Letter to the Editor: UCLA basketball fans should respect opposing teams
By Ron Harris
Jan. 12, 2017 10:40 p.m.
I graduated from UCLA many decades ago and have been proud of my UCLA degree ever since. I have followed Bruin basketball all of that time – there have been many glorious years.
Now, to my great pleasure, the UCLA basketball team has reached the ranking of No. 2 nationally, and perhaps they will be No. 1 soon.
But it occurs to me that UCLA fans could be No. 1 right now and forever in the history of the sport if they took the lead in sportsmanship by showing respect and admiration for the opposing team’s players, instead of doing things like distracting them during their free throw attempts. If UCLA’s team isn’t allowed to distract opposing players, why should fans?
With the team once again in the spotlight, this could be a teaching moment for the whole country – a country that currently seems to believe that an opponent must not just be beaten, but hated, humiliated and destroyed as well. Is it any wonder that the country as a whole acts this way when colleges serve as a breeding ground for this kind of behavior in most of their big-time sports?
Let’s put UCLA sports back in the headlines in a new way, with players and fans showing support and respect for opposing players. Shaking hands at the end of the game is nice, but it is not really enough. Then, let our team go out there and knock them out (without giving them concussions). That would make a lot of graduates very, very proud.
Ron Harris, B.A. Music
Class of 1966
