March Madness has come to a close, and millions of people are tuned in to see some of the best young basketball players in the country in the men’s and women’s tournaments compete for ultimate glory. Louisiana State (LSU) won the women’s tournament, and the University of Connecticut (UCONN) won the men’s.
However, at times like these, I am reminded that a certain demographic of sports fans forget that the people they watch are humans. It could be a cesspool if one were to go onto any social media site after any nationally televised game. Let athletes make mistakes, and their livelihood is attacked and questioned. There is a line between critiquing from a fan’s perspective and lashing out at teenagers online who make a mistake or lose a bettor money.
Many grown adults on social post games are attacking college students, some of whom may even be under 20. Professional athletes are used to this by that time, but the potential harm this could do to any college athlete and their mental health is alarming. Already having the stress any typical college student feels, but amplifying it tenfold since millions of eyes are on you and those millions could turn on you the moment you slip up is horrifying. Some of the most talented basketball players in the country are 18.
Some college basketball athletes can be referred to as “one-and-done’s,” or players who are talented enough to turn professional after just one season of college sports. These players already have more eyes on them compared to their peers. Their mental health could be negatively affected by a slip-up that nobody would notice if it were any other player. Going from being a high school athlete, where you may have a good bit of attention on your play, to a college athlete, where you face constant dehumanization, could be highly damaging to their health, physically and mentally.
One example of this happened very recently. LSU played the University of Iowa in the women’s national championship. Earlier in the tournament, star Iowa player Caitlin Clark did a “you cannot see me” taunt to a Louisville player. Many fans and analysts praised her “competitive fire” and “spirit.” However, when LSU player Angel Reese did the same taunt to Clark after beating Iowa in the championship, people called her a “thug” and said that it was “uncalled for.” Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy called Reese a “classless piece of s***” on Twitter after praising Clark for doing the same thing. Shaquille O’Neal and Jemele Hill expressed distaste with Portnoy under his tweet. Portnoy refuses to walk back his claims stating that what Reese did “was not trash talking” since LSU was up big over Iowa and that “she just stalked the best player on the other team.”
To me, Portnoy’s statements and other people’s statements feel racist. Clark, a white player, gets praised for her actions. However, when a black player does it, a certain demographic of people begins to clutch their pearls. What Clark and Reese both did was trash-talking, and I love it! They are both fantastic players and have earned the right to talk trash and have fun. If you support Clark doing what she does but attack Reese for what she did, you are just a hypocrite.
Another prime example of poor fan behavior is fans who partake in fantasy sports. Fantasy sports involve someone drafting a team full of players from any sport. Fans compete for money, bragging rights, or the thrill of winning. However, this leads to a hyper fixation on players and their performances. If a quarterback performs poorly and costs a fantasy player a game, they could lash out at the quarterback on social media. Due to the sheer size of the fantasy sports player base, it is almost guaranteed that hundreds of people are lashing out at multiple players due to poor performance. Players are playing to win for their team. If a player stinks it up on the field, but the team wins, that is their primary concern. Players do not care about their fantasy stats, and they never will. The most important thing to an athlete is winning. As long as they can help their team win, that matters most.
People can be fans of sports, even critics. That is not the issue at play here. The issue is the dehumanization of kids and even adults. These people can hide behind a screen and not attach a face to what they do to hide their identity. To me, it is cowardly if you have a take or opinion, attach your name to it, or you are just scared to say it when people know who you are. It seems as if it has gotten to the point that people have forgotten that athletes are not playing for entertainment purposes. They play for their love of the sport and the thrill that being good at their craft can bring. Athletes will make mistakes, just as any human does. Athletes are humans too, and sometimes, we seem to forget that.
