Here's what you've heard: last week, the girls' basketball team at The Covenant School beat the girls at Dallas Academy, 100-0. Dallas Academy (or DA for short) is for "...students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other learning differences." Because of this, Covenant is a much of testosterone filled jerks who beat up some poor retarded kids* and have no right to call themselves Christians. In fact, they've been bullied so badly about their victory that they are attempting to retroactively forfeit it. I guess that's what Jesus would do.
Here's what you probably haven't heard: the same night, DA's boys beat Covenant's boys 50-38.
Why does this chap my ass so much, you ask? First, blowouts in high school sports (and especially private school high school sports) are not uncommon, as the talent in these schools tend to be lopsided. The fact that these girls are learning disabled is really not the issue here, as evidenced by the DA boys winning the same night. Earlier this year, the Jesuit Rangers boys' basketball team beat the McKinney Boyd Broncos, 108-22. When Coach Mitch Grimes says that these things just happen, they really do. I give credit to DA for not harping on this "we go to a special school and that's why we're not very good" angle, because as their boys have shown, it's bullshit. Being ADHD doesn't make you a bad athlete. Being unable to dribble the ball does.**
Second, as an athlete who has been on both sides of blowouts - both in team (volleyball and basketball) as well as individual (tennis) sports, there is nothing more insulting than the idea that my opponent should ease up on me because I'm not as good. I don't like watching a group of girls being demonized for doing what they should have done, which was win. That's what they're supposed to do. That's what they practice for. That's why they're there. Whatever new aged, feel good bullshit is being pumped in schools is still not translating to the real world***, so why in the world do we insist on hoisting it on our children? Hell, the mercy rule isn't even enforced in real world sports - otherwise, I would've been spared of such sharp, neverending agony last December when Philadelphia crushed Dallas 44-6.
"Okay, how about we let them score the touchdowns, but they aren't allowed to go for the extra point. That's fair, right?"
Now, had I been the coach, I would've removed my first stringers and let the second and third stringers play the game, and I probably would've laid off the full court press. It would've been the nice thing to do. But until a mercy rule is firmly put into place, no coach has to follow my hypothetical example. Besides, this is high school varsity basketball, and these athletes are competing for scholarships and slots on college basketball teams. As cruel as this may sound, you run up the scores so you can run up your stats so you can impress the scouts. Is it taking advantage of the situation? Mos def. But if you don't like it, don't play competitive sports.
And yes, I understand that the students at DA are learning disabled,
They're not looking at the score? They don't play to win? Why the hell not? Who taught them that defeatist attitude? Let me guess: the same man who is forfeiting the rest of his team's season, Coach Civello. Here's another example of his leadership:
Civello, as is his custom, didn't say anything to anyone from the opposing school after the game. He always allows for a cooling-down period. A week later, he has not been in contact with anyone from Covenant.
A cooling down period for what? Civello's team has lost every single game for the past four years. Their last three scores before the Covenant game were 78-10, 50-8, and 89-8. And yet, he has plenty of time to court America's new sweethearts, as opposed to reaching out to DA's coach, Mitch Grimes. Gotcha.
I know I sound like I'm whipping up on the girls. I'm not. Hell, I'm impressed by these girls. They know it's just a game, and they seem to have moved on. I'm whipping up on their loser coach, who is parading his team around like a bunch of horses at a fair. He could've played this incident down - kids get blown out all the time - but he didn't. I'm whipping up on the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, the idiots who have these two teams in the same playing division. I'm whipping up on the media, who is using this game as an invite to the typical "this is what's wrong with America" battle cry in this everybody is a star country we live in, and taking extra delight in slamming a bunch of high school girls for having the nerve - the GALL! - to play their best, even if it was against a lousy team. I'm whipping up on the people who believe that it's okay to lift up the spirits of the DA players and fans by tearing down the Covenant players, calling for the coach to be fired and the girls - the WINNING girls - to be suspended for the rest of the season. And yes, the Covenant girls deserve a lick or two. C'mon, after a while, it should've been obvious that this was going to be a hollow victory. But I simply can't condemn the Covenant team for treating the Dallas Academy team just like everybody else. I mean, if DA wants to play with the big girls, shouldn't they be treated as such?
LET THE KIDS PLAY. Just let 'em play! Seriously, getting your butt kicked when you play your best is not nationwide news, and it will not scar you for life. Just ask the girls at Dallas Academy.
*This story is already dubious enough, but trying to paint the DA players as "handicapped" and "retarded" just to make the Covenant girls look even worse is beyond the pale.
**This is coming from an ADHD athlete.
***The one where the rent is still due on the first, regardless of if you're learning disabled or bipolar or your booty itches.
