Teams need positive support

I often get teased about what kind of sideline parent I am going to be because I can usually be found yelling at officiating staffs through my television every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I admit a certain amount of passion and loyalty for my teams and follow them through victory and defeat. That is not to say that I am always yelling but sometimes I am gotten the better of by my desire for a win.

Being a Coug, my desire for wins has seen more ups and downs than a roller coaster. I attended Washington State University for three years, saw 30 wins, trips to the Rose and Holiday Bowls, rushed the field with my fellow season ticket holders after the Cougs defeated USC for homecoming and held a rose during the last home game of the season before the trip to Pasadena. Anyone who knew me in college knows I got up at 8 a.m. Saturdays and was at the gates of Martin Stadium at 10 a.m. to find my seat in the seventh row, on the 50-yard line for every kickoff. I am, have always been, a loyal football fan.

In all that time, during all those home games and through every victory and the few defeats, I never found it necessary to turn on my team or the officiating staff. At home, in the privacy of my own living room is one thing, but at a game with 30,000 other people, I did not even consider the possibility of disparaging players, coaches or officials.

As a sports editor, I go to a good many home games for the 11 high school teams in the Columbia Basin that this newspaper covers.

Occasionally, the setting is such that criticisms of players, coaches and officials is easily audible from my place on the sidelines, in the stands or on goal lines. The criticism can be constructive or destructive depending upon the situation.

Being that I am deeply dedicated to my teams, I understand getting caught up in the competitive atmosphere of a game and that sometimes words get away from you but in an atmosphere that is supposed to foster sportsmanship and fun, those criticisms are unacceptable. Chastising coaches, players and officials doing the best they can in each game they participate in is inappropriate. Those coaches, players and officials doing the best they can is all that can be expected by those watching.

Officials in this area are hard to come by and should be respected for taking time out of their lives to further the competitive efforts of all coaches and student-athletes. The same is true for coaches and players who spend countless hours at practice and at home learning, studying and living their sport, or sports, of choice. Coaches in this area have jobs to answer to among other responsibilities and students have instructors, administrators and a myriad of other people counting on them.

This is true from high school all the way down to Grid Kids, Mat Muscle and other activities aimed at the next generations of athletes in the Columbia Basin. In fact, for those younger teams, much of the coaching staff and officiating is done on a volunteer basis.

I urge each of you to remember the pressure you put on coaches, athletes of all ages and officials only adds to the pressure they have coming from other directions and from themselves to do the best they can. I also urge each of you to choose to foster a sense of good sportsmanship at all sporting events whether it be a football game, wrestling match, volleyball game, softball game or other sporting event by cheering for your team and choosing to focus on the positive aspects of each game, match or meet.