Sports are meant to bring people together for a common cause and build community. Unfortunately, oftentimes there is a lack of respect brought to sports events through offensive heckling, lack of respect for the environment and overall, people forgetting that athletes are people too and not just there purely for our entertainment.
As the college basketball season comes to an end and with MLB season starting up, we need to reevaluate how we interact with the people and the environment surrounding sports.
After a basketball game between Illinois and Iowa in which Illinois won, allegations were made about derogatory and threatening comments made towards Iowa players. After player Kris Murray missed a shot that could have won the game, Kris’ father claimed that a fan shouted at Kris to kill himself. This was particularly painful for the Murray family because Kris’ younger sister had recently lost a friend to suicide.
In a women’s volleyball game between Duke University and Brigham Young University Duke player Rachel Richardson reported repeatedly hearing a racial slur from the student section. Initially the fan was banned by BYU from attending events however that ban was eventually lifted. This type of harassment is unacceptable. It’s telling that a fan felt all too comfortable hurling racial slurs at a player on the opposing team.
None of this is to say to stop heckling altogether as it is a part of sporting events. However, heckling should never be mean-spirited or cross the line into blatant racism. These athletes are people with personal lives that we know nothing about. Heckling a player about their physical ability to play the game is one thing, but when it crosses the line into personal insults it creates an abusive environment that not only affects players but also the other fans who have paid to attend.
There is also the issue of the amount of waste fans produce while watching their favorite teams and how that waste affects the environment. Air pollution is a major issue that is caused by tailgating and transportation. A study found that when fans began to show up for games air pollution spiked. This was mainly caused by things such as charcoal grills, old generators and cars that were left on.
At our hometown ballpark, American Family field, there is a strong culture of tailgating before Milwaukee Brewers games. As baseball season starts up it’s important to keep in mind the environment around us. Once the game starts, the trash generated from tailgating doesn’t just disappear, we all need to be make an effort to pick up after ourselves.
Improper waste disposal is also a major issue. For instance, the Super Bowl generates about 55 to 60 tons of waste each year. Across the United States attendees to sporting events generate around 39 million pounds of trash per year. While many stadiums do provide clean-up crews it should also be the responsibility of the fans to clean up their own trash as well.
This is something that Major League Baseball teams in the United State have actually started to try to encourage implementing new recycling procedures. MLB teams have joined the National Recycling League which aims to direct recyclable material away from landfills. The recycling rate from each team’s city is tallied up and the city with the highest rate wins a round of beer from the brewing company Anheuser-Busch.
Respect has to be brought back to sports, not only to the players but also to fellow fans, the stadiums and the environment. Disrespectful heckling, violent fan behavior and lack of respect to the environment have to stop.
Editorial topics by the Marquette Wire are decided at weekly meetings between members of the executive board. The editorial is crafted with leadership by the executive opinions editor. The executive board consists of the executive director of the Wire, managing editor of the Marquette Tribune, managing editor of the Marquette Journal, general manager of MUTV, general manager of MUR and ten additional top editors across the organization.
