Walking into the gym at any crosstown event, all you hear is screaming from the student sections of each school, taunting each other as they chant back and forth, and so-called “spirit wars.”

When it comes to school rivalry, most people say it’s just for the love of their school. I think that it’s just pure rage for the other school. Some people seem to take it to a whole new level; trash talking, insulting, and even profanity. That’s about all I hear.

Being in the pep band and going to almost all football and basketball games, I’m almost put in the middle of it, along with the rest of the band. See, the band thinks of crosstown as a time for the two opposing schools to come together to make music. We even invite the GFH band members to come play with us at home games sometimes. But I guess the point is that instead of playing against each other, we use it as a time to play with each other.

I’m not saying that’s what we should think of crosstown events as, but people shouldn’t take our rivalry to the extreme. Insulting, taunting, and making jokes towards one another isn’t going to give our schools the best “reputation” when it comes to sportsmanship.

So instead of booing or bragging when one of our teams wins, show some respect and have a congratulatory feel towards them. Don’t start boasting after you win one game against one another. Basically, I think instead of all the unnecessary and indecent acts when one or another wins, we should act more polite. In the end, it could give our school a better reputation; respectful instead of poor mannered.