KIDS THESE DAYS:

On Saturday, my wife and I treated our 16-year-old son to the USC-UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl. Roy had never been to a college or professional football game, let alone one with the rich history of the cross-town rivalry.

As we expected, he had a great time.

At the game there was one particular UCLA fan sitting three rows in front of me who, early in the second quarter, starting raising his hand repeatedly to “flip off” the Trojans whenever they did something right. As you may know, his arm was frequently up in the air.

I let it go the first couple of times, then, when he did it again, I yelled at him to knock it off, pointing out that there are kids in attendance near us.

He shot me a dirty look, but stopped.

Late in the second quarter, he started up again and threw a few verbal “f-bombs” at USC.

When I considered my options, I decided to wait until halftime before taking any more action.

When halftime began, I got out of my seat, which was precisely in the middle of one of the long rows of tightly spaced seats for which the Rose Bowl is known. To help you get to the aisle, every person in the row has to stand.

I grabbed some food, then confronted an usher and told him about the fan in front of me. When I asked him for an honest answer as to whether security would do anything about this guy if I called them, he said, “Probably not.”

Then he gave me a card containing the “UCLA Football Fan Code of Conduct.”

Halfway down the card, it reads, “Fans not adhering to the Fan Code of Conduct provisions will be subject to ejection with refund, revocation of season tickets and if in violation of city ordinances and other laws, may also be subject to arrest and prosecution.”

The first banned activity listed is “verbal or physical confrontation, including dangerous, abusive or profane behavior.”

So while the fan was clearly in violation of the code, the usher’s honest answer about any penalty is exactly what is happening in our society as a whole, that is, we experience this behavior and fail to condemn it.

As a result, these rude people think it’s OK to swear or flip someone off. Why do they think it’s OK? Because no one, starting with their parents, has told them otherwise.

There’s more. I was recently alerted to a couple of banners in a Newport-Mesa high school gym before a basketball game. One banner called the other team “gross,” and the other one called the opponent “ugly.”

I’m not sure what happened to the old banners that used to display positive messages urging one team to win. I’m guessing that they have disappeared for good, along with our timidity about pointing out such things.

And that’s too bad, because the community was a lot nicer.

If the age of 53 qualifies me as an old guy, then consider this another old-guy rant because I believe that kids today, on the whole, are more ill-mannered than a generation ago.

In the recent past, I have chronicled extremely foul language on the campus at UCI, Angels Stadium and John Wayne Airport, the latter being loudly spoken by a fellow on a pay telephone.

In each case, the speakers were young men, and I asked them to stop. In every case, they apologized. That gives me a little hope; it shows that these people know right from wrong.

A couple of days ago, I was behind a county bus that displayed an ad with a crude word for excrement on it.

Even most Bruins would object to that.

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to dailypilot@latimes.com.