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In Wisconsin, Efforts to End Taunting at Games Lead to Claims of Coddling

Related Topics: Wisconsin, Taunting

For fans at a basketball game, there are few sights as satisfying as a rival player’s shot sailing cleanly beyond the rim and backboard.

The crowd might erupt into an almost giddy chant: “Air ball!”

But not at high school games in Wisconsin, if athletic officials have their way.

Citing a rise in taunting by students, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sent an email to school leaders across the state in December that said in part, “Student groups, school administrators and event managers should take immediate steps to correct this unsporting behavior.”

The email listed chants including “air ball,” “scoreboard,” “fundamentals,” “season’s over” and “there’s a net there” as examples that the association frowned upon.