"Tear them apart!" "Kill the fool!" "Murder the referee !" These are common remarks one may hear at various sporting events. At the time they are made,they may seem innocent(,) enough. But let's not kid ourselves.They have been known to influence behavior in such a way as to lead to real violence. Books have been written about the way words affect us. It has been shown that words having certain meanings may cause us to react in ways quite foreign  to what we consider to be our usual behavior. I see the term "opponent" as one of those words. Perhaps the time has come to delete it from sports terms. The dictionary meaning of the term "opponent" is "enemy", or "one who opposes your interests." Thus, when a player meets an opponent, he or she may tend to treat that opponent as an enemy. I remember an incident in a handball game when a referee refused a player's request for a time out for a glove change because he did not consider them wet enough. The player went away to rub his gloves across his wet T-shirt and then screamed, "Are they wet enough now?" In the heat of battle, players have been observed to throw themselves across the court without considering the effect that such a move might have on anyone in their way. I have also witnessed a player reacting to his opponent's intentional and illegal blocking by hitting him with the ball as hard as he could during the course of play. Off the court, they are good friends. Does that make any sense? It certainly gives proof of a court attitude which differs from normal behavior. Therefore, I believe it is time we elevated the game to the level where it belongs, setting an example to the rest of the sporting world. Replacing the term "opponent" with "associate" could be a good way to start. The dictionary meaning of the term "associate" is "friend" or "companion." You may soon see and possibly feel the difference in your reaction to the term "associate" rather than "opponent". What did the handball player do when he was not allowed to change his gloves?
He refused to continue the game. He angrily hit the referee with a ball. He insisted that the referee was unfair. He wet his gloves by rubbing them across his T-shirt.