Hockey games are unique experiences at RPI. Nowhere else is school spirit so evident. From the Pep Band (of which I am a member) to the Red Army to the alumni section, thousands of fans are shouting and cheering, driving our Engineers to beat teams that we shouldn’t have a chance against—teams like Boston University. Some of this enthusiasm for our team also spills over into other avenues, such as deriding the other team or the referees.
While criticizing the opposing team members can help throw them off-balance, making them focus more of their anger at the crowd than the game at hand, ridicule directed at the referees can have a negative effect. By no means am I saying that we should avoid calling the referees out on their errors; they make mistakes like the rest of us, and it is our duty to point these out. However, there comes a point when heckling the refs can be counterproductive.
It is fine to point out a specific instance where the officials miss a flagrant offense or to decry the validity of a penalty wrongly assigned. However, references to the competency of those officiating a game can get out of hand. The officials can assign a bench penalty to our team because of the action of our fans if we go too far. In fact, we have been officially threatened in past years during close games.
A greater concern is that the referees could, if they’re mad enough, have a bias against our own team—taking out anger toward the crowd on the team. If the point of us cheering on our team is to help them perform better, and it reflects negatively on the squad, we have failed our Engineers. What if some of our conduct has caused our team to lose a close game? Personal attacks offend the refs, and don’t have the benefit of pointing out the actual errors made. We would be better off shutting up—or, even better, helping our own team.
This is the reason the Pep Band hasn’t played “Three Blind Mice” in years—accusing the officials of the game of being blind is beyond what has been agreed to be helpful. Organizations like the Pep Band and the Red Army have at least a semblance of an official capacity in representing the school and the hockey team, even if they have no formal affiliation with the team. Artifacts like the eye chart and some of the more colorful ref cheers make less of an appearance than many fans would like, and for good reason. While it is fine to rant occasionally, continuously disparaging throughout the game can be dangerous.
I hope to keep seeing you at the games, screaming at the top of your lungs to propel our team to victory each weekend. Just keep a bit of restraint next time you think the ref would call the game better if he were a trained ape.
