One thing I always notice around Terrapins sports is the perpetual plea for the student section to demonstrate good sportsmanship. These appeals are especially evident during men’s basketball games, to the extent that Gary Williams was asked to talk to the student section before the Duke game last year. This process is preposterous — while preaching sportsmanship is good in theory, it’s important to realize fans are supposed to support their school and their team and good fans take that message to heart.
When a team plays in front of its fans, it wants support. It feeds off the crowd’s energy, which can make players feel like they’re playing for something bigger. Furthermore, the crowd booing the opposition gives the team a clear task — make the audience cheer, not jeer. While this is a slight oversimplification because players usually have their own motivations, crowds can increase a player’s drive and spur them to elevate their play — home field advantage is not a myth.
Consider being in a fight in front of your friends. You would want your friends to support you, not simply agree with both sides of the argument. In fact, you would be a terrible friend if you supported both sides for the sake of a better argument. Sporting matches are essentially fights because the audience is invested in them and the crowds are analagous to good friends. If you want to change that, you have to change the entire culture of sports.
The best way to promote sportsmanship at sporting events would be to withdraw from Division 1 athletics. If we had a lower-profile program, students would care less (or at least less would care), and the overall belligerence at games would decrease. However, this is a ridiculous suggestion — this university is rightfully very proud of its varsity teams (at least the ones we can afford), and the students reflect that sentiment with fierce school spirit in their present and future lives. Why should sporting events be any different?
At its core, sportsmanship is a very important practice. However, it applies only to competitors, not audiences. Athletes should always be held to a high standard of sportsmanship, and fans should be held to a high standard of support.
That last statement does not mean that overtly rude comments are OK — in fact, despite being said at a sports game, such comments are still vulgar. However, that type of behavior is less about the audience’s sportsmanship and more about the people who exhibit it.
Nolan Smith, a former guard on the Duke basketball team, once stated that Comcast Center was his least favorite place to play, presumably because our student section would taunt and chant whenever he touched the ball, and erupt for every Maryland basket. He felt uncomfortable playing here because he constantly felt anger and hate directed toward him. Though no athlete wants to compete in these conditions, it is something that every player must endure — it is just a part of sports. The fans could get in his head and probably negatively affect Smith; essentially, the crowd hurt the other team and helped ours. If you ask the fans of any team to stop doing something that helps their team win, they would say no. And if you ask any Terp that, the “no” would be accompanied with a questioning look — because we know our job as fans, and it is a responsibility we take with the utmost pride.
Rajarshi Chattopadhyay is a sophomore aerospace engineering major. He can be reached at chattopadhyay@umdbk.com.
