'Horrific fan behavior' demonstrates just how broken we are | Opinion
USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising three boys in Nolensville, Tennessee, with his particularly patient wife, Justine.
“In our league specifically, we have set a record for coach and fan ejections this year,” the email read to Nolensville Panthers youth football coaches in Tennessee. “Within the past week there were two separate incidents of an official being assaulted by a coach or fan.”
The email announced strong sanctions for those who behave poorly at games going forward. The boorish behavior in my backyard is happening across the country. Ironically, our seething culture threatens the institutions and activities designed to address our mutual discord in the first place.
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The Oregon School Activities Association noted “the bad behavior of coaches, parents and fans at high school athletic events” must come to an end. The Texas Association of Sports Officials has implemented a three strikes policy before withholding officials from games “to combat the drastically increasing rate of excessive verbal and physical abuse.”
Earlier this year, Mississippi softball umpire Kristi Moore suffered a black eye, nerve damage, and an internal ear bruise at the hands of an enraged parent. An elderly Arkansas high school football fan left the stands during the game to shove a referee.
The examples of horrific fan behavior are shockingly easy to find, and officials are responding in kind. According to a 2020 officiating survey by Officially Human, referees aren’t being replaced quickly enough, and the behavior of coaches and fans is a top cause.
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We were isolated and entrenched, but we must stop the madness
It’s all of us.
From large cities to small towns, we’re blowing our stacks. Going after sporting officials is problematic in its own right, but consider the issue along with other indicators.
According to a recent CBS News-YouGov poll, 90% of Americans expect political violence to be the same or worse over the next few years. We’ve normalized political fighting words. We’re literally branding the other party as enemies of the state and threats to democracy.
We’re losing our cool, and it’s setting an incredibly poor example for the next generation. The isolation caused by COVID-19 was real. None of us were prepared for that kind of forced disconnect. Millions of Americans holed up listening to customized digital echo chambers must now contend with reality that doesn’t pander to their personal preferences.
All this rage inevitably turns into physical violence. The Major Cities Chiefs Association recently noted “a 50% increase in homicides and a roughly 36% increase in aggravated assaults” compared to 2019 midyear figures.
Our furious response threatens our best hope to end the madness.
Sports games should not be the place where young people learn violence
Sports give countless young men and women an opportunity to constructively address their frustrations. Collegial competition, earning success, and learning from failure prepare the next generation for the future. They’re just games, but they set the table for how we conduct ourselves when the stakes are higher.
Among other benefits, representative democracy gives us an opportunity to resolve our differences without bloodshed. It’s a constitutionally sanctioned coping mechanism for millions of free people who struggle to get along. When we attack it, we undermine a tool to address insane behavior.
The process isn’t broken. We are.
Too many of us, for one reason or another, have determined that political referees, such as secretaries of state, can’t be trusted to run fair elections around the nation.
It’s no different than deciding a referee missed a call, walking onto the field, and moving the ball to a preferred line of scrimmage. Every fan and coach at a football game this fall knows that the referees make the calls. We don’t have to like the decisions, but we do have to abide by them. Otherwise the game falls apart.
Too many of us imagine a world where we don't get our way
Imagine trying to play a football game without referees where opposing coaches had to agree on spotting the ball and assessing penalties. It simply wouldn’t work.
More importantly, we set the rules in advance of the contest. We agree who decides how the rules apply. We even agree on how challenges to the decisions are properly lodged. If you’re not sure whether I’m talking about Panthers youth football or democratically held elections, that’s the point.
From presidential elections to a missed holding call, too many of us can’t imagine a world where we don’t secure our desired outcome. Our unique vision is righteous whether it’s a political worldview or line of sight during a play. We too quickly forget the rules we accepted as players, coaches and citizens.
And the rage takes over.
I can’t fathom a world where the young men I coach lose the opportunity to compete because adults refuse to respect the rules of the game. Worse yet is for those same young men to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness because we failed to steward and preserve the democratic principles of our nation.
USA TODAY Network Tennessee Columnist Cameron Smith is a Memphis-born, Brentwood-raised recovering political attorney raising three boys in Nolensville, Tennessee, with his particularly patient wife, Justine. Direct outrage or agreement to smith.david.cameron@gmail.com or @DCameronSmith on Twitter. Agree or disagree? Send a letter to the editor to letters@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Citizens rage at referees, election officials and democracy suffers
