Playing with Fire Podcast

No Joy in Mudville for Advocates of Verbal Abuse

Imagine you are at work or school and a group of people approaches you yelling derogatory comments about your work and physical attributes. Outrageous, right? Or stepping out of the elevator onto a wet floor, you slip and fall. A group gathers around you shouting insults about your physical ineptitude and repeats it every time they see you step off an elevator in the future. These scenarios may sound extreme but sport fans routinely respond to opposing teams, coaches, and players in this manner every day.

Michael David Smith recently wrote an article about the Cincinnati Little League’s decision to ban “chatter” in the name of fair play. I think the League had the right concept, discouraging verbal abuse of opponents, but a less than satisfactory justification. The Ten Commandments’ admonishment against murder and bearing false witness provides a stronger argument against verbal abuse. The Catechism states that detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor of his name and reputation and to respect. Thus, detraction and calumny offend against the virtues of justice and charity.

What is disturbing about the ban on “chatter” was not the ban but the unanimous condemnation of the ban found in aolsportsblog’s reader comment section. The primary criticism was that children needed to be prepared for the terrible way they will be treated as adults. The consensus seemed to say, ‘I will be treated poorly in the future so I should get use to it and when given the chance retaliate in the same way.’ Instead of helping children to be more virtuous, they suggested the better course of action was an-eye-for-an-eye in order to become a tougher competitor.

This would have you believe that it is not possible or desirable to compete unless verbal abuse was part of the performance. On the contrary, competition is valuable because it provides an environment that challenges us to go beyond where we have been before. Timothy Gallwey used the analogy of a surfer to convey this point. Imagine you are a great surfer but you only surf on two-foot waves. The small wave does not provide the opportunity to use all of your ability. However, a twenty or thirty foot wave provides the catalyst for new skills to be realized in order to survive the ride. The big wave is like competition, it provides an opportunity to bring out a best performance. So why is there a desire or need by so many fans to degrade an opponent and thereby themselves? How great is a victory won due to an opponent’s failure rather than your team’s best performance?