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133. Compete Without Contempt: Setting the Standard for Fan Behavior
3 Plays3 months ago
In this episode of the Especially for Athletes Podcast, Shad and Dustin dive into the crucial topic of fan behavior—specifically, how student sections can bring energy and excitement to a game without crossing the line into hatred or disrespect. Using the recent incident at a BYU vs. Arizona basketball game as a backdrop, they discuss the impact of negative fan behavior and the importance of maintaining respect for both the game and the opponent.
Shad and Dustin explore how athletes can lead by example, influencing their fan base to focus on supporting their own team rather than tearing the other team down. They also share practical tips for fans on how to create a positive, energizing atmosphere without resorting to personal insults, and how athletes can use their influence to promote good sportsmanship.
Key Takeaways:
- Focus your energy on cheering for your own team and supporting your athletes.
- While noise and passion are great, personal insults or attacks on opponents’ race, religion, or family are never acceptable.
- Athletes, your actions set the tone for your fans—compete with class and encourage positive fan behavior.
Join Shad and Dustin as they discuss the power of positivity and respect in sports, and how we can all contribute to making the game better for everyone.
Especially for Athletes:
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Join the conversation using #TheSportlightPodcast
Credits:
Hosted by Shad Martin
Produced by IMAGINATE STUDIO
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Support the show: https://especiallyforathletes.com/podcast/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the especially for athletes podcast where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
Fan Behavior at Sports Events
00:00:16
Speaker
Well, Dustin, today we're gonna talk about an important subject.
00:00:20
Speaker
I think it's important.
00:00:21
Speaker
We often focus on athletes competing without contempt and acting appropriately as they compete, but there's this other element and that's fans and student sections in particular.
00:00:36
Speaker
And so we both know sports are emotional.
00:00:41
Speaker
You know, they can be highly charged.
00:00:44
Speaker
It brings out passion, intensity, and energy.
00:00:47
Speaker
And that's why student sections are so powerful.
00:00:49
Speaker
They change the atmosphere of a game.
00:00:51
Speaker
They give their team an edge.
00:00:53
Speaker
There's a reason why it's always easier to win at home than it is away.
00:00:58
Speaker
But sometimes...
00:01:00
Speaker
Fans crossed the line.
Issues of Misconduct in Sports
00:01:02
Speaker
We saw that recently.
00:01:04
Speaker
You probably saw this, Dustin, Arizona basketball fans chanting derogatory insults at their BYU players.
00:01:12
Speaker
F the Mormons.
00:01:13
Speaker
For whatever reason, that's an acceptable common thing that's yelled at BYU teams.
00:01:19
Speaker
It made national news.
00:01:21
Speaker
Of course, the University of Arizona and their student section leaders apologized, saying this isn't who they are.
00:01:28
Speaker
It's usually not a whole...
00:01:29
Speaker
team or school or organization.
00:01:32
Speaker
It's usually a few knuckleheads.
00:01:35
Speaker
But that kind of thing happens everywhere.
00:01:38
Speaker
And you're probably familiar with this story, Dustin.
00:01:41
Speaker
It happened the other side of the coin.
00:01:43
Speaker
BYU fans haven't always been on the right side of this subject that we're talking about.
00:01:49
Speaker
Elder Jeffrey Holland, the leader of the church, told a story one time of a young
00:01:54
Speaker
returned missionary, had served for the church that sponsors Brigham Young University.
00:01:59
Speaker
He started out his playing time with BYU.
00:02:03
Speaker
He wasn't getting much playing time there.
00:02:05
Speaker
He decided to transfer to a new school.
00:02:08
Speaker
His coaches and his teammates supported him in that.
00:02:11
Speaker
He went on to that new opportunity.
00:02:14
Speaker
But when he came back to play against BYU, what happened to him was shocking.
00:02:18
Speaker
And here's what Jeffrey Holland said earlier.
00:02:22
Speaker
regarding that.
00:02:23
Speaker
The vitriolic abuse that poured out of the stands on this young man's head that night
00:02:30
Speaker
a Latter-day Saint, a return missionary, a newlywed, someone who gave charitable service to youth in his community and waited excitedly for a new baby coming to him and his wife.
00:02:42
Speaker
What was said and done and showered upon him that night by BYU fans and on his wife and their families should not have been experienced by any human being anywhere, anytime.
00:02:54
Speaker
Then after the game, the young man's new coach,
00:02:58
Speaker
A legendary figure in college basketball looked at him and said something heartbreaking.
