You just have to love playoffs. It’s that time of the year when all the sweat and hard work start to pay off, when one false move can be the difference between victory and defeat, and when everyone needs to be on top of their games and sustain a full-throttle effort for a full game.
I’m just talking about the fans, but I guess the players need to be ready for it, too.
Regardless of the level of athletic endeavor, athletes are quick to point out that once the postseason rolls around, there is a perceptible shift in the intensity of a ballgame. Sure, some of it stems from the step up in competition, and some of it stems from the raised stakes of the situation, but I’d argue that, for better or worse, it’s the increased participation of fan bases that makes the sectionals such a special time.
And it’s certainly a double-edged sword.
In the eight or nine games I’ve covered over the first few rounds of the playoffs so far, I’ve certainly seen my fair share of terrific crowds. Last Friday, I took a swing up north to Nanuet and Tappan Zee high schools to see Rye and Harrison compete in the Class A quarterfinals, and I was absolutely blown away by the way those host schools were able to pack their gyms to the rafters. Rabid student-sections cheering on their classmates, throngs of younger children lining the court, these gyms were absolutely rocking. In the case of Harrison, which took top-seeded Tappan Zee down to the wire, sure it was tough to watch them fall short in the final seconds, but I couldn’t help but watch the Dutchmen fans storm the court as time expired with a certain amount of admiration and excitement.
Of course, not every fan “gets it.”
Last week, one of the Review’s girls basketball teams fell behind early, prompting a few parents to loudly call for the home players to remove their heads from their posteriors—albeit not in those exact terms. At a first-round hockey game, one father, who traditionally sits on the other side of the rink from the rest of his team’s fans, would launch into an expletive-laden tirade every time his son’s team turned the puck over in the neutral zone.
The skater probably didn’t mean to “bleepin’” give it away, so cut the kid some slack.
I understand that sometimes, emotions get the best of us. It happens to everyone. But when it comes to high school sports, sometimes the adults have to act like, well, adults.
If you don’t have anything nice to say, people, maybe don’t buy a ticket next time. I don’t think anyone will miss you.
