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February 21, 2006
Editorial
Fans lack sportsmanship
If you’ve been to a Hamline basketball game this season, you may have seen them. Piper pride has been out in full force at Hutton Arena in the group known as the “Hutton Hustlers.” This group of people brings spirit and volume to Hamline’s crowd, leading rigorous “defense cheers” and Piper claps. We feel this is a great way to show school spirit and show support to the Hamline athletes. The athletes appreciate the extra fan support, and the fans can feel more involved in the game.
While this group is beneficial in many ways, we feel that sometimes school spirit can be taken a little too far. There is a fine line between showing pride and being disrespectful. For example, at the boys basketball game against Bethel on Feb. 15, some of the Hustlers moved over to stand directly in front of the Bethel student section, blocking their view of the game. This is rude and shows poor sportsmanship. It is also poor sportsmanship to constantly berate the officials. If the officials tell you to stay behind the out-of-bounds line, stay behind it. It is one thing to question a bad call, but not every call is a bad one, and we don’t need to hear about it. This is not your opportunity to shine in front of your friends or to show how cool you think you are.
We appreciate the crowd motivators and the fact that there are more people attending the games on a regular basis, but we feel that it is necessary to respect not only the opposing teams and fans, but respect our school as a whole and show some true Piper pride.
Cheney needs HUGS
While the investigation is officially closed, there are still many questions about Vice President Dick Cheney’s “accidental” shooting of hunting companion Harry Whittington. Why did Cheney wait for 18 hours after the incident to acknowledge that he accidentally shot someone? We understand that it must have been a deeply traumatizing experience, but why did he wait so long before the interview with Fox News Channel?
Although this is an unfortunate incident, perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here. We would like to stress the importance of gun safety and taking the necessary precautions while engaging in the sport of hunting. Even though both Cheney and Whittington were wearing blaze orange apparel, obviously that wasn’t enough to prevent this from happening. Perhaps Cheney would benefit from attending a gathering of Hamline’s very own Gun Society, HUGS, to learn the essentials of gun safety.
All we can say is, it’s a good thing that Cheney travels with his own medical staff.
Posted by dwright at February 21, 2006 12:44 PM
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