00:03:03
Speaker
What's going on here?
00:03:05
Speaker
You're the hometown boy who is made good.
00:03:08
Speaker
These are your people.
00:03:10
Speaker
These are your friends.
00:03:12
Speaker
How did this happen?
00:03:14
Speaker
How did a crowd of good people, a crowd that was mostly members of the same faith as this young man, turn so ugly so quickly?
00:03:22
Speaker
The next day when people defended their behavior, one fan said, listen, we're talking about basketball here, not Sunday school.
Values vs. Sports Conduct
00:03:30
Speaker
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
00:03:32
Speaker
We pay good money to see these games.
00:03:34
Speaker
We can act the way we want.
00:03:37
Speaker
We can check our religion at the door.
00:03:41
Speaker
Jeffrey Holland responded to this by saying, we check our religion at the door.
00:03:46
Speaker
You never check your religion at the door, not ever.
00:03:51
Speaker
So there's a little background, Dustin.
00:03:54
Speaker
I just didn't want it to seem like it was in defense of BYU.
00:03:56
Speaker
This is a problem.
00:03:58
Speaker
everywhere.
00:03:59
Speaker
It creeps down into the high school ranks.
00:04:02
Speaker
It's parents at little seven-year-old peewee soccer games.
00:04:06
Speaker
And I'm just wondering your thoughts as we address this topic of how fans behave.
00:04:12
Speaker
What is it that makes us feel good about taking all the standards we have for behavior other places and checking at the door, yelling things at people that we would never go up to them
00:04:23
Speaker
and say to their face at a grocery store, or even if it was a one-on-one interaction after a game, would never do it.
00:04:30
Speaker
But when we're up in the stands with 20,000 people around us or the other parents, what is it that makes someone feel comfortable to just be so far less than their normal standard of behavior?
00:04:46
Speaker
I don't know.
00:04:48
Speaker
I think that question has been asked a lot over the years, and no one knows why.
00:04:54
Speaker
It's probably just because it's accepted.
00:04:56
Speaker
It's not policed, right?
00:04:59
Speaker
You're not going to get in trouble for saying you suck.
00:05:02
Speaker
to a referee but you would get in trouble and people would look at you and be disgusted if you said that to you know the the person bagging your groceries at the grocery store because they weren't doing it right right um but for whatever reason when you're in a crowd cheering even if you haven't paid for the tickets if it's at a free you know uh
00:05:25
Speaker
14-year-old basketball game.
Psychology of Vocal Aggression
00:05:28
Speaker
For some reason, it's okay to say it to the refs to a point, and that point varies depending on the referee, and that's where you run into all sorts of problems.
00:05:38
Speaker
It's because nobody knows what they can and can't get away with, but they want to get away with as much as they can.
00:05:46
Speaker
You'd want to be able to say and scream as much as you can.
00:05:49
Speaker
I think it's... I don't know.
00:05:51
Speaker
I think some fans get some sort of sense of
00:05:56
Speaker
I don't know, I guess power or maybe it's
00:05:59
Speaker
It's I know more than you do, and I'm going to make sure that everybody knows I do.
00:06:04
Speaker
So I'm going to scream and yell this.
00:06:05
Speaker
And it's almost this like, wow, he's really competitive.
00:06:08
Speaker
He must really care.
00:06:09
Speaker
And you're showing your passion and love for your team if you're screaming and yelling.
00:06:14
Speaker
If you're not, it must be that you don't care if you win or lose the game or not.
00:06:18
Speaker
You're apathetic to the result.
00:06:20
Speaker
And that's not always the case.
00:06:21
Speaker
But, you know, this person who said we check our religion at the door,
00:06:26
Speaker
I remember hearing that, and obviously everybody that's religious thought, how dare him say that, but everybody does.
00:06:35
Speaker
I mean, he was right in what he said.
00:06:38
Speaker
To some point, Shad, everybody checks something at the door when they come in to a game.
00:06:44
Speaker
Even if they're not screaming humiliating insults, if they're booing,
00:06:49
Speaker
you don't boo people outside of a facility.
00:06:52
Speaker
Do you imagine?
00:06:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:54
Speaker
Do you imagine?
00:06:56
Speaker
Like I said, the cash register, boo, boo.
00:07:00
Speaker
It would be funny, but it'd be, you know, you boo your waiter, boo your waiter, boo your waitress, you know, but, but we all do.
