A Sea Of Red

Do you feel that it hurts someone's Christian witness to, without using profanity and direct insults about a player's race or other sensitive topics such as family, heckle and cheer at a sporting event?

I know this comes up a lot here, but I wanted to get down to the basic level of this. If I am on the front row, telling Anton Silver that he can't shoot, that he's the best player on our team because he's so bad, and just generally giving him a hard time, am I really hurting my witness?

If I yell, "Hey Anton, you suck", that's one thing. Anything beyond that is obviously out of line. But when 50-75% of my effort during a game is talking up my own team, and the rest is just pointing out the obvious and ribbing the other team, am I really checking my salvation at the door?

Just wanted some thoughts on this. Thanks guys.

IMO, no. But it's really a gray area.

I mean, I don't feel personally convicted, but I also don't claim to know the mind of God. If some people here feel that it's out of line, I would gladly refrain from acting like this. I just don't see it as an issue.

If LeBron did it, it would be okay.

If you are un-athletic and you heckle. you should go to confession.

ToTheLeft wrote:If I yell, "Hey Anton, you suck", that's one thing. Anything beyond that is obviously out of line. But when 50-75% of my effort during a game is talking up my own team, and the rest is just pointing out the obvious and ribbing the other team, am I really checking my salvation at the door?

I have always felt its better to cheer your own team than to go after the opposing team. You can be loud when the opposing team has the ball without verbal insults.

However, I don't have any problems with someone saying the above, as long as its not belligerent.

I remembered to pay attention to what I said against UNCA, but not act any different... and really we would only remind guys they were shooting poorly, or turned the ball over. The refs got some rude words, but I'm working on that.

I've always said funny and clever is better than rude. Also, if you remind someone of the facts, that can't be wrong.

If you chant their shooting percentage, that's just reminding them of the facts.

If you chant airball, you're just reminding them of what they are doing.

There's a way to do it in a way that people remember you, that people notice you, and while keeping your Christian witness.

Yeah, as long as you're not throwing panties at a player accused of sexual assault, or throwing pizza boxes at a player accused of stealing pizzas.

Ha, we did hold up fake credit cards to a guy who had been in a stolen credit card ring.

blwall1416 wrote:

ToTheLeft wrote:If I yell, "Hey Anton, you suck", that's one thing. Anything beyond that is obviously out of line. But when 50-75% of my effort during a game is talking up my own team, and the rest is just pointing out the obvious and ribbing the other team, am I really checking my salvation at the door?

I have always felt its better to cheer your own team than to go after the opposing team. You can be loud when the opposing team has the ball without verbal insults.

However, I don't have any problems with someone saying the above, as long as its not belligerent.

What if its at the refs?

JK37 wrote:What if its at the refs?

Haha....most refs are pretty good at tuning out the crowd because we know that 99% of them are complete idiots & couldn't work a middle school game.

blwall1416 wrote:

JK37 wrote:What if its at the refs?

Haha....most refs are pretty good at tuning out the crowd because we know that 99% of them are aware of how poorly they are performing their responsibilities.

FIFY

Nope I think you're good.