Every year, I say I'm not going to do it.

Every year, I say it's a dead horse, quit beating it.

But I always come back to this point. I always come back to the keyboard to peck out a column like this.

I don't know why I do it. You read it, but it doesn't sink in. You hear it and read it from others, but you chose to ignore it:

How boorish your behavior is. What a bad role model you are. How you negatively affect the young players you are watching.

But you do it anyway.

Angry fans, this column is for you.

It took me two quarters of the first game of the high school basketball season to hear those magic words fall from your lips.

Just two quarters to hear the rally cry of all psychotic people in fandom.

"Call it both ways, ref!"

And it's just gotten worse.

You challenge the referee's heritage. You wonder what address he calls home. You accuse him of being a criminal, what with robbing little Johnny and whatnot.

What you don't understand is all the little Johnnies can hear your words and see your flushed, angry face just as well as Mr. Ref.

And they want to be like you, after all. Because you are their parents. You are their role models. You are the people they are supposed to look up to and emulate.

So they do.

They challenge calls. They challenge authority. They don't respect the refs, and they owe it all to you.

Aren't you proud?

Call it HoopRage. It's the same phenomenon that befalls a driver in a car when someone cuts him off on Route 8.

Nostrils flare. Lips utter words that would make even Jerry Springer blush.

In a car, the object of our ire is some anonymous man or woman in the other car, separated by steel.

At basketball games, the object is some anonymous man or woman in a striped shirt separated by the bleachers.

I've been to many, many basketball games. At most of those games, it's the student section that is the best behaved in the stands.

Sure, they sometimes come up with an off-color chant. But it's harmless.

It's you who are the most vicious.

I don't know why anyone would want to be a basketball official with you around. I know I wouldn't want to be.

So, when you go out to these state playoff games in the next few days, just think about how your actions affect others.

Maybe bite your tongue. Maybe take a Valium — anything to suppress your angry fandom.

And if your team is up by 30 and you still feel the urge to argue a charging call, please refrain.

The officials will appreciate it. The other fans with appreciate it.

And your kids will appreciate it.