The Covenant School in Dallas, TX either has an amazing girl’s basketball team or the team they were playing on Jan 13th (Dallas Academy) should perhaps try water-polo. Covenant beat them 100-0, including a 59-0 halftime lead. The winning coach, Micah Grimes, has now been fired for refusing to apologise for the result. The coach:
I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel ‘embarrassed’ or ‘ashamed,’ ” part of the post says. “We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy.
ESPN has picked up the story and, as sports analysts so often do, has began establishing themselves and the moral conscience of sport - criticising the coach, school and anyone heartless enough to disagree with them. The argument is that this is unacceptable because kids play sports to learn more important lessons than winning and losing. This of course, from an organisation that covers high school recruiting as though it is a cattle auction.
There is no question that a 100-0 game shouldn’t happen - teams should be matched up better than this - but it did. However, a coaches job is to win games and bring out the best skills in his players until the end of the game. A players job is to do their best no matter what the score. It is the athletic director’s job to schedule appropriate matches.
Nobody wants to lose at anything badly. But people lose a lot more than just basketball games in life - they lose family members, jobs, friends, houses, dignity and more. However, I believe there is a life lesson in losing 100-0: anything is not possible in life. You will fail and circumstances will beat you badly many times. However, it is always possible to recover, progress, learn and move on. It is much better to learn this in a basketball game than when your spouse is killed in an accident, your pastor abuses your kids or your savings is wiped out in a market correction.
For the winning team, they learn not to be satisfied with just winning, but giving everything they have. They have an opportunity to learn how to handle victory and overwhelming success with grace.
Hopefully they learn that even winning 100-0 in a basketball game doesn’t mean very much - but the moralists in the media and in the community are contradicting this lesson right now. They are teaching these kids that it is wrong to be dramatically better than your competitors. That honour and grace are not possible in such a lopsided victory.
What does this say to coaches? We want our coaches to give everything they can to win. But this same philosophy is suddenly wrong when it looks as lopsided as this. The coach was pursuing the same policy in this game as he would the state championship - do your best, play to win, work hard to succeed. This is typically seen as an essential aspect to a good coach - but Covenant school fired their coach for this. Did they fire him when he used this philosophy to win games against tougher opponents? Surely not.
The constant here is a philosophy of success and winning. The variable is the opposing team. The coach is not responsible for who is on his schedule - it is his job to prepare for every game the best he can, regardless of who he is playing. This shows his players integrity, discipline, humility and responsibility - they should be allowed to see that the outcome of these attributes is success, both on and off the court.
If Christ had the opportunity to save 100 souls should he only save 59 so that the devil won’t feel bad?
The local media here in Dallas is all over this story. It made the front page of the Sunday edition of the Dallas Morning News. The article talked a lot about sportsmanship and how a good coach will refuse to run up the score unnecessarily. Normally, when you realize your opponent is hopelessly overmatched, you will pull out your starters and send in your third string players. If you’re still dominating them, you tell your players to be less aggressive: no fast breaks, no full court press, no shots until you’ve passed at least 3 times, etc. It’s generally permissible to put your best players back in the game and play aggressively again to start the second half, just to give your best players some more playing time. That’s only fair. But after a few minutes you pull them out again and go back to a less aggressive game.
But what was conspicuously absent from the Dallas Morning News’s front page article was any mention of whether Covenant followed these unwritten rules. Didn’t any reporter try to get that critical fact? Apparently not–or they did, and decided to run the story anyway. Now we hear that according to the coach, they didn’t try to run up the score. Covenant played with honor.
A score of 100-0 is kind of crazy, but it happens. I once saw my high school girls’ team get ahead 25-0 after the first quarter. I don’t think they won 100-0, but it was that kind of game. It just happens, especially when you have a team of talented girls.
The media coverage of this game is disgraceful.
ESPN has reported that the coach did institute typical blowout procedures. They had to wait 20 seconds before shooting, a minimum number of passes, etc… At the same time you can’t tell your players to “play to the whistle” and then other times tell them to basically quit.
I have played a lot of sports. I’ve won some I’ve lost some. I’ve lost some badly. I am a decent raquette ball player but they only have squash in the UK - and I haven;t got used to it yet. I was getting crushed in my first games - it was almost pitiful. One of my opponents began to “go easy on me” - I was furious with him. It devalues me, my capacity to improve and the fundamentals of sport to have an opponent hold back like that. I don’t play sports for an arbitrary win - but to succeed - to better myself and to achieve goals. Losing, even badly, is a part of the game we agree to when we chose to play. Numbing a loss like that debases the valuable lessons from losing.
Those who defend the firing might argue that “winning isn’t everything” - but their actions are actually supporting the idea that winning is important because they overdo the “shame” in losing.
