Cheering vs. yelling

My daughter told me I yelled too loud at the last game. Oops. Fact is, I do yell at basketball games. But I call it cheering. She was sitting right in front of me so maybe it was just my volume that got on her nerves. Or [self-analysis here] perhaps I was yelling and not cheering. The truth is that one person's cheering is another person's unsportsmanlike conduct. And it's a lot easier to tell the difference in others than it is in yourself. We've all heard someone in the stands yell "Defense!" and by their inflection knew they meant "Go team! Play good-D!" And we've also heard someone yell the the same word "Defense!" and knew from their tone that they really meant "You idiots, do you even know how to play defense?!!!" I'd rather be in the first group. So maybe at the next game I'll just clap. It's hard to misinterpret a clap.

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