I am not the biggest sports fan, however, my boyfriend is a huge fan. I have observed him and his friends as they sit in front of the screen or at a game screaming and chanting for their favorite team. I enjoy watching them as they laugh and have fun. Although they are having fun, they never lose respect for the other fans around them.

Although we also have gone to many games and I have seen many fans acting unacceptable. Don’t get me wrong, I feel that it is ok for fans to get a little rowdy yet, there must be a limit set. I feel this way because many families come and pay to take their children to these games just as any other fan would. They should be able to enjoy the game without there being violence, profanity, or otherwise offensive words. So in conclusion, I believe that it is fine to go to a sporting event, have a few drinks in moderation and cheer for your favorite team but to be sure to not affect other fans around you.

I am behind you 100%. I do not understand why they even started saying all of those things. I am one of who knows firsthand about the academies.

I was accepted to one of these fine institution, but due to a disability that would hinder a lot of the physical aspect of the military life, I was unable to continue physically.

Josh, I could go one for days about these men and women. Let me just say a few last comments...

If any of these cadets loses a game in any sport, they still have won in my book and many others.

AND

ALL OF THESE CADETS DO MORE BEFORE MOST STUDENTS GET UP IN THE MORNING, THAN ANY ONE OF THE STUDENTS DO IN A DAY!

I SALUTE THE CADETS!

I agree with your comments Josh. It seems that Rutgers fans take it beyond their home field. Last year when Navy hosted the game against Rutgers, the fans were terrible, and I mean terrible. I left the game appalled. Sportsmanship issues are a hot topic in the membership which my alma mater's SAAC and our conference SAAC continue to try to remedy the issue. We found that it's not the student-athletes, administrators, coaches or officials that have sportsmanship problems, but the general student body and the fans. I'm all about supporting our teams, but that's just it: Support YOUR team, not the opponent.

I have been involved with sports for a great deal of my life. I learned a lot about football as my Dad has been coaching since before my birth and through playing football when I was younger. In every sporting event there are always those few fans making degrading comments to opposing teams. As I usually just turn my shoulder and ignore them, I could not believe how some Rutgers students were acting. The people they were degrading were fellow Americans who will most likely be fighting for all of us in the near future. I think those students should feel absolutely ashamed of themselves. It doesn't just make the degrading individuals look bad, but the whole school. They are giving Rutgers a bad name. Not themselves. The individuals participating in such a manner should really think about what the game’s all about and maybe try to grow up a little.

I totally agree with you Josh. Being a fan of sports and also a player, it is very annoying and disrespectful for fans to use foul language and taunt the other team. Rutgers fans should be ashamed of themselves. As adults and college students they should have conducted themselves in a better manner. Alcohol does play a big role in the way people act but there is no excuse for acting that way in front of children, parents, and grandparents of these players. It is disrespectful to the university and embarrassing.

Josh, you also made a good point about the Navy team defending our country some day. That is more important than winning a football game. What I don't understand is why they were acting like that when they won the game. I hope the Navy players and fans weren't offended and we can all move on from these ridiculous acts by immature college students.

I think it is hypocritical and appalling for the Rutgers athletes to even consider using slanderous language in sports after the Don Imus incident. The comment a comedian made on a radio broadcast while trying to entertain his audience and using language that in no way shape or form considered offensive and is commonly used interracially, has now ruined a man’s thirty year career based on what? Entertainment value? Aren’t sports supposed to entertain people? Isn't comedy entertaining? I think it's terribly hypocritical for any Rutgers team to be using offensive language. Not only that, it’s unsporting and unprofessional. These students do not see the whole picture nor do I think any of them care that they cost a man his job based on a comment that was made in bad taste. Plenty of comedians tell bad jokes but he didn't use bad language, and now the Rutgers team wants to use bad language. They should all be suspended indefinitely and we should all use mob tactics and contact their sponsors and tell them we are going to boycott their games. After all that’s what happened to Don Imus. Personally I don't care if I ever watch a Rutgers game ever again. I hope they will learn something from all of this negative publicity and the coaches will start to teach teams sportsmanship instead of competitiveness. I also hope the next time they play Navy they lose and the Navy shakes their hand and sets a good example to what seems to be a slowly degrading athletic school when it comes to sportsmanship.

That’s not fair, Chris. The Rutgers student-athletes had nothing to do with the poor sportsmanship exhibited by the fans in the stands. While it’s certainly ironic that this incident happened at Rutgers just months after Don Imus made his offensive statements, I want to be clear that the student-athletes weren’t the ones acting inappropriately.

I found this incident just completely ridiculous and very astonishing. I first heard the news that Rutgers fans were cursing at their opposition’s football team, but as I watched the program it progressively got worse. I first found out that the team the Rutgers Scarlet Knights were playing and heckling was Navy. Then I found out that they were chanting these offensive curse words at a player for Navy that actually just got injured on the previous play. So not only were the fans of a team, that just recently gained success on the football field, chanting curse words at a player who was injured, but also at an opposition that will likely be serving and protecting this country in the years to come! That is the largest case of UNSPORTSMANSHIP that I have likely ever seen. If it wasn’t already bad enough, the chanting progressively even got worse; I guess the student fans of the Scarlet Knights stopped chanting at just the hurt player, but started cursing at the entire football squad; how more ignorant and contradictive can a human being be?

I’m a really big college football fan and I love the big rivalry games; the Michigan and Ohio State, the Pitt and West Virginia, the LSU, Auburns. This competition and almost hatred between schools brings a flavor to the game that I believe the NFL can’t touch. But, when violence and extremely offensive events occur like this, it take takes so much away from what it’s all about. Love your football program, love the competition, but don’t degrade yourself to this level. Have more respect for yourself, for the other program, and especially for the people who serve this country!

I agree wholeheartedly with this blog post. I am a proud American who has worn a homemade shirt on 9/11 and Memorial Day since 2002. It disgusts me that people would degrade our troops - regardless of it being in a time of war or not. The only thing even more despicable, was how close to 9/11 this happened. Apparently the students at Rutgers don't remember what it means to be in shock and fear at our country's sudden sense of vulnerability - a sense that has disappeared thanks to the fine men and women in the Navy as well as the other military branches.

Trash talking and jeering is a part of sports. Lord knows I'm a hockey fan, and as such, I love to jeer - but there ought to be boundaries on it. Among these, include no foul language - for the sake of children being present, and no low blow type comments. The athletes know when they're on the road to expect a little jeering, but they shouldn't feel sick to their stomachs. I remember Dani Heatley being made fun of at a Pens game for killing his own teammate in a 1-car wreck he was driving in while intoxicated. Insults of that nature shouldn't be acceptable.

Maybe the NCAA ought to use its resources to address issues like this instead of wasting them on mascot lawsuits.

No real action was taken by Rutgers other than their president and AD apologizing. Suspending students from admission to the next game might have been a more practical lesson......