[Mark Sheridan]

I was on 766 (Menlo-Atherton) and was on the school's lacrosse team. There was never a time 766 had a rivalry with 254 (Bellarmine). There was a rivalry between the two schools Lacrosse teams, a pretty intense one. I am pretty sure the two schools never had a Track and Field rivalry. In fact I never seen a bitter rivalry between schools in track events. I think FIRST and track event share the same ethos when is come to rivalries, that they are friendly because we all seek to better ourselves together.

I have a theory that many cases of un-GP behavior stems from bitter school rivalries and an ignorance customs and traditions at FIRST events. From my perspective, these un-GP behavior would tolerable (perhaps barely) at a football or basketball game but completely out of line in track meet, chess tournament, robotics event and etc. I am sure it more complicated then that. I suppose to "boo" a school one day at a basketball game and to come to a robotics event and see the same school; it would not be far to stretch that an individual could mistakenly interpret what would be acceptable behavior.

The application of this is that I make sure my students know what is acceptable behavior, that rivalries are to be friendly and give them comparable examples that they could relate too. I might be stretching this topic a bit, I guess all I am saying I really hope none of my students will ever try to imitate a "sixth man club" at a robotics event.