Let the fans have fun; it's a big part of the game

Q: What's your take on the WIAA proposals to set standards for crowd behavior?

A: The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association needs to lighten up. We're dealing with exciting games and real rivalries, not church-league basketball or third-grade soccer matches where everyone gets an orange slice at halftime.

A quick review: A 15-member WIAA committee is working on a set of guidelines for behavior at prep events that will be finalized in May.

The guidelines discourage booing, personal attacks on players and organized chants that focus on one player or a referee.

Some of this makes sense and I can see a case for everyone being told that standards don't change from league to state-tournament play. And yes, there are lines that shouldn't be crossed, such as anything racial. But everyone knows that already.

But what I'm detecting is too much political correctness in the committee's work. I think part of the problem in this quest for "more civility" is that the mindset of school administrators is to avoid problems, especially anything that might spill over to the parking lot. The worst of these administrators are like safety officials who would like everyone to wear a helmet to protect against asteroids.

Some things that bother the committee folks don't bother me. Holding up newspapers and pretending to read them when the other team is announced isn't disrespectful, it's hilarious. The other team gets the joke.

And chanting the name of a player's girlfriend to try to distract him? Doesn't bother me.

Clever chants have become part of the landscape at basketball games and they do more than administrators realize to build school unity. It's us vs. them, baby. You're either from the blue school or the red school and it doesn't matter if you're a nerd or the prom queen, we're a combined brotherhood-sisterhood in the stands, chanting, cheering and laughing together. We're dishing it out to the other school and taking it, too.

It's a battle of wits in the stands and a battle of athletes on the floor. It's entertainment and energy.

One of my favorite prep moments was hearing Mount Si students chanting "Daddy's Money! Daddy's Money" at Seattle Prep in 2006 after Prep kids chanted, "Where's Mount Si?"

I agree that booing just to boo is stupid but I can't remember the last time I heard it.

Booing a questionable officiating call is spontaneous and just part of sports. What's unsportsmanlike is "riding a ref," but refs can stop this by halting the game and having the offending jerk ejected.

And what about this argument that disrespectful crowds are discouraging the recruitment of referees? My hunch is that crowds are nothing compared to dealing with hostile coaches who try to intimidate refs. Anyone who signs up to be a ref and complains about booing is like someone who joins the Army and complains about being shot at.

This whole thing smacks of the naiveté the WIAA showed for a while in the 1990s when it had a cartoon character named "Sporty" in a costume at state tournaments to encourage sportsmanship. "Sporty" belonged at a preschool picnic; the WIAA eventually figured it out and retired him.

I'm not saying all the recommendations of this committee need to disappear, but I think O'Dea coach Phil Lumpkin summed it up best during the tournament when he said, "Let kids be kids."

Q: How did Steven Gray of Bainbridge win the MVP award in the boys 3A basketball tournament? He didn't have a good championship game and his team lost.

A: Ballots were due at halftime of the title game. Some writers and broadcasters from out of town voted hours before the game started and left for home before tipoff. A lot of folks on deadline also voted before the game started.

Have a question about high-school sports? Craig Smith will find the answer every Tuesday in The Times. Ask your question in one of the following ways: Voice mail (206-464-8279), snail mail (Craig Smith, Seattle Times Sports, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111) or e-mail csmith@seattletimes.com