Frostburg Hospitality

On a cool February night at Frostburg State University the Marymount University’s Men’s basketball team had made the trip up the mountain from Arlington Virginia to square off with the Frostburg State Bobcats.  It was a close contested game and an overall fun game to watch.  Senior forward Maurice Williams led the team with 24 points in his last home game as a Frostburg State Bobcat.  The students were out in force and were supporting their friends and classmates on the way to a 53-52 victory.  During the second half a section of students started to get really into the game and one student yelled an insult directed at one of the opposing players.  As soon as the student yelled the insult an older man sitting two rows down didn’t hesitate to turn around and tell the young fan to cut it out and show the visiting school respect. 

            Fan attitude is a nationwide issue at every level of every sport, from little league AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball where parents start fights and yell threats at opposing parents and refs, to the NBA (National Basketball Association) where fans throw there beers at players and threaten the lives of officials and visiting fans.  But the NCAA promotes good sportsmanship from its fans and players. 

            Before every NCAA game an announcer will read a statement like this “Wesley College and the NCAA promote good sportsmanship by student-athletes, coaches and spectators. We request your cooperation by supporting the participants and officials in a positive manner. Profanity, racial, or sexist comments, or other intimidating actions directed at officials, student-athletes, coaches or team representatives will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from the site of competition. Also, the consumption or possession of alcoholic beverages at the site of competition is prohibited.”  But in talking to some collegiate athletes this does little to stop fans from becoming a little too rowdy. 

            Junior wide receiver Lucas Adolph said that when the Frostburg football team traveled to Delaware to play the Wesley College Wolverines, he and some of his teammates were subjected to rudeness and racial insults. 

            “I was warming up before the second half and one of the fans leaned over the fence and asked me if I wanted to work in his wood shop or cut his grass.”  Lucas a Hispanic American said it didn’t affect his play it was just annoying.  He also went on to say that on a prior visit to Wesley some of his teammates thought they heard some of the rowdy fans call them the N-word. 

            Other Frostburg athletes have experienced similar treatment on away trips.  Maurice Williams said that on an away trip those fans would spit at the Frostburg basketball team when they ran onto the court.  He expressed how a lot of schools they played weren’t very respectful at all.  “It can be hard for us when we travel but I feel that it’s easy for teams to come here and play cause are fans are just so nice and well behaved.”

            But are Frostburg fans really that well behaved?  Athletic Director Troy Dell says yes.   When asked if he gets complaints about the fans at his school he said “From time to time we do, but for the most part our staff is proactive in addressing unruly behavior before it escalates to an offends anyone.”  With fan support at Frostburg increasing due to the teams joining the CAC (Capital Athletic Conference) , Chill Choices raising promoting black out games, and Frostburg State cheerleaders holding flood games(games when all the other teams attend each other’s games to show support) the event staff will probably have their hands full. 

            Iantha Parker attends Frostburg football games regularly as well as University of Maryland Women’s basketball games.  She told me how comfortable she feels in both arenas.  “At Frostburg I feel very comfortable, the parents are nice and the students are usually well behaved and very supportive of their classmates.”  She then compared her experiences at Frostburg State to her experiences at the University of Maryland College Park.  “Fans at College Park are way more intense than the fans and students at Frostburg.  At Frostburg the only time you see somebody really mad or on the verge of losing their cool it’s most likely a parent of one of the players.  At Maryland games the fans, parents, band, and students are just way more intense.” 

            She went on to say that she feels comfortable at both schools and has seen worse when going to AAU and high school games.

            Question is does it help other teams when there fans are rude and rowdy to visitors?  Senior Running back Patrick Pinchinat doesn’t think so.  “I think that it’s great for people to come out and get behind their team but when they get really disrespectful like verbally attacking players, coaches, and referees it doesn’t really make a difference it actually makes me play harder rather than distract me.”

            Frostburg and other Maryland schools like College park and even rival Salisbury are striving to create an environment at their athletic events that is equally as inviting to visiting fans as it is for their own.  Frostburg may not fill the stands at every game but it’s obvious that they have a solid nucleus of support coming from students, faculty, and other athletic teams.  Fan attitude might be something else to attract more supporters to Frostburg games.  Iantha Parker said she believes that more supporters will start coming to Frostburg games more regularly once they experience it. 

            “Fans at Frostburg are good supporters, they care about the student athletes and they support them.  I like that even though they are intense in that they want to root there teams to a win they do so the right way and are respectful to visiting teams, coaches, players, parents and referees.”