Sunday, January 11, 2009 — Sitting in the stands Friday night at the Albemarle - Mt. Pleasant game for the fourth quarter of the boys’ game, a thought came to mind about hecklers.

Now before some of you start in on that line that if you pay the price of admission, you get the right to badger the officials, I believe that you’re only partially right.

Before every Rocky River Conference game, the PA announcer usually reads a sportsmanship pledge that includes the following phrase:

“Profanity, racial or ethnic comments, or other intimidating actions directed at officials, student-athletes, coaches and game officials are prohibited and are grounds for removal from the site of competition.”

I remember hearing that announcement several times this year at football games and thinking: “There are not many people sitting in the stands that can be heard that well by officials on the field.”

No matter how loud you may think that your voice is, most football bleachers are so far back that anything you might yell would sound like a whisper on the field.

Basketball is another story.

There was one particular fan one night this week who immediately got on my nerves (and probably everyone at the scorer’s table) who continually screamed derogatory statements towards the officials.

I remember wondering out loud why he thought that yelling the phrase “You stink!”, with the word “stink” replaced with a four-letter word that rhymes with duck and has something to do with vacuum cleaners, was going to help his team’s cause.

I know that if I was standing in line at the DMV over on 24-27 and I yelled that at one of the workers, I not only wouldn’t get my registration renewed, I’d probably be arrested.

How is acting like that going to help your team’s cause out?

When coaches yell at officials, that is a different story than fans feeling the need to inflict their will.

I’m not innocent of the charges of heckling an official, either, although I am better than in my youth.

I think that if you are going to do that, you need to use humor.

Consider the old story about the great Jim Valvano.

The legend is that Valvano once went up to an official and asked him if he would be allowed to give him a technical foul for what Coach Valvano was thinking.

When the referee said no, Valvano looked at him and said, “I think you stink!” with that vacuum word again.

Of course, the referee gave him a T anyway, but at least he used humor and just abusive language.

So if you must heckle, use something funny. Make the referee laugh for a change.

Most refs have probably already heard it all anyway.



Contact Charles Curcio at (704) 982-2121 ext. 12 or email at charles@stanlynewspress.com.