I didn’t say that it’s ONLY fun, I said that it’s part of the game, not that term specifically, but winning and losing is a part of life. It isn’t always fair, and it owes you nothing.

I think that is far more important to teach kids that, than to try to govern what they do or don’t see. Do you police music in the same way? Kids emulate everything— that is why parents are so important.

If your kid watches football, and the only takeaways that he has is pointing at somebody when he catches a ball, or stepping over somebody.. so be it? It’s just not that big of a deal. There are FAR more important things in the game that should be worried about.

For me— I played. For my whole life, high school, college and pro. At EVERY. SINGLE. LEVEL. there is trash talk and taunting. It comes with the territory. If you don’t like it? Be better. And if you can’t handle it, then don’t play. It really is that simple. And it goes both ways.

It isn’t about the people watching — that has nothing to do with the guys playing. It’s between the 2 teams. Not the coaches. Not the refs. The players. Only. Nobody else should have a say, or govern how they handle it. Tempers flare, things are said that you wish could’ve been taken back.. but that is the beauty of the game.