Keep The Chirps Coming

How much should fans be able to distract opposing teams?

Sports are very competitive and everyone from the fans, players, and coaches get very passionate when competing against one another. One group where emotions run particularly high, is amongst the fans. From the high school level to the professional, fans are always getting rowdy and trash talking to the other team to give their team an edge. It is what makes the sports environment so great because it pumps in energy to the players and makes for better competition. Recently, people have begun to complain about fans distracting opposing teams but as an athlete who enjoys playing in a spirited environment like that, I don’t see an issue with it.

Let’s start with the basics, what is trash talking? Trash talk is to say insulting things especially to an opponent in a contest or game. Chirping is also a common synonym for trash talk. It can happen in anytype of competitive environment, it is not just limited to sports. In sports, trash talk can come in different forms: it can be player to player, player to fan or fan to player. Fans do it to players in an attempt to make the opposing player lose focus or get rattled mentally.

As an athlete myself, there is no better feeling than playing in a spirited environment. It gives me so much more energy and adrenaline to go out and compete. I love a good student section and look forward to a chance I get to play in front of one. It does not matter whether it is a home game or an away game. I love that type of atmosphere. When I am playing in front of an opposing team’s fan section, I always hear and see kids chirping me and trying to get me off my game. I personally love it because they are not using hate speech, they are just trying to help their team.

As great as trash talking and fans distract opposing teams is, there are times where people can understand why people want to limit how much fans can distract opponents. There have been cases where fans have used hate speech to distract opposing players. Fans stoop down to very low levels and attack an athlete for their race, ethnicity, sexuality or a sensitive personal thing to a specific athlete. This is when it becomes very inappropriate and creates a negative atmosphere for the athletes playing. Athletes have done a good job using their voice and speaking out against this hate speech and the insensitive fans are reprimanded for their actions. All places that host sporting events have rules for fans and always promote proper conduct to create a better environment. More times than not, fans are not being hateful towards players and they are respectfully trash talking to help give their team an edge.

Fans have such an enormous impact on the environment at a sporting event. They can bring so much energy to the game and that energy radiates to the players creating a better game. Trash talking is a part of the game and fans should always be allowed to distract opponents as long as they do not cross any lines and just want their team to win. So I say keep the chirps coming.