Normally I try and keep my blog to the bare minimum when it comes to politics and high school sports. In case you missed it, in Texas high school girls basketball Covenant School beat Dallas Academy 100-0. Back when I was in high school, I saw beat downs, but the beaten team eventually scored. This one was incredibly lopsided. So what was the fallout? Dallas Academy realized that their girls team is not very good and should remove itself from competition for the rest of the season? No in fact I’ve been blown away with what happened after that horrendous loss.
The Covenant coach, Micah Grimes, was asked to apologize to the other team for winning. He refused to do it, as any normal coach would. He was then fired over the matter. His school trough him under the proverbial bus by saying, “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition.”
So here is what I don’t understand, when did we become a society that rewards mediocrity? I played sports all though high school and some of the way through college. I have been involved in blowouts both as the winner and the loser. Never in my wildest imaginations did I ever expect the coach (whether it was mine or the opposing coach) to apologize for the blowout. In fact, when we were on the losing side, I fully expected some difficult practices ahead.
Our society loves the underdog, but do we love it so much that we run over with tissues after a blowout and wipe away tears? Hell no, if you lose a million dollar account at work, does your boss come over and give you a hug and tell you it’ll be all right? No freaking way, you’ll probably get fired, not only that, you might even get blacklisted by competing companies. So why in the world are we teaching our children that when you lose badly, it’s OK the other team will forfeit and give you the win even though you got trounced. What does that teach them? Nothing, in no way that that prepare you for the real world. Could you imagine the Steelers beating the Cardinals in the Super Bowl by 50+ points and then being told that they won by too much and should forfeit the game. Of course you can’t because it’s freaking ludicrous.
Folks, it’s very simple, don’t enter sports unless you play to win. Losing sucks, I won’t argue, but it also provides the fire to strive to do better. By giving this team a forfeit win, it provides nothing. Can you imagine the next team that plays them? Being forced by your coach to let them score, to spend a half dribbling and passing but not shooting is ridiculous. If anything this Dallas Academy girls basketball team needs to seriously consider disbanding. I’m curious what your take on the whole thing was.
They have gone something like four years without winning a single game. I doubt this loss would have given them any fire to strive for better.
I don’t think that anyone should have been fired over this. I agree that you should play to win. I also believe in sportsmanship. Maybe I am wrong, however, I had heard that Covenant was full court pressing in the 4th quarter trying to get to 100. I think once it got to be 50 to zero, they could have at least pulled the dogs off, put in their subs and stop full court pressing. I also heard that the Dallas Academy is a school for students with disabilities? I am not sure if that is a fact and what their disabilities are. I am very competitive, however, I think there is a place and time in sports to show sportsmanship and give the other team credit for trying. You don’t need to trounce a team 100 – 0. I am not saying you need to let the other team score as that 100 – 2 is just as bad. Just to pull off the dogs.
If it is true that they were full-court pressing, then of course I could see some problems arising. Regardless, there is no way someone should be fired for winning a game.
A local high school football team around here won 84-18. For the next week the local paper ran nothing but opinions criticizing the coach and the team. I was baffled, especially considering the subs had been in for the majority of the game.
I’ve been on both sides of blowouts, and it does not feel good to lose. But, it should make you want to get better.
In my opinion, Dallas Academy has to be held equally responsible for running their girls out there, knowing that a major blowout could happen.
The score was something like 59-0 at the half, and yes, Covenant was full-court pressing the entire game. They came out for the second half and shot 3-pointers and ran up the score until they hit 100. Shameful.
Dallas Academy has cancelled the rest of the season over this, and will most likely disband the team.
This story has been pretty big in the news, it’s been pretty easy to follow, and I think it’s really bad sportsmanship on Covenant’s part. In fact, they are now asking to forfeit the game and give Dallas Academy their first win in four years.
Dallas Academy has a 20 student enrollment, 8 of which are on the Basketball team. Oh and Dallas Academy works pretty much exclusively with girls who have learning disabilities.
Let’s not forget that these are kids too, obviously without a win in four years, Dallas Academy’s program isn’t meant to be competitive. Should we always play to win? Not always.
Also, come on, run your post through a spell check before you post. This one was pretty hard to read.
