The facts: Saturday’s game against UNC fueled a major rivalry, and students and UNC fans only strengthened it by taking smack talk to the next level. Our opinion: You can yell and scream, but keep it classy. Be respectful of the visiting team, and in turn, the game itself. Following the verbal battle between Carolina’s interim coach Everett Withers and N.C. State’s head coach Tom O’Brien, O’Brien urged fans to remain loyal and passionate about the rivalry while still being respectful to the visiting team. O’Brien said, “As far as our crowd, there better not be anything in the stands. We have a lot of dignity at this school, and we have to show it. We can’t lower ourselves to retaliations or fights or anything stupid like that. Our people have to be there in the spirit of the game and root like crazy and play hard, just as we’re going to play hard in the game. But after the game is over, let’s move on.” Saturday’s game was filled with loud cheering and even louder opinions. Fans showed their anger toward the opposing team, fueled by Withers’ bashing remarks. Signs highlighting the lack of academic integrity and the sinking of the UNC flagship were held high during the domination over UNC for a fifth year in a row. While this loyalty to the team and the game are appreciated and necessary, some behavior was uncalled for and flat-out rude. Confused fans wearing the ugly shade of blue sitting in the sea of red that is the State student section were tormented with wise-cracking remarks, loud cursing and even a thrown bottle or two. Some would say they were asking for this reaction by the chants they yelled from their lonely seat in the Wolfpack crowd; however, this behavior went against O’Brien’s request and put some N.C. State fans on a level comparable to the notoriously aggressive ECU crowd. Keep in mind this rule of thumb at future games: sticks and stones may break their bones, but honestly, words hurt too. We have nothing against a good old-fashioned verbal bashing toward the brothers in blue, but to get physical and bring harm upon them is not the N.C. State way and is absolutely discouraged. Students should find ways to fuel the rivalry in a helpful, rather than destructive, way. Athletics staff at N.C. State and Carter-Finley can aid in this battle against disrespectful behavior to the visiting team by moving visiting fans elsewhere, or better yet, move the N.C. State students to a better spot. Athletics puts these visitors in the worst section possible, right above the second worst—the student section. With the sun glaring in their eyes and limited visual contact of the field, visitors are put right in the wolves’ den, which only increases tensions and emotions. Moving the visitors’ section would alleviate this problem. However, if athletics would want to keep visitors in this poor section of the stadium, they could move devoted student fans to a better section further from the visiting fans. Students should keep this in mind for our homecoming rivalry against the Clemson Tigers.