From the P.E. Blog: “Damien had an organized cheering section in white shirts and they all faced the (back) wall when the Eisenhower team was introduced,” said retired Ike teacher Nick Vallentine, 71. “I thought it was just rude. One of their cheers later in the game sounded like they were saying ‘shut the hell up’ after our cheerleaders said ‘we can’t hear you.’ This doesn’t seem very Christian-like, much less very sportsmanlike.”
Vallentine and his wife Claudia were mortified, the P.E. wrote. Rialto Unified School District board member Mike Ridgway agrees with Vallentine.
“Damien had a nice, large cheering section in white shirts, but when the Eisenhower players were introduced, they turned their back on them and some of their crowd booed,” Ridgway said. “I don’t think that’s what we’re looking for in high school athletics.”
Robledo: Why is this so shocking? Mortifed? Are you kidding me. I’m mortified that they’re mortified over this. At one point in this article a coach talked about banning the chant, “air ball” because it was detrimental to a players’ psyche. I nearly lost my breath laughing so hard, really? Detrimental? Pretty soon you won’t be allowed to cheer at all. As for this turning the back thing, go to a UCLA basketball game sometime, they hold up newspapers when the opposing teams are introduced, a way of saying, “we don’t care.” Glendora has done this too. Damien turning their backs during introductions is the same type of thing, innocent and fun. You can say the same things about the APU-Biola rivalry, they’re edgy fans too, and it’s all in a good spirited fun. These people out east need to lighten up. I have been to several Glendora and Damien basketball games, and their fans are the best, they create the type of atmosphere we need to see more of in high school sports. I will take that every day of the week over the mostly empty gyms with student sections and cheerleaders that sit on their cell phones and text all game long. Damien, I got your back on this one.