00:07:07
Speaker
And, and, you know, argue with refs and complain and, and just, there's just this freedom because it's, there's passion, right?
00:07:15
Speaker
everybody's given a little bit longer leash, I guess, to, you know, to react and act.
00:07:21
Speaker
And so is it right?
00:07:23
Speaker
No.
00:07:25
Speaker
Although, you know, I would say that I don't know that we'll ever do a podcast that will fall on probably deaf ears than this one.
00:07:34
Speaker
I mean, right.
00:07:34
Speaker
The people listening to our podcast probably, you know,
00:07:38
Speaker
I hope, aren't the ones that are out there doing it.
00:07:40
Speaker
But if they are, I highly doubt that what we say is going to change them.
00:07:44
Speaker
Now, if you are that person that's yelling, you suck at a ref or you suck at a coach, then my
Message to Disrespectful Fans
00:07:52
Speaker
comment to you, you ready?
00:07:54
Speaker
This is very blunt, might lose our follower.
00:07:57
Speaker
The person saying that, you suck.
00:08:00
Speaker
You suck if you're doing that.
00:08:02
Speaker
If you're yelling that at referees and if you're yelling that at coaches, you're a joke.
00:08:08
Speaker
Or players.
00:08:10
Speaker
Yeah, or players.
00:08:11
Speaker
You're an idiot.
00:08:12
Speaker
I'm sorry, but you are.
00:08:13
Speaker
If that's you listening to this, you're a moron.
00:08:17
Speaker
You embarrass your family.
00:08:20
Speaker
You embarrass your community.
00:08:22
Speaker
The people who hear you think that that's how the people in your community are and the people at your school are.
00:08:27
Speaker
So your representation of your community is now polluted because you're an idiot who can't keep his mouth shut.
00:08:35
Speaker
I get it.
00:08:35
Speaker
We get frustrated and we're going to say, oh, that's a bad call and we're going to complain and be frustrated by it.
00:08:41
Speaker
But the insult saying you anything, you suck, your worst words get said, making comments about a person's religion or calling a coach or a ref an idiot or something like that or a player.
00:08:56
Speaker
Finding stuff online that you can say about a player's family when they're close to you.
00:09:01
Speaker
I know people that will find sensitive things, like really mean things that they'll find out about somebody online.
00:09:07
Speaker
They'll do research.
00:09:09
Speaker
And there's jabbing and joking and some trash talk.
00:09:13
Speaker
But I think everybody knows when the line's being crossed.
00:09:17
Speaker
Maybe not.
00:09:18
Speaker
I guess obviously not.
00:09:19
Speaker
Because saying F the Mormons, nobody that was saying that thought that that might be
00:09:24
Speaker
there might be people, including people on their team at Arizona and people in the community and at the school that are members of that faith and other faiths who say similar things.
00:09:37
Speaker
It's just, it's ridiculous.
00:09:39
Speaker
It's cowardly.
00:09:41
Speaker
I think it's what small people do to want to sound like they know a lot or care a lot or are passionate about something.
00:09:48
Speaker
And they embarrass themselves and their family and their community when they do it.
00:09:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:53
Speaker
And particularly, I wanted to talk for a minute to the student sections.
00:09:59
Speaker
Many of the young people that we meet with, they're part of the student section as well.
00:10:03
Speaker
You know, they play football in the fall and then they go cheer on the basketball team in the winter.
00:10:08
Speaker
Right.
00:10:08
Speaker
And
00:10:10
Speaker
And sometimes I see where things cross the line.
00:10:13
Speaker
For example, we had Zach Erickson on our podcast, the head football coach for Snow College, and he talked about a time he's half white, half black.
Promoting Positive Energy
00:10:23
Speaker
And he talked about a time when every time he would go to the free throw line as a high school basketball player, the fans would start chanting Oreo, you know, something so inappropriate.
00:10:38
Speaker
And so I just wanted to take a minute, give some suggestions.
00:10:42
Speaker
I love the passion and energy of high school sports, college sports, NBA sports.
00:10:48
Speaker
Like as a matter of fact,
00:10:50
Speaker
Growing up playing high school basketball, there was one school that I hated to go play at.
00:10:55
Speaker
It was Little Rock.
00:10:56
Speaker
And it was not because they had passionate, rabid fans.
00:11:01
Speaker
It's because they had no fans.
00:11:02
Speaker
Like it was the most boring place to play.
