One of the more beloved school traditions is homecoming, a fall ritual where students past and present come together to celebrate their alma mater. It’s an event I remember fondly from when I was in high school where the football team was more in the spotlight than usual, competitions where each class fought to show who had the most school spirit took place, and tailgate parties and other exciting events provided a welcome respite.

Homecoming is currently underway in many communities in Wisconsin, including where I’m currently living. However, it seems like the homecoming tradition is being marred by a few bad apples, and instead of camaraderie and whooping the competition being the talk around the water cooler, folks in town are dismayed with how homecoming and hooliganism seem to be part of the same sentence.

For the last couple of years, our local community has had some mishaps during homecoming that have prompted warning letters prior to the start of the week-long festivities because some folks have opted to take mischief too far.

Two years ago, some students decided to pull pranks on the athletic director at his home and were rather surprised when he opted to defend his castle. Students were injured, and parents made it clear at school board meetings.

Last year, some twerps decided criminal damage on a broader scale was the definition of “fun” and shot frozen paint pellets at homes and mailboxes. Exactly how does this promote school spirit?

This year, the community to the east of where I live is dealing with some pre-homecoming damage, which fortunately wasn’t caused by the students in that village. However, someone decided to place cheese slices on classroom windows, cameras, doors, and vehicles; overturned a portable restroom; moved benches onto the football field; removed a stop sign; and placed large rocks in driveways.

Maybe it’s the last couple of years that’s making me feel jaded, but it seems like we have a lot more respect for homecoming in Arizona.

Even though I wasn’t a big sports fan, I loved helping my classmates prepare for the big week. Chino Valley High School was fairly new when I started high school in 1991, and at my first homecoming, we didn’t even have our first graduating class yet. That would come later in the year.

After my elementary and middle school years found me as a social misfit, I blossomed and matured more in high school as I got more involved in school activities, and homecoming was one of them. Pep rallies, bonfires, tailgate parties and an overall sense of fun in the air make it a time where most students come together in celebration, and I was eager to embrace it.

In my junior year of high school, I helped with preparing some of the tailgate food. That year stood out because I remember how much classmates embraced my suggested name for the big food deal—the Runaway Truck deal where you got hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks for just $11.

It was important to celebrate that year after homecoming had to be cancelled the year before. We lost two students after a group of five girls left the campus to get supplies for making homecoming banners and decorations—this was a time when students weren’t allowed to leave campus, even for lunch—and they were returning to school when they turned onto the highway and collided with another vehicle.

It made sense to cancel homecoming. After all, who could have school spirit when two members of the “school family” were dead? Fortunately, we were able to get our spirit back again my junior and senior years.

Homecoming sprang to my mind again last week when I read something online about Chino Valley having to cancel its football game. Monsoon storms had wreaked havoc in Arizona, especially on the Navajo Nation, where Chino’s opponents were supposed to be coming from, and the other team said the flooding made it impossible for them to make the bus trip down.

However, I’m proud of my hometown because the festivities carried on. Sure, the football game is usually the lynchpin of any high school homecoming, but all the other events kept going—the powder puff game, the dance, even one of my former classmates performing some hip-hop out in front of the school. Go Cougars.

I guess my point is that even homecoming can come with some roadblocks. I get it. I just think it’s better when it’s something that’s beyond people’s control rather than self-inflicted wounds that careless teenagers inflict because they have a warped sense of school spirit.

Happy homecoming, everybody.