For athletes, home-court advantage means having the support of your school behind you. However, fans are not only there to support the team; they are also there to heckle the opponents. As volleyball player John Grobe explained, heckling takes place throughout the league and players learn not to allow it to distract them from the game.
Pepperdine fans are no exception. Riptide has a number of chants and traditions that its members use to poke fun at the other teams in addition to cheering for the Waves. They yell “airball” at free throws, shake their keys toward the end of the game and pick on players individually using the rosters to comment on their physical attributes or their playing style. While these comments are intended to get into the minds of players, they maintain a tone respectful of the environment of the game.
In fact, it was only a few days ago that Coach Westphal recognized the positive fan support in an all-school e-mail. Westphal thanked the entire student body for our support and appropriate behavior at recent basketball games.
Yet, this weekend, the good cheering that Westphal had so graciously lauded was abandoned.
At the men’s volleyball game against Brigham Young University on Saturday, fans breached the grey line of respectful heckling when some of their comments attacked the Mormon religion, the ethnicity of some of the players or included long strings of profanity.
This event prompted us to spend a little time looking into appropriate spectator conduct.
Don’t get us wrong, we support good-natured heckling. In fact, heckling is an American tradition. Just as gambling over sports heightens the entertainment of a match, heckling can make a dull game fantastic. There are dull moments in television games that, in most situations, could be filled with consuming snack foods or watching commercials, but in live action these breaks in the action must be filled with the creative screaming of fans.
The problems with heckling are when inexperienced people try to engage in this sophisticated sport. We need to respect the creative process of these hecklers. A simple “You Suck” won’t cut it in the competitive world of sports mocking. There needs to be more to it, like, “I haven’t seen this many bricks outside of a construction site” or “Hey pitcher, I get more strikes in a game of bowling.” These are pitiful examples by an amateur heckler but the basics are there — it is not just a simple ‘your mamma’ comment or profanity. Heckling is about the creative mockery of players, but when amateurs try to heckle, the intended scathing witticisms just turn into bawdy insults. Thus, there are guidelines to heckling that people need to respect.
Start with the basics, then work your way up to more advanced heckles. Try your heckling out on your friends before you yell comments at players at the top of your lungs. Remember heckling is your time to publicly make a simultaneous statement about the game and yourself. Do you want to be perceived as an uncouth racist with school spirit or that guy who fills the dull moments of the game with insightful jeering at the opposition?
The point is that heckling should be all in fun. It should be creative, witty and interesting. It should inspire a laugh from the people around you and occasionally a surprised look from the other team. But it should not be blatantly offensive.
Games are for everyone. They are for the Pepperdine players, the fans, the other team and even the alumni who bring their kids to the game. When fans start screaming obscenities at the other team or making offensive comments, the entire atmosphere of the game changes — negatively.
So please, go to the games. Support the team. You can even heckle a little, if you feel so compelled. But keep it clean, let hecklers know if they’ve crossed the line. Comments about players’ religions, sexual orientations or race are simply better left unsaid.
2-17-2005