Punk kids

[lordbrook]

Last night I took my wife, 13 YO son, and 11 YO daughter to see the Jazz play the Warriors. It was part of a deal where my son and daughter get free tickets because they play basketball in a rec league called Jr. Jazz. The seats are pretty far up, but that was fine. In the row right behind us there were 4 boys about 12 or 13. They were wearing Jazz gear and I really didn't notice them until the start of the third quarter when they started cheering for the Warriors.

Don't get me wrong, I think you have a right to cheer for whichever team you wish when you go to a sporting event, but these kids were just trying to be obnoxious. They started yelling right in my ear when a Jazz player was shooting a free throw. When the Jazz went down on offense they would chant "defense". They wouldn't cheer when the Warriors made a basket, just when the Jazz missed one.

That sort of public behavior is intolerable to me. I've been coaching my son and going to these games with the team for 2 years now and I would never tolerate that behavior from any kid on my team. It's one thing to be a fan of the other team, but trying (and succeeding) at being obnoxious just for the sake of amusing your friends should result in the responsible adult reigning them in. I couldn't stand them screaming in my ear anymore so I turned around and told them to stop. I can't imagine my kids ever behaving like that and would come unglued if they did.

As we were leaving I told my son if I ever hear of him behaving so poorly in public I'd whoop his ass and he said, "I'm not as dumb as those kids. They we're about as stupid as you can be."

[BaltimoreTerp]

I really don't see anything worth complaining about other than their yelling in your ear.

Obnoxious fans are a part of the sporting world, and if it wasn't them I'm sure there would have been plenty of adults willing to sit in those seats and act far worse.

[waroriole]

I really don't see anything worth complaining about other than their yelling in your ear.

Obnoxious fans are a part of the sporting world, and if it wasn't them I'm sure there would have been plenty of adults willing to sit in those seats and act far worse.

That's probably pretty obnoxious for Utah though.

[BaltimoreTerp]

That's probably pretty obnoxious for Utah though.

I thought about that

I hope, though, that my post doesn't come off as too dismissive. I do think that experiences like this are worrisome, but I just think there are worse things that happen when it comes to fan obnoxiousness. And really, if you worry about those first, the problem with the kids might solve itself as there will be fewer obnoxious fans to provide a model.

[lordbrook]

I thought about that

I hope, though, that my post doesn't come off as too dismissive. I do think that experiences like this are worrisome, but I just think there are worse things that happen when it comes to fan obnoxiousness. And really, if you worry about those first, the problem with the kids might solve itself as there will be fewer obnoxious fans to provide a model.

I didn't think you were dismissive. The only real problem I had was that they were trying to out do each other with their crap and it was really detracting from everyone else watching the game.

I've been to several different venues to watch professional sports and I think Utah fans are probably on par as far as the ratio of fans to obnoxious a-holes as anywhere else I've been and that includes Raider's football in Oakland. I've gotten mad as hell at opposing teams fans (Jazz Lakers in the playoffs) but at least I can understand their cheering for their team. The worst was when I had season tickets and the couple next to us would cheer for the Jazz every game except when they played the Lakers and then they would come in their Laker crap. I never said a word to them though. I think this was more an issue with punk kids behaving boorishly in public than being fans or not because like I said they were cheering for the Jazz the first half and they were wearing Jazz shirts and whatnot.

I don't think I was the only one that wanted them to knock it off because there were other people telling them to shut up. I think it was just my look of imminent evil that made them shut up for good.