7 ways to be a better sports fan

2) Stop being rude to opposing fans

There seems to be a large, drunken, intolerable swatch of sports fans who believe that “home-field advantage” means “making opposing fans’ experiences a living Hell.” And that needs to stop.

I get it: You love your team to an unhealthy degree, maybe even at the expense of your family, and you don’t want opponents to think that they can just waltz into your team’s stadium and walk out with an easy win. But what you have to remember is that the opposing team’s fans are not the opposing team. They are people who paid hard-earned money to travel to watch their preferred team take on your preferred team, and that doesn’t make them worthy of hostilities and harassment.

I went to college at a school notorious for having rude, aggressive fans, and it was downright shameful at times. Yes, the stadium was always loud and raucous, and that translated into many blowout home wins, but it was upsetting to see my fellow fans belligerently taunt quiet families who just wanted to take in a game and leave in peace. Verbally abusing opposing fans does not make you tough, and it doesn’t make you a “true” fan. It makes you an irredeemable asshole, one who should, in a just world, die friendless (while being screamed at by a crowd of strangers: What, you thought you could just walk in here and beat cancer?! Screw you! Look who’s laughing now, cancer-boy!).

Passionately rooting for your favorite team? Great! Hollering obscenities at parents and their children for wearing different jerseys than you? The embodiment of every negative stereotype about sports fans imaginable . Be better than that, yo.

And speaking of emotional reactions…

Next: 3) Stop taking everything personally