The PSA was produced by the Saranac Lake Central School District and Bing Bang Boom Inc. in January 2019. Now it is set to be featured in the National Federation of State High School Associations’ “My Reason Why,” and “Becoming an Official” campaigns. The NFHS is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the U.S.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Eric Bennett, athletic director for Saranac Lake schools. “It’s flattering, for one, but also exciting to recognize an issue in interscholastic sports that resonates throughout the country.”

Independent filmmaker and Saranac Lake High School alumnus Kirk Sullivan directed the PSA and runs Bing Bang Boom Inc. He said he likes that more people will see the video.

“I’m always behind something that has a positive message like this,” he said. “I’m excited for the video to live on.”

Kirk Sullivan, left, a Saranac Lake High School alumnus and director of the “SLCD Spectators PSA,” is seen Nov. 14, 2018, when the video was filmed. (Provided photo — Alex Giroux)

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The PSA

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The 33-second video begins in a crowded theater with people watching the SLHS Jazz Band perform.

Shortly after horns start to blow and drums kick in, a parent — played by Bennett — yells, “Hey, conductor, how ’bout something new? You played this last year.” Band Director Keith Kogut looks over his shoulder but tries to ignore the angry dad. Then more parents chime in.

“I’m sick and tired of hearing your kid play the wrong notes,” one yells. “Where’s my kid’s solo?!”

“At least you can see your kid,” another says. “Why’s my kid stuck way in the back?”

“The conductor only plays his favorites,” says another.

Then the whole audience starts booing as parents scream into each other’s faces.

The video ends with the message, “If you wouldn’t say it at a recital, don’t say it at a game.”

You can watch the video at https://youtu.be/z6FFNhCSA6w.

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The idea

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Bennett said he wanted to emphasize “class and character,” a slogan for the district’s sports program. Games and meets can conjure cheers, but also jeers and cursing.

“We love it when people are cheering loudly and proudly, but it crosses a line when it becomes personal or degrading,” Bennett said. “And I’m not holier than thou. I’ve lost my mind at sporting events, and I’ve yelled at players whom I later apologized to. I think we’re all trying to grow another step.

“There’s something about sports that gets people at their cores and causes them to be emotional, but we need to step back and learn to be fans, not fanatics.”

Bennett bounced the concept off Sullivan, who loved the idea.

“He told me about the idea a year prior to the shoot,” Sullivan said. “I told him it was clever and had a lot of potential. I’m always interested in producing something locally because a lot of my work tends to be shot elsewhere.”

Sullivan has filmed commercials for Disney and the Canton-Potsdam Hospital. He directed the 2014 horror-thriller “City of Dead Men,” and “Charm City Kings,” for which he wrote the screenplay, will be shown at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

It’s hard to put numbers to the impact the PSA has had, but Bennett and Sullivan hope it made a difference.

“I hope people are thinking about their actions, and this is not just fans. It’s athletes and coaches, too,” Bennett said.

“I think it was a clever way to get the message across and make people think about their behavior at sporting events,” Sullivan said.

Bennett shared the video with Robert Sayaz, executive director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Sayaz put Bennett in contact with NFHS Chief Executive Officer Mark Koski.

“Mark and I got in touch and talked, and Kirk and I are hoping to find funding for more videos,” Bennett said. “We have a lot of ideas about similar parallels with school activities.”

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Referees

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According to the National Association of Sports Officials, more than 70% of new referees quit in their first three years because of verbal and sometimes physical abuse from parents and coaches.

Bennett said he’s attended plenty of games where people in the stands have called out to the officials, saying things like, “You’re disgusting,” and “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

In 2018, a youth soccer official from Oklahoma, Brian Barlow, started the Facebook page “Offside.” In the page’s “About” section, Barlow describes it as “A referee satire page built to shame bad parents & highlight referee life isn’t easy! Page producer is sarcastic, on-point and often controversial.”

On the Facebook page, you’ll find plenty of videos of parents yelling at refs, coaches abusing their own players and unruly fans being removed from games by police.

“It’s a very visual deterrent, and not just to the person caught on video but to others who ask themselves: Do I look like that jerk?” Barlow told the New York Times in summer 2018.

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Rowdy behavior

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Some fans take sports to a place of zealous worship. It almost becomes a religion to the most die-hard fans.

After the Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor UFC fight in October of 2018, fans of the Irishman and the Russian brawled inside the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

During a 2016 Turkish soccer match between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce, an angry fan jumped onto the field, threw an assistant referee to the ground and began beating him. Police in riot gear had to be called in, and the match was canceled.

Even in times of victory, fans can go off the rails. After the Philadelphia Eagles beat the New England Patriots at the 2018 Super Bowl, Eagles fans rioted in the streets, looting stores, flipping cars and lighting fires, all in the name of celebrating their favorite football team winning a national championship.

“We all ask folks to try and keep their composure in the heat of any moment, and in sports, it seems like it’s easier to lose that composure,” Bennett said. “Maybe it’s a sort of tribalism once those colors go on. For a lot of parents, they have spent years, perhaps decades, carting kids around and investing in youth development, so I appreciate their thinking when something doesn’t seem right. But we need to hit the reset button and bring things back to a civil experience. If people do feel something is not right with a team or an official is making the wrong calls, there are ways to deal with it that aren’t personal, degrading comments.”