Spirit of Competition, may you rest in peace.

HOLLISTON — Does the ugliness at high school sporting events have you feeling despondent? Here’s your antidote. It happened a week earlier, at a playoff game between Holliston High and Concord-Carlisle High, and it was gorgeous. The Holliston Panthers, making their first playoff appearance in a decade, were woefully outmatched by the powerhouse Patriots. So how did the students behave at the game? Did frustrated Holliston fans cast aspersions on the Concord kids’ masculinity? After Concord opened up a huge early lead, did their fans yell “Scoreboard, scoreboard,” rubbing Holliston’s faces in it? No and no. This game was different from the start. Each crowd cheered for its own players, rather than trying to tear the other team’s down. Then, with Concord up 30 points at halftime, extreme kindness ensued. The Concord fans started chanting “You guys are chill!” at Holliston, bestowing the ultimate in adolescent affirmation. Holliston returned, repeating, “We respect you!” Then, all together: “Sportsmanship! Sportsmanship!” As the valiant Holliston players’ clocks continued to be cleaned, the gym erupted into song, both sets of fans united in “Sweet Caroline” and then, “Don’t Stop Believin’. ”

Well, that about does it. The Spirit of Competitiveness has finally suffered a grisly demise and this proves it. I swear if Michael Jordan reads this he’ll punch the nearest baby right in the temple.

“You guys are chill”?

“We respect you”?

This is what it’s come to? We can’t have disparaging chants like “scoreboard” anymore?

Ladies and gentlemen, it is over. We have failed as a nation.

PS – I’m pretty sure that’s what our boys chanted at the Nazis back in World War II, right? “We respect you”? I’m pretty sure it was.

PSS – I’m holding onto the hope that the students were being sarcastic. Please God, somebody tell me they were being sarcastic.