00:11:05
Speaker
You would go and when you can hear a mom saying,
00:11:08
Speaker
It's okay, Jimmy.
00:11:09
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:11:10
Speaker
Like you just, the adrenaline, I had a hard time getting the adrenaline and everything else.
00:11:15
Speaker
I loved going to Highland, our rival.
00:11:17
Speaker
It was always packed and it was fun.
00:11:20
Speaker
Like it makes it so fun to have a packed, energized arena, whether it's your own or those that you're playing.
00:11:30
Speaker
And so we definitely aren't discouraging that.
00:11:33
Speaker
But I was just wondering if we could take a minute.
00:11:36
Speaker
I thought through maybe a few tips, Dustin.
00:11:38
Speaker
I would just love a few sentences from you on each of these tips to fan bases, you know, because athletes should be leading out and helping their fan bases be appropriate.
00:11:47
Speaker
And half the time, you're on the field one season, as we've said, and then you're off the field in the stands the next.
00:11:56
Speaker
And so here's just a few things that I think would be helpful to make sure that you're not that kind, that the person that you're saying, you're an idiot, you know, like if you do these things.
00:12:09
Speaker
The first is let all of your energy go toward your own team or the majority of it.
00:12:17
Speaker
Be loud, be positive, encourage your players, cheer for great plays, like get loud, get crazy when your team does something good.
00:12:27
Speaker
It's better to cheer for your team than against the other team, right?
00:12:32
Speaker
And I would just love your thoughts just on that tip to student sections to create traditions and things like that that are more directed toward your team than the other team.
00:12:43
Speaker
There's some safety there.
00:12:44
Speaker
Any thoughts on that?
00:12:45
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you have just as much production from your team, more probably, if your focus is on them.
00:12:54
Speaker
There's going to be bad calls made and people are going to boo.
00:12:56
Speaker
That's never going to change, man.
00:12:58
Speaker
And it's going to happen.
00:12:59
Speaker
And I even think referees are used to it and that's probably fine.
00:13:03
Speaker
Boo, whatever, move on.
00:13:05
Speaker
But yeah.
00:13:07
Speaker
cheering for your own team when they do well, having chants, having fun things that you do that are positive.
00:13:14
Speaker
But anything directed at the other team isn't necessary.
00:13:17
Speaker
It's just not.
00:13:19
Speaker
And there are certain things that get said that maybe people would say is okay, you know, an airball chant or something.
00:13:27
Speaker
I personally don't like it when I hear it.
00:13:29
Speaker
I just think it's
00:13:30
Speaker
I don't think anybody, if that was your son or if that was you, would want thousands of people cheering that.
00:13:36
Speaker
But that's, again, that's not going to change.
00:13:40
Speaker
But, yeah, focus on your team and have fun chants you do.
00:13:45
Speaker
And you can see college arenas now that –
00:13:48
Speaker
You know, we're having all these college March Madness games and everything.
00:13:52
Speaker
You'll see fan bases that do all sorts of things when the other team shooting a free throw with how they wave their hands or when they clap or that stuff's all great.
00:13:59
Speaker
You know, a team gets a first down and everybody does something and that creates energy and excitement for the players.
00:14:06
Speaker
And that's what you want.
00:14:07
Speaker
You want them to play well.
00:14:08
Speaker
The truth is when you're really ultra negative, I can tell you this from a player, but also as a coach, if you have a fan base that is ultra negative,
00:14:18
Speaker
It rubs off on the players a little bit, especially if it's coming from their parents.
00:14:23
Speaker
When you look up and you see your parents or people close to you that are really upset and mad and disappointed and they're yelling and screaming at something, you can't help but then feel like, oh, yeah, we're getting gypped.
00:14:36
Speaker
We're getting robbed.
00:14:37
Speaker
They're right.
00:14:37
Speaker
See, everybody agrees that this referee is wrong.
00:14:40
Speaker
Everybody thinks that this referee is losing this for us.
00:14:43
Speaker
And the focus becomes more on what you can't control, and that's the calls of the referee, and less on, okay, we got to play through this and figure out how to still score, regardless of whether or not the ref's making a call or not.
00:14:57
Speaker
And I can tell you from being a coach, the majority of the time, Shad,
00:15:04
Speaker
it works out fairly evenly.
00:15:06
Speaker
We just don't see when it's called incorrectly on the other team.
00:15:11
Speaker
We only see when it's called incorrectly on us.
