I am writing this letter in response to Mark Andrews’ letter in the October 19 issue of The Polytechnic. While I recognize that Mr. Andrews is entitled to his opinion, I find I must disagree with him on a point that I believe is very important. Mr. Andrews, it would seem, advocates heckling our opponents as part of pushing our teams to victory. I fail to see how this would help our teams to victory as Mr. Andrews says it will. Make no mistake; I am not against cheering our teams onward to victory—quite the opposite in fact. I must ask, however, what happened to good sportsmanship? I believe our opponents are deserving of the same respect, honor, and dignity that any and all guests of the Institute should receive.

It is not just Mr. Andrews, however. A number of students are guilty of hounding our opponents. When I attended the men’s hockey opener, I was appalled by the horrible display of poor sportsmanship. As the opposing players were called for the starting lineups, there was an uproar of booing and catcalls. Also, every time the opposing team was called for a penalty, the penalty was declared by the crowd to be for “sucking.” I honestly expected better from RPI students. It reminded me of the intolerance of my hometown that I wished so badly to get away from. There were small children at that game, and I shudder to think of the intolerant things they will learn if this is allowed to continue.

There is one more thing that I would like to say, if I may. We must remember that our teams are playing games, not fighting a war. As such, we must remember to take some time to enjoy the game, rather than heckling the other teams. I, for one, find it quite distressing and distracting from the game—the entire reason I am there—when other fans, especially our own, are deriding our opponents. I am not asking you to like them; but rather than verbally assaulting our opponents, it would be much better if you stuck to cheering on your own team. I will be there cheering our men and women on and I won’t be doing it by telling our opponents to kill themselves.

Sean Barnett