"It begins with all of us to make it better."

Same song. Second verse.

Here we go again. I was hoping this year there wouldn't be any "bad actors" to say anything about. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

I recently attended a volleyball match-up of the Meade Buffaloes and the Ingalls Bulldogs. A match-up between the two is usually pretty good because both have some very good players on them.

It started out with the usual - a rowdy crowd on hand to keep everyone motivated. At first, they were just that - loud. Progressively, however, it got worse. And I don't mean just loud.

A couple of times a young male dressed in black yelled out something I had heard before, but I wasn't quite sure what it meant. I turned to my grandson and asked him - his reply left me stunned and very irritated. Let's just say it's not nice in any shape or form. The Bulldog rowdy crowd continued to be obnoxious, rude, etc. etc. I kept hoping a school official or a parent would say something.

Finally, a couple of fellas who I am assuming were from Ingalls School system approached them and said something.

Two seconds later - they were back at it again.

The male in the black never skipped a beat. He seemed to completely ignore what he had just been told by the school officials.

It finally got so bad that the Meade team said something to the officials about it. Again, the school officials went over and said something. Again, it was ignored.

The utter lack of respect for the school officials, for the athletes on the court, even for the spectators who had to listen to them was not okay.

And yes, it is a form of bullying as far as I am concerned.

I realize there has most likely been a little bit of that since time began. However, I would venture to say that it has gotten worse. Those young people should have been ejected from the game. Parents and officials alike should have been all over that putting a stop to it.

It begins with me. It begins with you. It begins with all of us to make it better. There is no reason why those kids should not be able to cheer on their team. But what they were doing had nothing to do with cheering, supporting, or anything close. It was not a positive - it was a negative.

Sporting events get heated. There is a lot of adrenaline running rampant through whatever court, field, etc., it is taking place on. That is to be expected. Spectators are going to cheer on their team. That, too, is to be expected.

What should not be done, is a bunch of hateful noises, comments and actions that result in taking away from the event itself. Those athletes deserve better than that. They work hard to compete. The least we can do is cheer and support them without adding bullying to the mix.

To their credit, the Meade Buffaloes stayed calm and continued to play the game. Kudos to them.

That leaves the Ingalls Bulldogs - please do better.