Students protest the new cheeering rules (image via Twitter)

The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sent out a reminder to schools that chants including “U-S-A” and “Air ball” and “Scoreboard” are officially banned at its games.

You know — because they might hurt people’s feelings.

Among the other cheers considered “sportsmanship infractions” according to the WIAA’s guide: “Overrated,” “You can’t do that,” and the popular “Na-na-na-na . . . hey hey hey, goodbye” song.


Unsurprisingly, the Wisconsin State Journal reports that there has been some backlash over the policy. One tweet shows a photo of students with duct tape over their mouths and the caption “Is this approved?”

But the WIAA is not backing down. Rather, it took to Twitter on Wednesday to remind everyone that it was not enacting any new policies, but simply reminding schools of the existing ones.


#share#It also offered an explanation for the ban of the U-S-A chant:

“We would like to clarify that we do not think chanting ‘USA’ is unsportsmanlike when it is intended to be ‘United States of America.’ However, it has come to our attention that this abbreviation has also been used to disguise the phrase “You suck a**,” which would be deemed unsportsmanlike.”

Well now there’s some logic for ya. I guess they’re either really thinking too hard/getting too involved or they just solved a very serious problem.


#related#WIAA has offered no indication that it intends to change the rules, but state representative Dale Kooyenga — a Republican and a former basketball player in the system — wrote the organization a letter encouraging it to do so.

The whole letter is pretty refreshingly logical, but this is probably my favorite line: “If you think a high school student section is rough, try playing basketball on a playground on the south side of Chicago.”

Zing.