The coach should not lose his job over thia. The frenzy is because of the lopsided media (again). If the school wishes to discuss the situation so it won’t happen again that should be enough. Taking his livlihood away over the game should NOT happen in a Christian school. There should be more Christian compassion that is not influenced by the media.
I read about this the other day, and I was like, “What?” I really don’t understand why this is such a big deal. When my team wins, I want them to win as big as possible. I really don’t see that as unsportsman-like unless you’re laughing at them or something. I’ve gotten creamed before, but so what? Is that going to ruin my life? And then they want them to apologize for superior athleticism? Come on!
If it had been me, and they tried to make me apologize for winning, I’d call a press conference. And just when all the media was standing there with flashing cameras, microphones, and pens in hand, I’d say, “Yeah, I’m really sorry that my team freakin’ owned their team. I sincerely apologize that our team is superior. In fact, we should have done everything possible to let them win just to be nice, since the object of the game is to boost your opponents self-esteem.” I wouldn’t take any questions from anyone. Of course, they would fire me too, but sometimes you just gotta take one for the team.
One reason it’s such a big deal is that the team that got beaten, Dallas Academy, is a school for kids with learning problems. The way the story was presented (at least by the radio station I listened to a few days ago) was that a bunch of meanies from Covenant beat up the retards 100-0. Of course that’s completely unfair. The kids at Dallas Academy aren’t retarded; they’re regular kids, some of whom have some extra learning challenges.
This Dallas Morning News article suggests that the Covenant players did apply defensive pressure and ran fast breaks even after the game was long decided. According to the coach of Dallas Academy: “Their point guard is terrific. This is what it came down to in the second half: steal at half court and layup. Steal and layup. Steal and layup. It was a layup drill. They finally eased up when they got to 100 with about four minutes left.”
If that’s what happened, then I’d say the Covenant coach should have stopped his players from attempting to steal. That’s not sportsmanlike. When you’re up by that many points, you ease up on defensive pressure and you don’t go for the steal.
“This Dallas Morning News article suggests that the Covenant players did apply defensive pressure and ran fast breaks even after the game was long decided. According to the coach of Dallas Academy: “Their point guard is terrific. This is what it came down to in the second half: steal at half court and layup. Steal and layup. Steal and layup. It was a layup drill. They finally eased up when they got to 100 with about four minutes left.”
If that’s what happened, then I’d say the Covenant coach should have stopped his players from attempting to steal. That’s not sportsmanlike. When you’re up by that many points, you ease up on defensive pressure and you don’t go for the steal.”
Alright, then. Let’s say that is what happened. And let’s say for the sake of argument, that it is unsportsmanlike. Does that warrant national coverage, and the eventual firing of the coach because he wouldn’t apologize? This sort of thing happens all the time all over the country, and perhaps around the world for that matter. I just see it as a non-issue.
And personally, I don’t really see it as unsportsmanlike. It could be equally unsportsmanlike to take it easy on the opposing team when you have a 50 point lead. To me, unsportsmanlike behavior is not equal to sheer athletic superiority. I believe in playing 100% at all times, whether you are winning or losing. Because look, your mom might have told you that its not whether you win but how you play the game. But guess what? She was wrong. Competition is all about winning and achievement. Most everyone wins some and loses some. That’s just part of the game.
You wanna know what I really think is unsportsmanlike? People babying the losing team. How do think those kids feel about that? Talk about adding insult to injury! Not only did they get beat by 100 points, but now they have all these adults crying out because the other team didn’t take it easy on them. If getting beat by 100 points doesn’t make you want to quit, then the embarrassment of this kind of media attention likely will.
Alright, then. Let’s say that is what happened. And let’s say for the sake of argument, that it is unsportsmanlike. Does that warrant national coverage, and the eventual firing of the coach because he wouldn’t apologize?
No, of course not. He shouldn’t apologize. He and his team played the game and played hard, as is their right.
And personally, I don’t really see it as unsportsmanlike. It could be equally unsportsmanlike to take it easy on the opposing team when you have a 50 point lead.
What bothers me is that Covenant played hard to reach 100 points, then stopped. (If the newspaper report is accurate.) If they had played hard to the last second, I could understand that. But they got to 100 points and then stopped playing hard. That tells me that after the first couple minutes, Covenant wasn’t even playing to win anymore. They were playing to score 100 points.
That’s insulting to the other team. In basketball, you play hard and you play to win. You don’t play to score 100 points. (I feel the same way about Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game in the NBA. It was a travesty.)
