We have several basketball websites here in Maine.
Some even allow chat rooms. The problem with all this chatting is this: There is an inherent danger in allowing folks to speak their mind on a website.
When my wife and I ran our Maine RoundBALL website, we did not set up a chat room. Why, you’re asking?
It’s simple, really. We didn’t want the hassle.
Basketball, especially the high school version, evokes great emotion. Put all this stuff in a chat room, and, oh, my.
We decided right then to avoid the potential disaster of such an enterprise. What generally happens in those internet forums is all manner of foolishness.
Case in point. Following a high school hoop game, the internet is a-buzz with conversational back and forth, some of which is vulgar and rude. Coaches seem to be the likeliest targets for the verbal abuse.
Oh, my.
The attacks can range from casual abuse to verbal assault.
Next up, are the players. When one school, a rival school, let’s say, plays another, all manner of attack can be the rule, rather than the exception. As of now, there are very few guidelines, which rule the internet fare. Once the attacks get downright nasty, it’s time to shut the thing down.
First Amendment rights, you’re saying. Perhaps. But anything associated with our precious game — basketball — deserves a better fate.
My last two years of high school coaching, I put my foot down on anything involving my own players in all this chat-room stuff. My guys knew to stay out of this chat-room banter. Their handles were not clever to outfox the old fox. In most cases, our school’s mascot would appear with a kid’s uniform number.
Oh, oh, fellas. That’s a no-no. When the banter turned personal, that was all it took for me. These guys were told, repeatedly, that they represented more than themselves when they put on that uniform. Whole towns were represented. Schools were obviously represented.
Up next, families, conferences, and, of course, the sanctity of our game.
One-game suspensions after such foolishness were generally the rule.
Yes, I was tough.
Beware of all this trash talk.
In a society that seems to get looser and looser as we progress, take pride in high standards, and if you are involved with a basketball website, hire someone to keep track of all communication, especially the overnight talk.
You’ll be glad that you have that mechanism in place.
