High School Policy on ‘Air Ball’ Chants Draws Sharp Responses

Mike McPhate, reporting for the NYT:

For fans at a basketball game, there are few sights as satisfying as a rival player’s shot sailing cleanly beyond the rim and backboard.

The crowd might erupt into an almost giddy chant: “Air ball!”

But not at high school games in Wisconsin, if athletic officials have their way.

Citing a rise in taunting by students, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sent an email to school leaders across the state in December that said in part, “Student groups, school administrators and event managers should take immediate steps to correct this unsporting behavior.”

It listed examples of “air ball,” “scoreboard,” “fundamentals,” “season’s over” and “there’s a net there,” among other chants that the association frowned upon.

Absolutely absurd.

★ Thursday, 14 January 2016