It's stuff like this that makes me hate tournaments. Yes, the guys who lost in the first two matches acted like idiots. People should realize that tournaments are just a game and have enough respect for their opponent, themselves and their instructor not to act like a spoiled child when they lose.
Conversley, however, I've seen plenty of bad winners. Fist pumps, jumping around and otherwise celebrating in your opponent's face have no place in martial arts (heck, they have no place in sports either but you see them there with alarming frequency). Personally, I'd love it if tournaments allowed refs to DQ people even if they win for being obnoxious twits. I'm pretty sure that would cut down on that behavior very quickly. Heck, Dave Lowry mentions in one of his books about a judo tournament he went to as a kid where one of the competitotrs gets DQ'd for treating his opponent, who he obviously outclassed, disrespectfully by not taking the match seriously(!). I'm totally OK with that because martial arts are supposed to be about teaching people respect. And you don't respect people when you're dancing around looking like you just made a TD in the superbow. And even the NFL has tried to crack down on moronic behavior in the end zone.
Every time I see a sumo match where the competitors are completely stoic after both the worst defeat and the greatest upset victory I think back on a documentary I saw years ago on sumo. When the American interviewer asked the sumo why he didn't celebrate his victory he said: "I respect my opponent too much to do that." Whether you consider sumo a martial art or just wrestling in diapers that man exhibited better behavior than so many martial artists it's sad.
Pax,
Chris
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