John Wooden, Basketball Hall of Famer as a player and coach, once said, "Sports do not build character - they reveal it." I believe this is a wise assessment; however, I can say that for the first time, I was not proud of the character revealed by several of my peers this past weekend at the men's soccer game against Wake Forest.
I was a little more than surprised as I perused a letter to the editor entitled "Soccer HOO-ligans" (Sept. 21) and read the overwhelmingly uninformed and largely negative response to Craig Littlepage's e-mail regarding the conduct of the student section at the men's soccer game this past weekend. Alexander Wigmore wrote that he would "enjoy nothing more [as a prospective high school student] than listening to the student section of my potential school mercilessly harass the opposing players," so in that vein, I'm wondering if Wigmore considers blatant racism and overall degradation all in good fun? I ask this because within the first thirty minutes of the first half, a male student clad in U.Va. gear behind me loudly addressed an African American outside mid-fielder for Wake as "the darkness," causing most people in the vicinity to double-take, speechless and disgusted. I wonder if that's what Wigmore means when he advocated his "novel concept" that "college sports embrace negativity as part of their fan culture."
I'm not sure what fan culture he's referring to in this case, but I assure you that most people I knew at the game were not impressed with this bigoted display or with the additional slew of vulgar and profane comments that went beyond accepted heckling in the name of good-sported fun. Who doesn't enjoy harassing the other team? Collegiate rivalries inspire a sense of solidarity that strengthens our community as a whole; however, I wanted to respond to Alexander's letter because it glossed over serious lapses integrity that could be prevented in the future if addressed. Yes, sports reveal character, but I believe that students at U.Va. prove themselves of higher moral integrity everyday here on grounds, and to amend Wooden's statement, I believe that even in the stands at a soccer game a student cannot only reveal but also build character by respecting human dignity. By all means, give the other team hell, but don't compromise who you are in doing so.
Novel concept, no, Mr. Wigmore?
Chelsea Jack\nCLAS I
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