Normally, if you’re clearly going to win, you rest your best players and you instruct your team to take it easy and don’t get hurt. If a team wants to play hard to the buzzer, OK then. But to play hard to score 100 points and then quit? That’s not right. That’s not respectful to the other team, and it’s not respectful to the sport of basketball.
Play to win. Don’t insult the other team by making up other artificial metrics to go for.
But this is all crazy. It’s just a basketball game, it shouldn’t make the news. Blowouts like this aren’t uncommon.
“But this is all crazy. It’s just a basketball game, it shouldn’t make the news. Blowouts like this aren’t uncommon.”
Yeah.
Care to elaborate on the Wilt Chamberlain thing? I’ll probably disagree, but I’d like to hear why you think it was such a travesty. Was it because he was hogging the ball, showing off, or what? Without knowing all the details, I would have to say that even if he was hogging the ball and showing off, he obviously displayed superior basketball prowess. And we are talking about the NBA.
Granted there is no “I” in team, I think Americans love the star player. I mean, look at Michael Jordan. Talk about a ball hog. Not my personal favorite, but he is arguably the best player to ever play the game.
I think the action Covenant’s team was shameful. The team they were playing was from a school whose students are not “normal.” Yes, whoever’s idea it was to play to 100 against that particular school should be embarrassed at their own bad taste. Presumably the team or the coach knew who they were playing. Here’s info about Dallas Academy:
That said, the story has gone way out of proportion. When it was reported as a local story (I live in Dallas) the type of school that Dallas Academy is was clearly mentioned. When it made the ABC national news a day or two ago, no mention of that was made. To me, that fact made a big difference. You just don’t tromp on kids who have learning disabilities just because you can.
can someone fix the blockquote?
It definitely makes it a different story if the losing team have disabilities. However, nothing in Thain’s quote suggests that the Dallas Academy students are inherently inferior athletically.
It is very common for learning disabilities to affect more than just academic performance, just as, on the other side of the coin, a sharp mind can be very useful in athletic performance (NFL evidence to the contrary notwithstanding).
Now this is what I call real unsportsmanlike conduct.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Please-note-that-Chase-Budinger-s-face-is-not-a-?urn=ncaab,136602
Watch the embedded video.
Chris A:
Sure. I’ve read accounts of the game. Partway through the game it wasn’t even about winning anymore. It was all about Chamberlain scoring 100 points. His teammates passed up open shots to pass the ball to Chamberlain. The other team double and even triple or quadruple-teamed Chamberlain, and intentionally left other team members wide open for layups–but those players still passed up the shot and forced the ball to Chamberlain.
Basically, the game was a gimmick. It wasn’t real basketball. It was about passing up a wide-open layout to give the ball to Chamberlain, to help him score 100 points.
It was still an impressive athletic feat, but it wasn’t a good game of basketball from either team.
I have been on both sides of this. I never minded losing badly. If you are that outmatched you should not play an opponent of that high a level (which is why states have classification systems for public schools), or you should not mind getting beat badly. If the kids aren’t as physical abled as the others (which there is no reason to think so) then perhaps the shouldn’t be playing regular schools.
I was only ever upset when an opposing team would take the opportunity to screw around and not play seriously.
My intramural team was once accused of running up the score in, of all things, soccer. It was even a playoff game. The other team had won their division, but it was a weak division, whereas we had barely qualified for the playoffs out of a very strong division. They also didn’t have their starting goalie. We beat them 10-0. But what were we supposed to do? Not try to score? Deliberately give them the ball? Play keep-away at midfield? All of those would have been insulting options, imo.
Another time in a city softball league (which normally have mercy rules, another option for preventing extreme blowouts), my team was winning by a great deal and the coach came up with the ideas of only advancing one base at a time, even if a person had hit an easy triple, and not tagging up on flyouts to try to keep the score down. The other team was very upset at my team’s behavior (which was disrespectful), and they were right to be.
“…We beat them 10-0. But what were we supposed to do? Not try to score? Deliberately give them the ball? Play keep-away at midfield? All of those would have been insulting options, imo.
Another time in a city softball league (which normally have mercy rules, another option for preventing extreme blowouts), my team was winning by a great deal and the coach came up with the ideas of only advancing one base at a time, even if a person had hit an easy triple, and not tagging up on flyouts to try to keep the score down. The other team was very upset at my team’s behavior (which was disrespectful), and they were right to be.”
Exactly. That’s what I was trying to get at earlier.
Well, if we’re telling stories, I should tell about the time I was high-point for my girls’ HS basketball team when I scored one basket.
