tolerated her in the first place.

I think part of this problem has to do with our culture's superstar syndrome. We have no royalty and so people are infatuated by fame. They see the flashing lights on TV and hold these people up to the most extreme scrutiny while seeing them as beyond criticism. To them, yelling whatever at a college kid they figure is going to the NBA doesn't seem like something wrong to them because celebrities aren't people, they're flawwed gods and anything goes..

philosopherEric hit the nail on the head. No-one should have to put up with that sort of abuse, even a seasoned pro (let alone a college kid!).

Sports arenas aren't the only place to observe a lack of civility, but they certainly are a good one.

Sports arenas are a big source of this crap, but I saw a different version of it tonight. I was in line at my local grocery store, and there were only a few checkers/cashiers. The guy in front of me, wearing an expensive suit and OBVIOUSLY more important than everyone else by the way he kept checking his watch, his phone, and his PDA, was pissed that the line wasn't moving. So he started griping at the poor checker (who has no control over how many registers are open at any given time!) before she even finished with the person in front of the jackass. He said something like "you people need to get your acts together" and I lost it...I totally started in on him, and he was shellshocked. He just stared at me and I thought, for a minute, that he might take a swing at me. He just paid, and left. The checker (a teenage girl) was so thankful I had spared her his wrath, and the people behind me all offered their support for what I said.

When I walked out of the place, dude was standing outside the store, on his cellphone. I made dead-on eye contact and he looked away. I don't know if he was ashamed of himself or if he just didn't want conflict from someone who wasn't a 16 year old girl, but I felt a little bit righteous for a minute. A little common courtesy, that's all I'm saying.

Line-ups are a pain in the ass but you can definitely tell if someone just wants to stress how important they are if they gripe about it. Someone who actually has shit to do would know they'd get out faster if they don't say anything. Retail sucks. (I got a trench coat and if I wear all black and scowl the whole time the cashiers only make me say hi and bye...it's great. I highly recommend going goth)