By Jack Mitchell ’20 News Reporter
There has been much controversy surrounding the etiquette of the fan section, otherwise known as “The Cloud,” at Blue Storm basketball games resulting in limits being placed on student expression. The athletic department is infringing upon students’ right to freedom of speech by silencing them, telling us what we can and cannot say. Good ol’ Rick “Hollywood” Hendrickson thinks it is “unsportsmanlike” conduct to address No. 4 from Lawrenceville School by his first name.
Neverthless, we fans believe our cheers are simply being misunderstood. We think No. 4 (let’s call him Tobias) would like for us to call him by name. Calling someone by their first name is a sign of friendship in our society, and we fans are only indicating that we want to be homies with Tobias. When we say “Tobias, nice hairline!” or “Tobias, those are some sweet ankle socks!” we mean it. We want our boy Tobias to do his best out there, so we say only kind, inspiring words to him. Without being able to call him by his first name (or possibly his Instagram handle), Tobias would have no way of knowing that what we are saying is directly addressed to him, and that would be an injustice to us as fans and to Tobias, himself.
The worst thing of all, though, is the athletic department’s view on the chant of “Airball! Airball!” Being forbidden from chanting one of the most helpful bits of constructive criticism in basketball is downright shameful. The school wants us to cheer for good plays and wish for competitive games filled with sportsmanship, but how are we supposed to cheer for a good game when we can’t even help Tobias out when he misses a shot? If we don’t let Tobias know his shot was off, then he will pull up and once again miss miserably.
Our cheers are not meant to demoralize other players, but to inspire them to do better. If “Hollywood” and his minions cannot see that, well, shame on them for not supporting a sporting game.