Pats’ fans were rude

In the Monday, Jan. 19, 2004, edition of the Bangor Daily News, an article was written about me and my friend Andy Galeati, who are fortunate enough to have received tickets to the [AFC Championship] game this Sunday past from Jeff Saturday, a mutual friend who plays for the Colts. While being interviewed for the article we were both filled with excitement in the hopes of seeing a great game, and we did.

Because the tickets we received were Colts tickets, we were seated in a section with Colts fans. This did not distress me as I am a fan of both teams, but moreso the Pats, and enjoyed some friendly chiding from the other fans seated around me. All of the Colts fans that I was fortunate enough to meet were friendly and gracious. I was ashamed, however, of some of the Patriots fans reactions and attitudes toward the Colts fans. They were rude, arrogant, and unfriendly. Many of the opposing team’s fans were subjected to vicious name calling and downright cruelty. At one point during the game, a Patriots fan threw a half-full beer bottle out over the third tier and into the seats below. I do not know if anyone was hurt, but the man was escorted out of his seat.

As a New England fan and loyal follower, I am embarrassed by some of the behavior I saw. Being a fan of the home team does not entitle people to be rude and cruel to others. Considering the name of our home team, “The Patriots,” these people have proven not to be true patriots themselves. The Patriots won, but not because people yelled epithets and threw bottles at others.

Bill Perkins

Glenburn

Coaches role models

My daughter was in the fourth grade when Chris Imes, member of the 1993 National Championship men’s ice hockey team from the University of Maine, came to visit her class. Chris talked about the championship game, but he also talked about the fact that hockey wasn’t everything. He reinforced to these young people just how important it was to pursue an education. What a wonderful role model Chris provided for all of that fourth grade class.

As time went on our involvement with Black Bear ice hockey increased, as did my daughter’s personal involvement with athletics. Unlike many middle-schoolers, she did not look up to pop stars and other media personalities. The people, outside of family and close friends, who most shaped her life were her field hockey coaches and those young men from the UMaine hockey team. Through these role models, she learned the importance of hard work, fair play, sportsmanship, and team effort.

Now she is an NCAA athlete herself and, hands down, the most influential person in her college experience is her coach. I am grateful that Coach Novak has a positive coaching method, and brings a sense of humor and integrity to her team, and always has the courtesy to shake hands following the game.

This is the role of a coach, to be a teacher both on and off the field or ice. [UMaine] coach Whitehead well understands the role he plays as a leader for both his team and the community following college ice hockey. He understands the importance of the coaches shaking hands at the end of a hard-fought game, saying to his team, through his actions, the game is over, we move on, we treat each other with courtesy and respect. Some of the other coaches in Hockey East are discouraging this practice. Coach Whitehead has been chastised for this honorable leadership, for shaking hands with the opposing team following a game. Exactly what kind of message does Hockey East want to give to the athletes and the fans, both young and old? The tradition of the handshake is one of the beauties of ice hockey; we can’t allow the opposing coaches or the league administrators to take away the tradition of integrity and good sportsmanship.

Linda Mosley

Hampden

DIF&W unethical

Recent articles in the Bangor Daily News give a false impression of the referendum campaign to restrict bear hunting with hounds and bait. John Holyoke accuses out-of-state animal rights activists of forcing their views on Mainers. In fact, 75 percent of the bears killed in Maine are killed by out-of-state hunters, mostly using bait and/or hounds, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The bear referendum is not a radical animal rights proposal. It would allow government employees to continue to kill bears in the name of scientific management. Yet DIF&W, a public agency, has been campaigning against the referendum. This is consistent with DIF&W’s policy of representing only hunters, in spite of the fact that its funding comes from a variety of sources, including a share of the federal tax on all firearms and ammunition (not just hunting weapons), as well as revenue from loon conservation license plates.

Paul Reynolds managed to find a professor who defines environmental ethics as permitting anything which doesn’t directly harm humans, but most environmentalists believe that ethics involves broader considerations, including concern for other species. DIF&W is aware that hunting is declining nationally, as well as in Maine. Even Reynolds admits “the average urban Mainer doesn’t even know that Maine has a bear hunting season.” By campaigning against a citizens’ referendum, DIF&W is using unethical political practices to support unethical hunting practices.

Marc Bedner

Camden

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