Dear UW students, please end "vulgar chants at our home football games"
A letter went out today to student football season ticket holders at the University of Wisconsin. Â It was also posted on Facebook. Â Â
I've cut and pasted it for your review and reaction via the talkbacks. Â
Dear UW Student Season Ticket Holders:
First, we would like to thank you for your amazing support so far this football season. Camp Randall is a tough place for visiting teams to play and you are a big reason why. We loved seeing you in your seats so early for the Nebraska game. Singing "Buttercup" and "Sweet Caroline" was fantastic. You made a huge difference that night.
Secondly, we have a request. We are asking you to end the vulgar chants at our home football games. We’d like to share some of the correspondence we receive throughout the football season from not only visiting fans, but your fellow Badger fans as well:
"This past Saturday, my son and I attended our first Badger game at Camp Randall. All in all, it was great fun; however, one thing surprised and disturbed me. During the course of the game, the student body was led in a very obscene cheer consisting of echoing "Eat s---" and "F----you". I was pretty appalled considering that not all the spectators were 18 years or older. It was not the sort of thing children should be hearing."
"I recorded the game at home. You can hear the students chant "You f***ed up" when another player commits a penalty. I can’t imagine that’s the image we want for UW."
"The vulgar profanity the students chant back and forth to one another for amusement inside the stadium during the game is simply pathetic. I expected much more from the Wisconsin program."
"I was absolutely appalled by your students. I have been to about 15 other campuses, and I have never experienced worse students than I did at Wisconsin. In all of the venues I’ve been to, I’ve never dealt with students with less class than I did at your school."
These are just a small sample. There are many more. We think you are more creative than this. We believe you want to represent yourselves, your university and the football program in a classier manner than this. We believe you can have a great time at Camp Randall without chanting four-letter words.
We tell our student-athletes all the time that the way they behave in public is a reflection on themselves, their families, the football program and the university. We are asking you to reflect on the impression you are leaving on other fans. Let this and this be what they remember you for.
Thanks again for your support.
On Wisconsin,
Barry Alvarez and Bret Bielema
Talkbacks
sandstorm | Oct. 18, 2011 at 2:57 p.m. (report)
"it's a matter of civil and polite behavior! "
who gets to judge what is civil and polite?
if somebody has traveled from Michigan to cheer on the Wolverines is it impolite of me to cheer when their QB gets sacked?
might that QB take offense, or does he understand he's in the enemy's stadium?
it's time for the prude police to shut up or stay home.
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Victor Golf | Oct. 17, 2011 at 9:44 a.m. (report)
"Don't be vulgar, Jane. Let us be crooked, but never common."
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gc67 | Oct. 17, 2011 at 9:23 a.m. (report)
It's not a matter of "sticks and stones" and how much damage will be caused to young kids...it's a matter of civil and polite behavior! Show some respect for yourselves and those around you. You're absolutely correct that my kids (although they are young adults now too) would not be "harmed" by such behavior but you should be embarrassed for yourselves and those around you if you participate in such behavior or allow it to happen without voicing some disapproval.
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BeefSlappinMarty | Oct. 16, 2011 at 10:31 a.m. (report)
Not sure why all of a sudden people are upset by these chants. I went to school there in the Mid 80's and these same EXACT chants happened at EVERY game.
Eat S**t and F**k you!
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mikeb | Oct. 15, 2011 at 1:44 p.m. (report)
The fan behavior at Camp Randall has declined quite a lot over the last 10 years or so. If you have kids you know that you can't shelter them from everything, but there's a time and place for everything and I know I can't take my boys to a Badger game until they get to a certain age. I really don't want to explain to them what is means to have "Bucky doing your Mom" or plenty of the other shirts that are there. Seeing that stuff won't scar them far life, but it does suck a lot of the fun out of it.
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