00:15:14
Speaker
But I've coached a lot of football games where I've seen calls against my team and thought that is, he absolutely missed that call.
00:15:21
Speaker
But I check myself every time because I know, and I've also seen where we have absolutely had a holding penalty or done something on our end and it's been missed.
00:15:33
Speaker
And so it usually works itself out.
00:15:34
Speaker
So just cheer for your own team, be excited and understand that in the case of refs, they're going to make mistakes.
00:15:41
Speaker
And in the case of other team, it's probably just the golden rule, right?
00:15:46
Speaker
Just treat them like you'd want to be treated.
00:15:48
Speaker
And don't check completely those kinds of standards, your character at the door when you walk into a game.
00:15:56
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:15:57
Speaker
In fact, one of the things you said there, I think
00:16:01
Speaker
If fan bases concentrate, when it's directed at your team, like all those chants and traditions, like the Cameron Crazies, you know, you see they have all the things they do.
00:16:11
Speaker
They like put out their fingers, you know, just like it is so fun.
00:16:15
Speaker
It's not personal.
00:16:17
Speaker
It's just awesome.
00:16:17
Speaker
I would love to play in an environment like that against them.
00:16:21
Speaker
Right.
00:16:21
Speaker
But one thing that it seems that great fan bases do is they concentrate more on noise than on substance.
00:16:29
Speaker
And someone's at the free throw line, like you said, you know, behind the basket.
Creative and Fun Chanting
00:16:32
Speaker
I mean, I saw one of my favorite ones where a student section behind the free throw, there's a sheet over a guy and they're pretending like the guy's dressed up in a doctor's outfit.
00:16:44
Speaker
And then another guy comes out under the sheet, like, like the one guy was giving birth to a guy.
00:16:50
Speaker
And
00:16:51
Speaker
shooting a free throw.
00:16:52
Speaker
I mean, that stuff's just funny.
00:16:54
Speaker
You know, it's, it's awesome.
00:16:56
Speaker
This, the signs they hold up and the funny things they hold up.
00:17:00
Speaker
All that stuff is the fun of the game.
00:17:03
Speaker
The noise.
00:17:04
Speaker
I love when I'm in environments,
00:17:07
Speaker
And all of a sudden it's like a key possession or whatever it is.
00:17:11
Speaker
And you can just feel the energy and they're trying to distract, make it hard for a play call to come in to a football team or someone's at the free throw line or you're playing defense.
00:17:22
Speaker
And it's just like, ah, you know, like that stuff is fun.
00:17:26
Speaker
It contributes to the environment.
00:17:28
Speaker
But when someone's at the free throw line and you're not using noise to support or to distract those fun things that could be done, you're doing things like chanting Oreo or F the Mormons or whatever it is like that stuff.
00:17:45
Speaker
You have to check so many standards at the door.
00:17:49
Speaker
to go after someone's religion or race or appearance.
00:17:54
Speaker
I've seen that happen where they start going after something that a kid's probably insecure about.
00:18:01
Speaker
And so I just, I love that.
00:18:03
Speaker
And I love what you said about referees, even in that Arizona game that led to the,
00:18:10
Speaker
blank the Mormons chant people kind of compiled there was the last play it was kind of controversial led to two free throws that won the game for BYU but then you know you could go back and just in the two minutes at the end of the game and see four or five calls that went Arizona's way that could have gone BYU's way and so that happens and give some grace to the referees and
00:18:35
Speaker
I think that those are important things.
00:18:37
Speaker
Don't get personal.
00:18:38
Speaker
Use noise, not insults.
00:18:40
Speaker
But there's one other thing, Dustin, that I think we need to address, not just on this podcast, but as a society.
Social Media's Role in Fan Behavior
00:18:48
Speaker
There's a lot of schools that have these barstool accounts, these anonymous accounts that
00:18:57
Speaker
And they use them to go after opposing teams or their coaches or their players, where they'll take pictures or find pictures or even create AI-generated pictures.
00:19:11
Speaker
And they'll make fun of kids.
00:19:13
Speaker
Like, they'll mock kids.
00:19:15
Speaker
And sometimes it's good, wholesome fun.
00:19:18
Speaker
But other times, it really crosses lines.
00:19:22
Speaker
And there has been some situations that I'm aware of.
00:19:27
Speaker
where kids are deeply hurt.
00:19:31
Speaker
We had a situation on one of these accounts where threats were made to a coach's daughter on these accounts.
