“Go forth my costume-clad, bleacher-bouncing Wolf children, and make Big Poppa proud!!”
Coupeville High School is caught in a battle right now, a fight between a boisterous student cheering section and the people who, all too often, would shush them.
Both sides have their points, but when visiting fans are routinely allowed to out-scream Wolf students, it’s easy to believe, as one parent put it, “You are killing the spirit of this school!”
But, let me get off the stage and hand the mike over to one of the mad men who made the CHS student section the once-feared entity it was.
Wolf grad Will Butela, currently gracing the stages of comedy clubs everywhere, was a towering presence at games, his curly hair bobbing in the air and his lungs exhorting all.
His thoughts, a call to arms, as we head towards basketball season:
Michael Jordan once dunked a basketball from the free throw line. That happened.
But it wouldn’t have been the same had he done it in his driveway.
The scene required the camera flashes behind him, the cartoonish giddiness of the contest’s judges, and yes, the crazy screams of the fans.
Otherwise professional basketball players reverted back to bright eyed school children amazed at what ‘His Airness’ had just done.
Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in a single World Series game in 1977.
Had he completed this feat in his backyard no one would have cared. No one would have caught the balls. No one would tell their grandchildren the true story of how they saw the impossible happen.
Fans are a prerequisite for almost any worthwhile sport.
Historically nothing great has ever happened without witnesses; this is entirely because the retelling of something amazing is almost as fun and important as witnessing it firsthand.
Enthusiastic fans are a distinct competitive advantage to any team and make sports what they are today.
Why would you not paint your face and act like an idiot if given the opportunity??
Millions of Americans would love to have a reason to do just that; sadly however, reasons for general debauchery and tomfoolery are few and far between.
As high school students you stand at an important fork in the road: sit quietly in the stands glancing at Facebook every few minutes on your phone to see if someone new has commented on your sports related status update.
Or put that wit and fandom into the real world in the form of cleverly-worded, thinly-veiled insults to the opposing team, chants and waves supporting your own team, and general noise-making in an effort to tell all of your classmates on that court/field that for better or for worse, win or lose, you’ll see them in 3rd period tomorrow.
I leave you with this thought — few regret the times they acted with their heart, purchased a wolf mask at a local party store and created their own school mascot, but all regret the times they didn’t.
Life is too short to not let it all hang out my friends, and after all, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s only high school.
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