Sportsmanship at Maryland

A recent article in the Washington Post described the hostile environment that's become too prevalent in American sports, with fans yelling obscenities and threatening fans of opposing teams, or even taking it a step further and resorting to violence -- I remember the Maryland v. Villanova basketball game last year at the Verizon Center when a Villanova fan threw a glass beer bottle on the court and was ejected from the stadium. I'm all for passionate fans -- trust me, I yell and scream with the best of them and bleed red, white, black and yellow. But this tradition of aggression that has been adopted at Maryland is beginning to really hurt our sports programs. For example, no family wants to bring their young children to a stadium chanting "asshole" at the unfortunate guy wearing a Duke shirt. Those families in turn will be less likely to buy season tickets to games, discouraging alumni relations and possible athletic sponsors. While I admittedly have yelled my share of curses at visiting teams, I think our athletics department needs an overhaul to pull Maryland away from the negative image its projecting and focus more on sportsmanship and begin supporting our teams in a positive manner.