00:19:39
Speaker
I'm sure you've seen that, that barstool culture that exists now.
00:19:44
Speaker
To the kids that we present our message to, the compete without contempt message in particular, but also that seek to bless, not to impress.
00:19:54
Speaker
Well, you could say seek to bless, not to destroy, right?
00:19:58
Speaker
Do you have a message for those schools that are E4A schools about these barstool accounts and just thoughts on some of the things that happen on those?
00:20:10
Speaker
I know that schools, most schools, I shouldn't say I know that all schools, I know that many schools are aware of those.
00:20:17
Speaker
The difficulty is finding out who runs them.
00:20:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:21
Speaker
And then nobody likes it, at least at the administrator.
00:20:25
Speaker
I've seen, like you said, some really bad things.
00:20:29
Speaker
I was told there was something said about me or my family on one.
00:20:33
Speaker
I didn't, I didn't, I just said, I don't want to know.
00:20:35
Speaker
Don't tell me.
00:20:38
Speaker
It wouldn't bother me too much, but I didn't want it to, you know, if it was about a family member, I wouldn't want them to know.
00:20:45
Speaker
And so, but yeah, man, it's the same thing.
00:20:50
Speaker
It's just, again, I don't know that.
00:20:54
Speaker
Unfortunately, Chad, I sound pessimistic here.
00:20:58
Speaker
I don't think that, I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think, I think it's going to get worse.
00:21:03
Speaker
I think AI, these apps, these different just society in general, whatever people can do to get a like or get a retweet or feel like they're famous for a minute, even if they're just famous behind an anonymous account, but they see that something they did is getting traction, there's this feeling of I've made it.
00:21:24
Speaker
people like me because they're retweeting or resharing or liking or something, my, you know, my post.
00:21:30
Speaker
And they'll go to whatever lengths necessary to feel that feeling of being recognized or being, you know, good at something.
00:21:43
Speaker
And even though it's evil, but...
00:21:45
Speaker
So, yeah, I don't think it's going to stop.
00:21:47
Speaker
But if people that listen to this know of people doing that, I'd ask you to, again, I say this to kids all the time when I've been speaking the last several months, be the person that your grandma thinks you are at school.
00:22:00
Speaker
Hmm.
00:22:01
Speaker
And grandma, if she knew you were doing that, would probably be absolutely humiliated.
00:22:05
Speaker
Right?
00:22:06
Speaker
So just it goes back to parenting, right?
00:22:09
Speaker
It's not this isn't the coaches and this isn't the teacher's job to teach kids this.
00:22:13
Speaker
It's mom and dad's job.
00:22:15
Speaker
And unfortunately, we have parents who do nothing, could care less about what's going on, and they don't have these kind of conversations with their kids.
00:22:22
Speaker
And until that happens, I don't think that, I think we're just going to talk, we will, we'll keep talking about it, but we're going to, like we've done in many subjects, talk until we're blue in the face about it and see very little change.
00:22:35
Speaker
But little change is better than no change.
00:22:37
Speaker
So if this helps somebody listening, say,
00:22:40
Speaker
Yeah, I'm going to talk to my kid about this, or I'm going to try to find out who's behind these accounts and ask them to stop or ask people I know that know who these accounts are not to follow them or not to share what they say.
00:22:53
Speaker
Those are the things we can do.
00:22:55
Speaker
The people who want to be evil will always be evil.
00:22:58
Speaker
You know, it's and that's not going to go away, but maybe we can limit the amount of people that pay attention to them.
00:23:06
Speaker
by asking our people to shun that stuff, stay away from it, and try to make the game a little cleaner and a little bit more respectful for everybody so everybody can enjoy it.
00:23:18
Speaker
Because this stuff you're talking about, and parents, if you don't know, I hope you never find out, but there's some incredibly evil, unbelievably creative
00:23:30
Speaker
that some people think are funny, but they're at the expense, the real deep, difficult, painful expense of other people in an effort to get laughs and wrapped around, ah, we're just playing, it's just sports.
00:23:47
Speaker
Again, to your earlier point about
00:23:50
Speaker
It's just a game.
00:23:52
Speaker
It's not when you're saying that stuff.
00:23:53
Speaker
That's gone beyond the game.
00:23:55
Speaker
It's not just a game when you let it get to that point.
00:23:58
Speaker
And so, yeah, we have to keep talking to our leaders about it.
