Clapping, screaming, chanting, and all with a unified theme. Our boys’ basketball team has been playing a Hollywood-worthy sports movie before us on Tuesdays and Fridays; the student section, also known as Bears’ Den, has become a spectating giant. School spirit is at an all-time high with a loud and proud Polar Bear roar, but all may not be as Hollywood perfect as it seems.

Among the numerous chants, dances, and rituals of this Bears’ Den there is something you might not catch. Some very negative chants and student reactions seem to slide in the name of school spirit.  But how much can we let slide before we get burnt? It can be understandable to make some noise when the opposition has a free-throw, but does have to be a “booing” noise? To be silent when the opposition’s players are being introduced makes sense, but turning our backs to them seems disrespectful and petty. A foul called on our team we don’t think is correct? We are allowed to be upset and maybe even holler, but to flip the bird to the whole other side of the court is childish.

We must be honest with ourselves; we are new at this whole school spirit thing. Most of us, seniors to freshmen, have yet to have a record to rally behind, games to look forward to, and something green, black, white and pink to believe in on an athletic field. Of course we should continue to have our funky and spunky school spirit. What we need now is sportsmanship, because if we put negativity out into the world it might be nasty to see what it looks like when it comes back to us. Especially with such a fantastic season, we should not be sore winners or the occasional sore loser, because we don’t want to be just excellent athletes but also excellent empathetic human beings.

We are in the Bears’ Den, but we don’t have to act like we live in caves.