To me there are two types of sports: recreational and competitive.
I remember as a kid, when playing was for fun, it was done with mutual respect. In tennis, it was just trying to keep the ball in play without scoring. This also applied to playing volley ball—I recall the first time someone returned my ball hit over the net with a spike...and thinking it was not fair!
As for competitive sports: there are different leagues for the various levels of skill. The main thing about all sports is that rules and regulations are the same for all, and do not change once the game or season starts.
I have played 12" slow-pitch softball for over 40 years, and have discovered there are players who practice sportsmanship, and there are team players, and almost every team has a few "hot-dogs" on their rosters. I have played for all kinds of managers...some will do anything to win, and some respect both their players and the other team's players too.
I have been a fan of sports for years—mostly baseball—and have enjoyed the art of fun sportsmanship...using signs or picking on a visiting team's player, sometimes using my life-size voodoo doll...but never in a way that was extreme.
Over the years, I managed to make a visiting team player laugh from the cheap seats (when they were) in the friendly confines of Chicago's Wrigley Field bleachers.
I loved picking on Barry Bonds, by yelling at him..."Do you have a necklace to go with your earrings?" Or warned other outfielders that, "THIS BALL IS GOING OVER YOUR HEAD...JUST LIKE SESAME STREET!"
Or asking a rookie, if he shaved his legs, to put his uniform on.
In all my years, I never booed a player or umpire, and found sometimes that the silent treatment works better! I EVEN CHEERED VISITING PLAYERS WHO MADE GREAT CATCHES...
And often wished they wore a CUBS uniform.
Sports is like life... you get out of it what you put into it...CHEERS!
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