The high school basketball tournament is upon us, so here are some friendly words of warning to any students planning to attend an on-campus preliminary game or hit the road to Augusta, Portland or Bangor.

Don’t you dare chant anything, unless it’s that cute, little school song written in 1924.

Keep face-painting to a minimum. Etching your boyfriend or girlfriend’s uniform number on your cheek is fine. Going with a full coat of blue-on-one-side and white-on-the-other creates a nationalistic, us-against-them environment that we simply can’t tolerate in these, um, tolerant times.

Please refrain from directing one word at any referee, even if his incessant whistles indicate that he enjoys the attention.

And for the love of all that is decent and holy, do not deliver one jab at the other team or its fans, lest we risk damaging anyone’s fragile psyche.

Now have fun.

With few exceptions, student attendance at extracurricular activities has dropped precipitously over the last 20 years. Two current events, both documented in another Maine newspaper this week, remind us why.

Messalonskee High School in Oakland suspended 20 students after a verbal battle at lunch between students and administrators that some witnesses said spilled over from issues at a basketball game the night before. Also, a student at Madison High School was barred from his gymnasium for allegedly acting as the ringleader of a shout directed at officials.

The first situation reportedly festered overnight after school officials scolded students for engaging in the infamous “winning team, losing team” chant. In Madison, multi-sport athlete Josiah Wing says he was ejected for chirping, “nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts, we got screwed” in objection to an official’s call.

It won’t be long before we’re writing about a half-dozen such incidents in the Sun Journal coverage area. Chances are, there already has been a student in your hometown informed behind the scenes that showing up at school on game night will amount to criminal trespass. I have watched multiple students receive everything from the principal’s icy glare to a police escort out of the building in recent seasons.

There’s no doubt that some of these examples involve principals and athletic directors who are part of a touchy-feely generation obsessed with “sportsmanship,” even if much of it is symbolism over substance.

But a majority of these reluctant baby sitters are good, reasonable people; men and women with a sense of humor who are smiling on the inside even while giving a kid the hairy eyeball. They feel pressure from other teachers or a perhaps a stray parent or two from the rival team to say something. Standing against the wall and letting kids be kids might cast you as Nero, playing a fiddle while this flame of “hurtful words” burns out of control.

In reality, most student cheering at games, while admittedly juvenile, is neither vulgar nor incendiary. The people who annoy and scare me most at scholastic sporting events are the adults who appear to lose all sense of space, time and decorum when their kid is on the floor.

Those furious few are the ones capable of starting a riot or truly hurting an official. From my experience, many athletic directors lack the fortitude to look those loose cannons in the eye and tell them to cease and desist.

Instead, they pick a battle they won’t lose, creating a problem where there isn’t one. Most student shenanigans at basketball games are harmless. In fact, they foster a fun and loud atmosphere that is sorely lacking at the moment.

With their creativity and freedom of expression stifled, most students stay away from games in droves. And if they’re not attending a school-sanctioned, chemical-free function on a Friday evening or a school vacation night, where do you suppose a lot of them are?

My appeal to Maine Principals’ Association members, in pursuing a relationship with their younger fans, is nicely summarized by another popular, grandstand plea that I suppose is frowned upon by the thought police.

Let ’em play.

Kalle Oakes is a staff writer. He may be reached by e-mail is [email protected].