LAS CRUCES >> So you have your face painted, your jersey on your back and attitude to spare. Your team is kicking off in a matter of minutes and the adrenaline is pumping.

OK, maybe your face isn't painted, but you are ready to scream your head off in support of the guys and gals out on the field (or court) of play.

Football -- as well as soccer and volleyball -- season is well under way, and parents and grandparents and brothers and sisters and a wide variety of other fans fill the stands each week. There's nothing wrong with some good, old-fashioned cheering, screaming, hollering and maybe even a wee bit of good-natured trash talking.

A few, ahem, words of advice for the referee is often also expected from the cheap seats.

As someone who has been a fan all his life, who has lost his voice hollering at a variety of games, who spent eight years as a sports writer and editor, and who is now the proud papa of an Oñate Knight -- sophomore center extraordinaire Tyler Stockberger -- I've seen my share of fans, and most are great. They are at the event to root on their team and have fun.

For some of you out there, though, who attend games from youth sports leagues all the way up to the Aggies, here are a few words of advice:

• Sorry, but your team does commit a penalty from time to time. You don't have to throw an apoplectic fit every time a flag is thrown.

• The other team is trying to win too. It practiced in the hot sun of August and its coaches stayed up late watching film. So if the opponent does something well -- like rattles off a 20-yard run -- you don't need to scream at the defense to "tackle." The players know to tackle. The other team was just better on that play.

• If there is a motion penalty or if you disagree with clock management, hollering out something along the lines of, "Come on coach, why don't you coach!" will accomplish nothing except raise your blood pressure. There's not a coach worth his or her salt out there who will be swayed by the rantings of fans. Save your breath for something constructive, like calling out to the peanut vendor.

• If your team is up by five touchdowns in the fourth quarter, it's still great to cheer, but you really don't need to holler "crush'em" or some variation at that point. There's still a thing called sportsmanship.

• If you holler out something funny that gets a round of chuckles from the other fans, that's great. But if you keep hollering out the same thing every time a similar situation happens, the joke will soon be on you. Think up some new material if you want to be the Jerry Seinfeld of the stands.

• Jumping up and down is cool. Standing in front of someone for long stretches of a game is not cool, unless you're in a section where everyone is standing. If you want to stand, go to the top of the bleachers or somewhere else where you are not in front of someone else who paid just as much for his or her ticket as you did yours.

• Profanity is never acceptable. Sure, we all slip, but you need to try and rein it in. There are often kids in the stands somewhere and they don't need to see someone acting like a jerk, swearing all the time.

Christina Melendrez Castillo said that cussing detracts from the experience.

"A few years ago it was at the Mayfield versus Cruces game and some man was cussing up a storm," she said on the Sun-News Facebook page. "It was sad to hear this. These young guys play their hearts out in each game."

Irma Evaro Arevalo said she had a bad experience with her young son due to out-of-town fans.

"About six years ago we went to see Aggies versus Miners and when me and my son, who was 6 at the time, went and got some drinks, there were some Miner fans yelling and cussing him out because he had an Aggies flag and Aggies hat," she said.

Root hard, have fun, but stay cool out there. Enjoy the rest of the season.

Brook Stockberger may be reached at 575-541-5457