Fights Broke out Between High School Basketball Players Then Between Fans at the Labella-Sullivan Gym

Fights broke out between high school basketball players then between fans at the LaBella-Sullivan gym, the author attributes this conflict to the winning of Middletown High over Bristol Eastern due to the strong "sportsmanship" and loyalty that youth posses towards their school's victory. Furthermore, yelling of fans began from the ritual hand-shaking, as a result of conflict of interests between school sports fan, traditional customs cannot inhibit sports fans' extreme and negative team spirit anymore.

The author of this article is Jim Bransfield who is a press correspondent of this incident, he is also a gold key recipient of the Connecticut Sports Writers' Alliance which established in 1939. The Alliance made up of top and experienced sports writers and editors, active and retired, from around the state of Connecticut, aimed to perpetuate the craft of sports writing. Articles by him are detailed and persuasive, making it not to have conflicting arguments.This article is therefore reliable as the author is a press correspondent who is the witness and has detailed elaboration of the whole process of this conflict. The tone of his article is not bias to either side of the two schools, but as a fair-minded bystander. Furthermore, this article was published on the 6th of January 2011, which is a very recent-happening event of sports conflicts, and carries currency and accuracy of contents, followed by updated mindsets.

The information provided by the author is consistent with another credible article of Sports and Conflict by Kevin Ann Reinhart, which suggested that seeking of individual glory and interest, will result in sports conflicts, similar to the causes of fights in this school basketball game. It also suggested 'Competition Not Conflict' program to encourage healthy competition in sports and to reduce harmful conflicts. Kevin Ann Reinhart, a teacher-librarian, has written professionally since 1976. Her professional writing has thus enhances the credibility of the contents of the article by Jim Bransfield.

This article is relevant to my group project, which is on sports conflicts occur during school games due to the different ideology, interests, loyalty of sports fans, and overemphasizing on winning which resulted in twisted "sportsmanship" towards competition. This article suggested me a factual and detailed event of sports conflict in school game, aided me to a wider view of causes and outcomes of conflicts, subsequently to generate more effective measures to resolve sports conflict. Strong fact showing recent event also aided me to a higher level of deep understanding of sports conflicts.

This article identifies the main causes of ongoing sports conflict in schools. For sportsman, overemphasis on winning by their coaches, and pressure from their fans eventually concealed the positive "sporting spirit". School rivalries come with the cruelty and