00:24:01
Speaker
These athlete leaders, they're the ones that are going to stop it.
00:24:04
Speaker
It won't be admin and adults.
00:24:05
Speaker
It'll be kids saying enough, finding out who's behind these things, not sharing it, not giving it attention is how that stuff will die out.
00:24:13
Speaker
And the only way it's going to is if people like us
00:24:16
Speaker
continue to ask kids and talk to kids about it and try to get them to feel, not just know that it's wrong, but feel that it's wrong.
Athletes' Role in Encouraging Positivity
00:24:25
Speaker
They know that it's wrong.
00:24:26
Speaker
They just don't feel
00:24:28
Speaker
the pain that the other person's feeling.
00:24:30
Speaker
They don't feel empathy or remorse.
00:24:33
Speaker
And so they know what it's, but they can wrap that around the excuse of, ah, I'm just joking.
00:24:39
Speaker
It's just a joke.
00:24:40
Speaker
It's just a basketball game because they don't feel it yet.
00:24:43
Speaker
And so that's what we're trying to do.
00:24:45
Speaker
But yeah, parents, if you're, you know, please talk to your kids and coaches and admin, you know, encourage your teams to, if they know this stuff, to not give it attention.
00:24:58
Speaker
Awesome, Dustin.
00:24:59
Speaker
In fact, I have a, you know, there's some dreams and hopes that I would have in regard to addressing this subject because we teach athletes every single day that they have the sport light, that they have the influence.
00:25:12
Speaker
I imagine at the beginning of a school year, an influential football player or girls soccer player or whatever it might be, you're handed the mic every now and then at a homecoming assembly or at the first game of the year type of a thing.
00:25:29
Speaker
And to have a leader say, hey, just FYI, please be loud, be proud.
00:25:36
Speaker
Thank you for all these traditions.
00:25:38
Speaker
Thank you for all the support.
00:25:39
Speaker
Can we ask a favor of you as a team?
00:25:42
Speaker
One of our goals is to compete without hatred, compete without contempt, to destroy the other team, but to do it the right way.
00:25:49
Speaker
Can you follow our lead?
00:25:50
Speaker
Will you keep your chance and everything positive and toward our team?
00:25:53
Speaker
I think an athlete getting on a barstool account
00:25:57
Speaker
and saying, like, let's say, you know, someone from their school had posted something about the other school, you know, to get on that account with your name attached and to be, hey, this is not who we are.
00:26:11
Speaker
Please don't post this stuff about the other school.
00:26:14
Speaker
If athletes would use their position to address these things as well, I do think they can make a difference.
00:26:20
Speaker
And if nothing else, imagine that kid that's maybe being mocked online, seeing someone that they admire on the other team getting on and saying, hey, man, this isn't cool.
00:26:32
Speaker
This guy's cool.
00:26:33
Speaker
Like, please don't do this.
00:26:34
Speaker
You're not representing our school well right now.
00:26:37
Speaker
Please take down this account or make it positive.
00:26:40
Speaker
You know, I think our athletes can do that stuff.
00:26:44
Speaker
And I just think that there's this general thing for anyone listening to this that I don't think it's ever right, whatever our standards are, to check them at the door when we come to sports.
Advocacy for Respectful Conduct
00:26:56
Speaker
And I think a fun social media account would be to carry around a bunch of $100 bills in your pocket so you can make it up to people, but then go act in public the way that people act at sporting events.
00:27:08
Speaker
And then just give people like, ah, I was just making a video, here's 100 bucks.
00:27:12
Speaker
Like we're talking about at a grocery store or someone changing your oil, just treating them the way we treat fans and players sometimes.
00:27:24
Speaker
we'd feel pretty ridiculous if we brought it outside of sports.
00:27:28
Speaker
So I think we could be plenty loud, crazy, have fun, bring that energy.
00:27:35
Speaker
That's what makes sports so fun.
00:27:37
Speaker
We just don't have to make it negative.
00:27:39
Speaker
We don't have to add the contempt.
00:27:41
Speaker
We can compete and cheer and do all those things without hatred behind it.
00:27:46
Speaker
That's when it crosses the line.
00:27:48
Speaker
So any final thoughts, Dustin?
00:27:50
Speaker
Nope.
00:27:50
Speaker
I agree.
00:27:51
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:27:52
Speaker
Eyes up, do the work.
00:27:53
Speaker
Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast.
00:27:56
Speaker
To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sport Light, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.