I agree. I was recently at a swim meet because a friend of my dad's son was competing. There were about ten moms in the stands right in front of us bad mouthing the other swimmers, and sometimes
their own kids! I swear, I wanted to tell them to stop!
At the Portland and Seattle competitions I was at last year, I never heard any parents bad mouthing anybody, and I certainly did not hear too many students doing the same. It's kind of like a football game with the addition of gracious professionalism. Why can't professional athletes and fans act the same way?
(Because they get paid!)
