When fans view sports as a consumer product, winning is the primary objective and losing becomes intolerable. That’s a reasonable proposition when it comes to pro sports. But in high school athletics, it’s a tail that wags the dog.
Last Tuesday night, a boys varsity basketball coach was walking off the court after yet another loss. His season record went to 0-13. A fan in the stands started yelling something. Perturbed, the coach charged the heckler and struck him in the face. They struggled and, then, a female fan got involved. A deputy stepped in and arrested the coach, who was later charged with a misdemeanor. The country school system placed the coach on paid administrative leave.
It was a scene of frustration overflowing. That varsity team, which has a three-year record of 1-59, scored four points in the first half of the game, eventually losing by the score of 63-28.
By any reckoning, this is a program in need. But the big question is this: How do you go about turning around a program in need of change? That’s a question for the athletics director and the school system leadership–and they should be held accountable for answering it, too. The coach? He was dead wrong in charging the stands. But honest coaches everywhere will admit to having wanted to do exactly what he did. But wrong is wrong, and the coach should be punished.
There’s more to this story, too. Spectators and some media reporters take too many liberties by thinking they have the right to say or write whatever they think.
It seems to this writer–a former coach and administrator–that fans and writers see the price of admission as a springboard to hypercriticize. Yet, how many have faced the challenges of those they critique? That question applies especially in the circumstance that this coach and his players face–losing and losing. The truth is: it’s much easier to ‘coach’ when you’re sitting in the stands.
What good did the fan do that night–either for the kids and for a team that’s going through a horrific season? None. Good would have come had he helped the AD and school administration figure out a way to turnaround a profoundly struggling program. But the overwhelming percentage of fans aren’t enablers; they are consumers of a product, which (in this case) happens to be sports, and high school sports at that.
But here’s the thing. We ought not forget what high school athletics are about–helping young people to become more than they are today. That mission got displaced last Tuesday night.
It was displaced by fanaticism … ‘fan’ for short.
