Students from Spanish Fort High School in Baldwin County that attended their school’s football game against Daphne High School are now receiving national backlash for their signs that depicted homophobic vernacular.  The game was nationally televised on ESPN when the camera caught the students with a sign saying “Purple? Man that’s Gay!”  Daphne’s dominant school color is Purple.The ignorance and mediocrity of the students is unbelievable enough, but the backlash from the local and national level is incredible.  The anger and disgust has come from all angles: from the gay community to the national media.  NBC Sport’s Rick Chandler stated, “Spanish Fort High’s nickname is the Toros, which is associated with bullfighting, which is glorified animal torture.  All in all, Spanish Fort fails at being a high school.  Please try harder, Spanish Fort.”  The complaints of the behavior of the students are through the roof and, consequently, the students will be disciplined severely once all have been identified.

The outbreak shows that one screw up will be the talk of the town the next day; that no one is safe from the media.  All must be cautious in how they present themselves to the world, even here at Bob Jones High School.  “We [the fans] were very careful to make sure our signs represent Bob Jones in a positive manner,” Warren Aldridge, father of Bob Jones football player Rufus Aldridge, said before the Bob Jones game versus James Clemens.  But signs are just one of many ways a local society can be shaken and angered: the scoreboard at the end of the game may stir up controversy of unsportsmanlike qualities, which many James Clemens advocates felt was the case after Bob Jones beat the Jets 72-0 although the Patriots were using third and fourth team members early in the second half.