BASKETBALL WITH KEITH GROLLER

BASKETBALL WITH KEITH GROLLER

I've said this before and I'll say it again now just to get it out the way.

The District 11 basketball tournament began tonight (Tuesday) and so did all of those annual rules about no signs in the gym, no noisemakers, no bands, no this, no that.

This is the time of year you want a special atmosphere. You want your kids out there in large numbers to support their teams.

And, yet, the minute they get there they are given restrictions that, to me, are not necessary.

Let the kids have some fun. Let them show their school spirit. Let them make some noise.

In this day and age of dwindling high school sports attendance across the board, especially among student bodies, shouldn't we be looking for ways to get the kids out to the games and not find reasons to keep them home?

Rather than have to go through a set of rules that dampen the proceedings right from the start, shouldn't common sense apply? Why must there be an extra set of rules for these games when things generally go fine all season?

Of course no one wants to hear vulgar, profanity-laced chants. You don't want to hear that on school property anywhere or at any time. Yet, "no profanity or obscene gestures" is one of the rules. Do you really need a rule for that? Shouldn't some of this stuff be self-explanatory?

And certainly the rule about no "menacing actions or gestures by groups towards opposing players or officials" is obvious as well.

But what harm is a sign going to do to the proceedings or a noisemaker during timeouts and warmups? I'd even allow like a pep band to represent a school to add to the atmosphere. Maybe put a limit of the number of members, but it's not like there's no room for them at most of these half-filled gyms. The music seems to work just fine at college games. I've heard dueling pep bands at college venues and it just adds to the event. And during an NBA game, the video boards and speakers are booming with sights and sounds on every possession.

They allow the bands to blare away all night long during football games, so what's the big deal with basketball? This isn't golf.

I understand the rule about not throwing "confetti, paper rolls and other objects" on the floor, but it's not like that happens very much any way, except when a team used to clinch trips to Hershey for the state finals and everyone would throw Hershey kisses on the floor even after the P.A. announcer begged them not to.

I've never seen them not allow a team go to Hershey because their fans (and yes, even parents) were making it rain chocolate.

Like I said, common sense should apply and as long as there is proper supervision by school officials, I don't think you'd have a lot of trouble. And if there is a problem, you address it. If it's recurring, you threaten probation and penalties for the school. Around here, I don't think it would ever come to that.

Don't get me wrong. I like most of the people who run District 11 and respect and appreciate the job they do. It's not as easy as it looks and I think they get too much blame and not enough credit for running these things. And I also know they have to follow what the PIAA mandates.

I just think there's misplaced energy here.

You're never going to get 100 percent good behavior at a sporting event, but I'd rather take away some of these rules, encourage attendance and address problems as they arise rather than spend so much time worrying about them before they occur.

Keith Groller