You can’t blame the other team. They are a parochial school and they are geared to win. You can blame this one on the administrators who set up this game in the first place. You know what, if I was on the team in the blow out I am playing my ass off and shooting threes and pressing, because that’s what I was told to do. The opposing coach should have forfeited. Clearly the teams were mismatched. Also, we are talking about the third team in there after halftime. These are kids trying to prove they deserve to be there. So in the end,Dallas Academy shouldn’t have been there, and by the way the disabilities we are talking about is ADD and dyslexia. Michael Phelps has ADD and Bruce Jenner has dyslexia. You can’t use those disabilities as reasons for a failing team. If they want to be in a league, they should be going up against schools who are closer to them in demographics. No way should this game even have been played. You are talking about a school who recruits players and whose players end up with basketball scholarships. So don’t blame the coach, and don’t blame the players. In our high pressure world of high school athletics, these kids are going for scholarships. They did what they had to in order to get to the next level. It’s not all cupcakes and rainbows out there. This is the second case of this that got national attention. Remember the one about the little leaguer that couldn’t play because he pitches too fast? http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=5657693&page=1
You play to win. Sure it was an overmatched game and probably shouldn’t have taken place. But the point of playing is winning.
No matter what the sport, or what the situation, you also learn something from losing. All the losing team here learned was that if we lose and then whine about it something happens. It’s crap.
Any one of us who have played sports, or have lived a life, have lost. Sometimes its hard. I’ve been there. I’ve seen a ground ball deflect off the pitcher’s glove and die on the infield letting the winning run score from third. Hell, I made a few errors that have cost a game. But you get over it, there’s always another game.
If the school is going to fire the coach for winning, they’re the ones that need to not be playing. If they’re of the mindset that “everyone’s a winner just for trying…” well… that’s a nice romantic idea, but no one learns anything from it.
Sports are life in microcosm. The game starts and everyone is even, but once any bit of motion starts things change. Inequalities develop, are dealt with, and overcome or not. What is life? It’s a game. A game with a hell of a lot more meaning than this one, but it’s still a game. When you’re losing you don’t whine and back down and give up. And when you’re winning you don’t stop pushing. Once you stop pushing you get walked all over.
As to disabilities… I’m dyslexic, I still managed to throw the ball accurately from short to first base. It’s only a disability when you let it get in the way and let it become an excuse for failing. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true.
I am so happy I’m not alone in my thinking.
Thanks for posting the link to the baseball story chemgod. I read that when it was first reported and I couldn’t believe that. You can’t punish someone because they are better than everyone else.
I was always told that once you were on a varsity sport, winning was the main goal. Sure, you get a lot of other things out of playing sports, but what’s the point of a score if it doesn’t matter?
And I forget to mention, yes, 100-0 is excessive, no doubt about it.
But what would have been more embarrassing? The other team running the score up, or just not taking shots and running the clock down for three quarters?
that was plain out unsportsman like. they should have let them score a few times. when i heard this i was dis beliefe also not appologizeing was just plain rude
This is as bad as little kid soccer leagues that refuse to keep score so that all the little boys and girls can be winners. When I was a kid, I was never taught that you’re worthless if you lose, but I also learned to appreciate winning. I used to play in a basketball tournament and my team was beat pretty badly every single time. We were so pumped up when we finally won ONE game. We never bitched that the other team was too big or fast or should forfeit because they were better than us. We just went back out, tried our best, got our asses handed to us, and repeated the process the next year.
This is crazy. If the school administrators knew that these girls are ready to play why schedule the game. Thye apparently are out of their league and they need to compete against schools that are like them. So the winning coach should have went on th eother side to teach the girls during half time how to play defense. If they didn’t have any fundamental skills then try another sport.
I just came across this and although I’ve heard the story, I have to ask this…who’s holding the brain in this forum?
This clearly isn’t about winning vs losing. Nor is it about the legitimacy of of someone’s disabilities and their ability to perform.
The fact here is that a coach decided it would be a good idea to humiliate an obviously MUCH weaker opponent. If it’s 59-0 at half, you simply do not press, PERIOD. Anyone who does has zero respect for the game and the spirit of sportsmanship. This moron had an agenda and deserved to be fired. Someone with that mentality should never be in a position to have an impact on kids.
I’m not one to say winning isn’t important but can you really tell me that they were ever in an danger at all of losing that game if they stopped pressing. The fact that they were still pressing alone tells volumes of what type of person that coach is. It is disgusting and sends a lousy message to the kids on both teams. There are certainly ways as a coach that you can have your kids still play hard but not be an a-hole. I’ve seen many basketball teams, even in college, move away from a press defense.
I hope this idiot never gets another coaching job.
But hey, at least he can say his team scored 100 points once. LOSER!!!