Ross Gordon ’11 & Lila Epstein ’10
News Editor & Editor in Chief

“You have never beaten Staples in anything so suck my f—ing d—. I think it’s funny that a team we’ve already beaten is talking s— to us. What could possibly give you any confidence for tomorrow when the last time we faced you, the only goal you scored was against yourselves? Let your play do the talking and maybe score on US for a change. and the last time Deprima beat Staples in anything was two years ago…thats pretty sad.”

Above is a student post on a Facebook event wall for a varsity soccer game.

While the intensity of comments like the one above may be startling, many students believe that the comments on the Facebook event wall are just for fun.

“It’s entertaining to verbally berate a team if they’re all talk and no walk,” Jenn Hoets ’11 said. “Our school is number one, so opposition bashing really isn’t worth it too much. It’s just all in good fun.”

Mac Mombello ’10 agrees that the intention of the comments on Facebook are of good nature rather than hostility.

 “I do not think that people really took many of the comments too seriously,” Mombello said. “I have since talked with many Tigers and Wreckers who said that it [the trash talking] was a good time.”

 According to those who posted on the event wall, which contained over 700 posts, the comments were just a display of school spirit.

“It is more just a ‘defend your school’ type of thing rather than a ‘intentionally attack someone else’ thing,” Colin Carrol ’10 said.

Connor McCarthy ’10, a varsity soccer player from Ridgefield High School, thought that the comments were rude but agreed that they were not intended to be taken seriously.

“I think it wasn’t great that they came onto our event page to start heckling us and talking trash and stuff like that… it’s pretty disrespectful,” McCarthy said. “At the same time though, it seems harmless enough, as nothing really terrible is ever said.”

Although, this trash talking on Facebook does not transcend onto the field come game day.

“Very rarely does anything happen at the actual game, which shows that most threats or comments made were solely for the purpose of ‘trash talking’,” Mombello said.

The event walls on Facebook, however, do serve the purpose of exciting fans about the upcoming game.

“It gets people interested and excited for the games, so in that regard I think it is a good thing,” said Brendan Lesch ’10, a varsity soccer player. “I think it also promotes school spirit by creating a rivalry between the fans as well as the players on the field, and it creates an even more electric and exciting environment.”

    Staples fans, who arrive to games in packed fan-buses wearing “Superfan” shirts, have a powerful presence in the stands.

“We’re loud and make sure everyone knows we are there,” Alex Dulin ’10, one of two leaders of the Superfan fan base, said. “I think that Staples has really stepped up on showing our school spirit and being there for the teams which is a really cool thing to see happen.”

Alex Werner ’10, the other leader of the Superfan fan base, agrees with Dulin.

“I’ve spoken to several of the soccer and football players about how much better it is when our crowd is louder and clearer than the other teams crowd,” he said. “Dan Woog also mentioned to me that when he was on his bench during the state semis and saw the crowd, how much better we looked due to the whiteout, and how great the players felt about it. Fans make games exciting, affects the players, and Staples superfans do it best.”

Soccer Coach Dan Woog thinks that other teams must be intimidated by the intensity of Staples fans.

“Whether it’s our fans’ numbers, or enthusiasm, or clever chants, the Wrecker Superfans rule,” Woog said. “Some people say it crosses the line, but I think the ‘Oh my God, are you okay?’ chant when an opposing player got a boo-boo is pretty funny.”

Evidently, the magnitude of Staples fans has caused some people from other schools to dislike them.

“[Staples fans] continue to bring mass amount of fans to every game due to the fact that none of them have lives and the sports games are the only way for Staples students to express any interest in a social live and I was disgusted with the immaturity and selfishness conducted by the staples fans on the Facebook wall,” Mike DePrima of Ridgefield High School said.