Life on the boards
I like checking out the messageboards over at ncpreps.com. I've even posted a time or two. Every once in a while, though, I become fodder for them.
It happened today that a Crest fan decided that two paragraphs in my column on Monday regarding the postgame celebration were an indictment of the entire Shelby and East Rutherford programs. It then evolved to me being a Crest fanatic who hates Shelby and so on.
It's pretty easy to come on a messageboard and start slamming people for writing their opinions in the paper while hiding behind their screen name.
I'll start by saying that I am not a fan or Crest, Shelby, Burns or KM. I have to deal with all of the coaches, players and fans of those schools and for me to pick a favorite would be stupid.
I was there, on the field, Friday night when the celebration was under way. I never said that ALL Shelby fans and ALL East fans were in the wrong. I simply stated that some people's antics tried to ruin a good night of high school football for everyone else. I'm not backing off that, because I heard what some of the fans on both sides were saying and I saw the water bottles being thrown.
What bothers me about the whole thing is the fact that these fans are adults who should be setting the example for the players. Instead, nearly all the players involved were very respectful and supportive of each other after a thrilling, hard-fought game, a lesson clearly lost on some of their elders.
If anyone thinks I was slamming Shelby as a program, I certainly wasn't. They are the gold standard for high school football in this state, and some of the best people I've ever known.
That, however, doesn't change the fact that some of their fans - and East's too - were out of line last week.
It happened today that a Crest fan decided that two paragraphs in my column on Monday regarding the postgame celebration were an indictment of the entire Shelby and East Rutherford programs. It then evolved to me being a Crest fanatic who hates Shelby and so on.
It's pretty easy to come on a messageboard and start slamming people for writing their opinions in the paper while hiding behind their screen name.
I'll start by saying that I am not a fan or Crest, Shelby, Burns or KM. I have to deal with all of the coaches, players and fans of those schools and for me to pick a favorite would be stupid.
I was there, on the field, Friday night when the celebration was under way. I never said that ALL Shelby fans and ALL East fans were in the wrong. I simply stated that some people's antics tried to ruin a good night of high school football for everyone else. I'm not backing off that, because I heard what some of the fans on both sides were saying and I saw the water bottles being thrown.
What bothers me about the whole thing is the fact that these fans are adults who should be setting the example for the players. Instead, nearly all the players involved were very respectful and supportive of each other after a thrilling, hard-fought game, a lesson clearly lost on some of their elders.
If anyone thinks I was slamming Shelby as a program, I certainly wasn't. They are the gold standard for high school football in this state, and some of the best people I've ever known.
That, however, doesn't change the fact that some of their fans - and East's too - were out of line last week.
posted by Randy Capps at 2:09 PM
4 Comments:
Very well said. I imagine the people posting those comments were probably involved in some of the negative antics at the game.
Can't we all just get along?
Amen, RC. As a great man (Hickory's Chris Hobbs) once told me, if everyone is hatin' on you, you must be doing your job right. And you are doing an excellent job at The Star.
Don't forget, I was once accused of the "C" in my byline standing for Crest!
Don't feel like the Lone Stranger Capps. I have talked to others in the media that said the same thing you did. One didn't want to go on the field after the game because of what was going on and another was shooting footage for a station in the mountains. He said that he hadn't seen anything like it. We need more writers like Capps and heck, we would even take back Hanks. Keep up the good work.
As long as you shoot the facts, who cares. Someone will cry no matter what.
Go REIDSVILLE!!
Pollock
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