Basketball is a great spectator sport, especially at the high school level.
In Genesee County we have the classic small-school basketball atmosphere as most teams are Class C or D, with Batavia and Attica being the larger schools.
Kids and parents will get to the game and generally share positive cheers. And local students take pride in their cheering sections, which at times mimic college sections. Oakfield-Alabama has the "O-A Crazies", Notre Dame has the "Leprechaun Lair", Elba has the "Sherwood Shakers" and last year Attica had a great cheering section called the "Wolf Pack". These sections, along with those from the other area schools generally share positive cheers.
But there are always the times when a teacher or athletic director will have to tell them to watch what they are saying. Sometimes kids will get on the officials, the other team's cheering section or single out a player on the floor. But you rarely see something that crosses a line.
The most negative of cheers or taunts coming from the crowd generally comes from the rare parent that holds a grudge or wants to draw attention to him/her self.
But there is always that potential and Section 9 is dealing with fan problems this season. Kevin Gleason of Varsity 845 writes about some of the problems.
Nick Iannuzzi was so mad he considered going into the stands after the hecklers. The Minisink Valley guard had grown accustomed to hearing it from fans. But these rips from Monroe-Woodbury students dug deeply. Too deeply.
"FUMBLE!'' they shouted every time Iannuzzi touched the basketball. As Minisink Valley's quarterback in 2007, he had a costly fumble weeks earlier in the team's loss to Monroe-Woodbury for the Section 9 Class AA title. Iannuzzi grew more frustrated and the chants grew louder as he continued to struggle. "FUMBLE!'' He was eventually benched after drawing a technical foul for arguing with an official.
"Yeah,'' Iannuzzi says of going into the crowd, "that crossed my mind. My parents were sitting right in front of them, and that (ticked) me off more.''
I don't think many would say that there is a problem with negative cheering in this area, but the potential is always there.
Cheering for a home team is
Cheering for a home team is essential. If there wasnt no cheering what would be he point of a home game. Im a student at OA and ive been to plenty basketball games. These OA Crazies make going to basketball games much more fun and they say nothing but positive remarks. So you can fight out if you think its necessary or not but i think its an ok thing.
Richard, I said that our
Richard,
I said that our sections were mostly positive. I have seen way worse and the story I noted at the end of mine was insane. They just tried to ruin that kid. I don't think any schools in the GR would do that.
We really have too much class
We really have too much class here than to do something like that. I'm being serious. We in GC display an exceptional amount of common courtesy in our daily lives.