>Fan behavior has been and will continue to be something that is a vital part in not only sports, but all events where some sort of entertainment is being provided. Unfortunately, in sports we have recently seen fan behavior go to the extreme and well beyond it. When fans have to be banned from high school events or be thrown out of stadiums for spilling beer on top of opposing players, one can see that they have obviously gone too far, but the sad part is that these fans don’t see it that way.

In pro sports, it is different that in any other form because of the fact that the people can drink while watching the games. Although you would think that these people would be the most vulgar, that isn’t always the case, but I will go into that more later. Now in most cases, I would argue it is the alcohol, but in some cases it’s just pure emotion/rage that comes out in these instances. As we talked about in class, all sports fans get excited about their teams and the results that will happen. I remember when the Cubs were in the 2003 playoffs, it was my freshman year at Missouri, and I was going crazy throughout all of the playoffs, because they were o so close to doing something that people hadn’t seen for decades! I would get really upset and even throw some things, because I was so invested in what they did. I’m still that way when it comes to Missouri sports. People don’t understand but it is one of those things where the closer you were associated with the program, the more you seem to care. And the fact I worked in sports information while there, I knew more and cared more than just the regular fan.

College sports are similar to the above, minus the booze and add a whole bunch of rowdy college kids. So high schools are next and they are in their own breed. Some of the parents of the players can be downright mean, no matter what the score. Their team may be losing by 30, but they will continue to yell and curse at their teenage son or daughters’ team/coach/opponent. Some of the language is even more vulgar than what people hear at professional games. Now that is a little crazy, but I don’t have children so maybe I will be like that when I get older. Will I be? I don’t know, but I sure as hell don’t want to be.

>You know, today in class, alot of stuff was brought up about how people treat others b/c of what sports they play, didn’t play or like. We have all been a part of this in one way or another and that ranges from being picked on by the athletes (“popular kids”) to being picked last in gym class. And because of this, those people getting picked on get a totally different perception about what those people are actually like.

To start, I can use myself for example. I came from a family where my dad played volleyball and I followed suit all the way through the day I graduated from Missouri and still today. My sister was never very athletic but that was fine b/c she is an excellent excellent dancer in a renown Ukrainian dance group, ‘Hromovytsia.’ Growing up, all people would ever say if you liked volleyball was that you were playing a “girls sport.” I questioned and still do to this day because there are some ignorant people out there, why would you make that assumption if you haven’t seen the men’s game? The answer is that that is always what it has been…the boy plays football/baseball/basketball and the girl plays volleyball/tennis/softball. And most of these people have never even seen a Men’s Volleyball match! Now come to a men’s match and can you THEN tell me it is a girls sport? I don’t think so.

But all of that is what makes sports fun; the making other people impressed with what you do and educating them, no matter how wrong they may have been. Like they always say, showing is easier than telling. At times, the media doesn’t help in certain cases, and this is the same in men’s volleyball. Outside of the Olympics and MAYBE a college match, tell me when you hear about men’s volleyball? Never. The fact that the volleyball players are LESS well-known that even soccer players (and that’s no rift to soccer, as I used to play), is shocking. Until the interest has risen and people begin to see it for what it is, men’s volleyball, like every other sport before it, will continue to flounder amongst the small printing in the newspaper, totally not seen by many but all that matters is that if at least one person can persuade another to go with them to a volleyball match, soccer match, name it, that person will never know the experience. And what have we all learned from experience? The more the better.