How Bad Can One Team Be?
This posting is going away from my typical musings about nightlife, dancing and photography. But I came across an interesting story today about a Dallas girls basketball coach being fired after his team defeated another Dallas school 100-0.
The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Dallas, fired coach Micah Grimes after he sent an email disagreeing with school administrators that the win was an embarrassment. The school has a response to the game on their web site here.
So it got me wondering, what exactly is the problem here? According to the reports, there are no mercy rules in place within this particular athletic conference. Not to mention, how can one participate in sports to achieve a certain amount of success and then be told its embarrassing when that success is attained? I'd like to know what others think. We all joke about the college football games when teams like Paducah Bible College try to play Ohio State and lose 90-0. But those teams are usually paid a handsome amount of money to provide the typical powerhouses with glorified walk-throughs. But what about high school kids? My state has mercy rules in affect after scores get out of control. But isn't there some sort of conflicted message you're sending these kids when you tell them to win, win, win, then fire a coach when they do. We see guys like Tommy Tuberville fired at Auburn after going 34-16 in his previous 4 seasons. We see a turnover in coaching jobs that looks more like a shift change at your local McDonald's.
So what's the right thing to do here? Fire the coach because his girls played a masterful game? Or step up efforts to institute a mercy rule in the league to prevent something like this in the future. No one wants to lose 100-0. A bagel in any game sucks. But what's a coach to do if he can't keep his job even when he wins???
posted by DVS @ 1:54 PM
2 Comments:
Most of the sportscasters here agree with you, the winning coach, played the game the right way.
A good question. When I come up with a cogent and reaonable answer I'll let you know. In the meantime...we do tend to get down on those teams and coaches who "run up" the score. But are we to tell our teams and players to NOT play their best? And I don't buy the liberal view that we should shield kids from "the agony of defeat" lest it damage their tender self-esteem. The problem with this coach appears to be that he refused to apologize for deliberatly endeavoring to embarrass the other team. Without a "mercy rule" there are ways to keep the score down legally - play the bench, slow down, etc. The coach was apparently not willing to do that. The coach was, and is, an ass.
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