Think of it as a struggle between free speech and good taste…
Word that students at Kansas State University are being forced to sign a “sportsmanship pledge” – whatever the heck that is – before being allowed to pick up tickets to sporting events at the school sets the stage for any number of civil skirmishes.
The so-called pledge requires students to refrain from using profanity and “inappropriate chants” and to be respectful towards athletes, coaches, fans and officials.
The $64 million question: What are the odds of this standing up in the court of public opinion, let alone an actual court, which is where it will be headed lest it spread to other schools and sporting events around the country.
Think about it…
Can you imagine the infamous Antlers student swearword section at Mizzou having its hoofs held to the fire by the school’s athletic officials? And trying to make it stick.
Speaking of which, how in the world does K-State intend to enforce these pledges?
I suppose they could video the student sections and attempt to pick out the bad apples using bad words or singing along to some of the silly stuff that passes for cheering these days.
Case in point, the student kickoff chant at KU football games, “Rip his fucking head off!” That despite the fact that KU doesn’t even have a halfway decent football team. Go figure.
So where do you draw the line?
I don’t attend a lot of basketball or football games these days, but I faintly recall KU students chanting, “Bullshit” after questionable calls at basketball games. Wouldn’t that be considered disrespectful towards officials? The obvious answer; uh, yeah.
K-State students caught breaking bad will be “dealt with on a case-by-case basis,” the school says. Which sounds dangerously close to selective enforcement.
Raising the question of fairness should K-State actually decide to enforce its new rules.
But forget that, this baby has First Amendment lawsuit written all over it. Because if something of this nature is allowed to go forward unchallenged it will start to spread and no way are the lawyers in this Great Society about to let something like that go unchallenged.
Nor should they.
We’re way past dictating – let alone legislating – good taste and civil behavior at athletic events.
When’s the last time you went to a Chiefs game and maybe took your kids and sat somewhere other than on the club level? You know, in the cheap seats where the drinking class resides. Trust me, it’s no place for the faint of heart.
Can you imagine trying to get unruly Chiefs ticket holders to sign such a pledge, let alone enforce it? No way.
Look, clearly K-State has a point and it’s hard to fault them wanting to address the matter.
Some K-State students at a KU-K-State basketball game this past February chanted inappropriate language and stormed the court afterward. And horror of horrors, a KU player got “bumped.”
The world didn’t come to an end, but K-State was embarrassed and apologized. And of course, true to form in today’s society, a knee jerk action was in order.
But something like this, who are they trying to kid?
I could be wrong and this could be the beginning of a new civility in society, but I seriously doubt it. Because if you can’t dictate what passes for good taste, how can you expect to dictate good manners?
It may be a sad statement, but we’re way past the days when things of this sort seemed to matter much.
“Can you imagine the infamous Antlers student swearword section at Mizzou having its hoofs held to the fire by the school’s athletic officials? ”
No, because the Antlers quit being a thing back in the late 1980s.
Haven’t the Antlers been toned down heavily in recent years? Almost to the point that many think MU doesn’t even want them at the games anymore.
Yeah, I wasn’t joking. The last time I remember them doing anything edgy was back in the 80s. KU winning in 1988 killed their spirit.
I did a quick Google search and vaguely recall this.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/mizzou/eye-on-the-tigers/antlers-again-kicked-out-of-mizzou-game/article_fca6e068-c7b1-5ed1-9170-95c571767172.html
But that isn’t Antlers type stuff. That is just asshole college students being assholes.
hearne…..
you did no research on the antlers.
hope things are going well.
Harley
Well, slap his hand. Shame on him. Thirty lashes …
Who cares?
Not all speech is protected by the 1st Amendment. Also attending university events is a privilege, not a right.
The Antlers were neutered long ago by Mike Alden.
Agree so much so that many wonder why they should be at the games at all anymore.
Will the new AD embrass them? Who knows.
“You know, in the cheap seats where the drinking class resides”
How the hell would you know about this area, Mr. Club Level?
Sincerely,
The sweating masses.
1. What’s wrong with Club Level?
2. There are no cheap seats anymore.
“Cheap” is a relative term.
I don’t care if they’re relatives or close friends, they’re still not cheap.
“Do you promise to covet property, propriety, and security say what. Take the stand.” Firesign Theater probably said it best, and what has become the staple of Congress for many years is now the basis of Univerity Atheletics. Congress has passed a myriad of laws that have no way of being enforced. With the secret ballot, you can know that Uncle Fred, who died two years ago, voted, but you have no idea how and which way. However political correctness has gone off the rails, from a university professor who deducts points for saying “he, she, his or hers”, to a university that convinces students to dial 911, if they do not like what they hear. I don’t know about you, but I just combine the words she and it in a contraction that should definitely get me points with the professor, even if I can’t get a job when I graduate. So as the opposing team sinks the winning basket in Allen Field House, reality sinks into the slow motion associated with Ralphie’s mouth helping his father change a tire in a Christmas Story, and you hear the word FU…, well you know what I probably would say. Even a liberal KU professor realizes what pays his or her salary. We all know what I mean, and I will deduct points for those who might question my meaning. I’d be willing to bet that there will be no deduction of points, grades, or chastisement for any soul who donated a new science lab to KU, K State, MU, or any other school of higher learning, so the dollar is still king. Universities are locations of higher learning, where the theorist, idealist, souls of deep thought, can be protected from reality and the simple logic of Murphy. What can go wrong?
Have you read the Atlantic article, “The Coddling of the American Mind”? It’s all about protecting college students from words and ideas they don’t like…..
funny how you write about this pledge on the same weekend the ksu band
shoves a c&&& up a jayhawks throat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!