By DARRYL MAXIE, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Published on: 3/14/04

"I went to a boxing match, and a hockey game broke out." That's an old joke.
Fans went to an evening of high school basketball championships last weekend, and fights kept breaking out. That's no joke.

On a weekend in which it also had to dismiss a tournament director for using racial slurs, the Georgia High School Association wasn't laughing.

Skirmishes in the stands broke out after the Stephenson girls won the Class AAAAA crown by defeating Collins Hill. Ninety minutes earlier, after the Class AAAA boys championship, Gwinnett police were calling in reinforcements to deal with fighting fans from Mays and Butler.

"[It's] the first time that I've ever seen anything like this," said GHSA executive director Ralph Swearngin, who admitted he's still trying to figure it out -- and more importantly, what the organization can do to try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We felt like the security people did a great job, and we're meeting with those people to analyze whether the numbers are adequate or not," Swearngin said.

DeKalb County athletics director Charlie Henderson, interested because Stephenson is one of his teams, said he didn't think there was enough security. But he stopped short of criticizing the GHSA preparations.

"They may not have anticipated this kind of problem," Henderson said.

Henderson blamed fans wearing body paint for one of the incidents -- Gwinnett police arrested a boy wearing it, and charged him with underage intoxication. If Henderson had his way, body-painted fans would not be allowed at GHSA events.

"To me, it's indecent exposure and I don't think it's appropriate," Henderson said.

He also said body-painted fans "are a target because now people know what team they're for, and they become aggressive because they look different."

Swearngin and Henderson agree on one thing, however -- that sportsmanship needs to be stressed more than ever.

"I don't think it's lacking among the student-athletes," Henderson said. "It's lacking among the fans."

Swearngin promises to emphasize sportsmanship -- "to get back to what high school is all about" -- in his next column in the GHSA's newsletter.

The reality is, merely trumpeting high-sounding ideals may not be enough to discourage fans bent on causing chaos. The GHSA also will look look at ways to keep fans of competing teams from sitting next to each other inside the arena or parking next to each other outside of it.

Clearly, though, the GHSA hopes a word to the wise will be sufficient to nip future troubles in the bud.

"We're going to phrase it carefully -- how to make good sportsmanship even better," Swearngin said.