*does happy dance*
*calls chiropractor*
In response to: “It is very common for learning disabilities to affect more than just academic performance, just as, on the other side of the coin, a sharp mind can be very useful in athletic performance (NFL evidence to the contrary notwithstanding).”
learning disability does not = physical disability. I’ve known plenty of people in my past in special education classes (with knowledge processing disabilities, nothing as obvious as Downs) who were amazing athletes. i agree with the other posts (and i have played/won in a 101-1 game), no true athlete (or coach) is going out to play half-hearted just because the other team is unable to keep up. yes this is a great opportunity to play the less gifted/played athletes on the team or to run plays otherwise not run BUT not to play half-hearted. Perhaps we now need a “10 run-rule” in basketball to avoid this issue in the future? unbelievable, I should not have heard about this in Austin, TX and this coach should not have been fired for apologizing for doing his job well, to the best of his ability.
Jasen, I agree fully with your comments. I have only every been upset about losing (aside from being upset with myself) when someone else went easy on me out of pity - whether it’s sports, video games or whatever.
The win reflects a vigorous pursuit of mediocrity. It is analogous to a trained runner winning a footrace against a one-legged kid or a trained boxer boxing unconscious an individual who has boxed as exercise but rarely if ever in the ring.
There is no dignity here; only the pursuit of mediocrity by a coach who is, in all likelihood, incredibly mediocre himself. Genuine winning is the pursuit of victory against the best possible opponent. When faced by those who don’t measure up, there is little gained in stomping them. Your team is not advanced in their ability because the losing team has no capacity to challenge them. The mental capacity to win is diminished sue to the atrophy of that mindset against an ill-advanced team. The dignity of the game is placed in peril due to absence f actual competition.
The coach is simply a loser all the way around. Every red-blooded man who has felt the heat of real competition (unlike several voices above for the coach who have probably never graduated to athletics without a PS2) would certainly see this coach as weak at best. He has no dignity. He has no integrity. He has won nothing.
Jeff, I agree, they shouldn’t have played. That is irrelevant once the game has started though.
Ah, the voice of the pansy girly boy who feels that sports are about boosting everyone’s self esteem and making everyone feel good about themselves. This isn’t your preschool game of patty cake designed to make sure that nobody’s feelings are hurt. When I’ve played sports, my ONLY complaint with superior teams was when they disrespectfully patronize me by “going easy”. If a one legged kid wants to race an Olympian, does the Olympian show respect by running on his knees? Would you prefer the Olympian crab walk? Once the race has begun, the only way the Olympian can show respect for his opponent is to race to win. In any contest, the worst insult you can pay your opponent is to not even bother competing. The fact that so few people seem to realize this demonstrates the complete loss of integrity and honor that has occurred in our culture. It really isn’t whether you win or lose, or by how much you win or lose by. It all comes down to both sides doing their best, and hopefully learning something in the experience.
Jeff, I think you are missing the fact that it isn’t the coach’s job to schedule games, but to simply play them to the best of his ability. I think it would have been a greater insult to either let up or not play the game out of pity.
First of all, TAPPS competition is…well, I’ve been there pretty recently myself, and I was on one of those teams that romped every single opponent in district play. And our coach held us back. I never got to view things from the perspective of the opposing team, but there have been games where we were obviously going to lose. At that point, if the other team lets up, it’s very insulting to the losing team. If you’re a real basketball player, you’ll understand that concept. From what I know about TAPPS, they probably could have beaten this team 150-0. Ya’ll need to leave the coach alone. Seriously.
“I think you are missing the fact that it isn’t the coach’s job to schedule games”
I think in high school the coaches often get to schedule their games. If they’re part of a league then the league may schedule some of their games for them.
“The win reflects a vigorous pursuit of mediocrity. It is analogous to a trained runner winning a footrace against a one-legged kid or a trained boxer boxing unconscious an individual who has boxed as exercise but rarely if ever in the ring.”
Not really. There are levels of expertise in all sports. When you reach a certain level, you can’t bring weak action and expect not to get served. A one-legged runner should be in competition with other people who have physical handicaps, where his opponents are in the same class. An amateur fighter has no business in the ring with a prize fighter. Not only might he get his clock completely cleaned, but he may literally get killed. At any rate, the onus is on either the ref, the doctor, or his corner to stop the fight. In such cases where these people fail to stop the fight, the prize fighter cannot be expected not to throw a punch. When his record is on the line, it is to his advantage to get a KO. In fact, that’s more merciful than beating a guy senseless, and more honorable than pot-shotting him and toying with him the whole time.
I hate it when I watch the Olympics and I see the group of blacks guys running 15 metres in front of the group of white guys. Those black guys should let the white guys race in the pack.
And after the race they should pat the white dudes on the head and tell them how nice it is to see them try.
That would add a lot of integrity to the Olympics.
“I hate it when I watch the Olympics and I see the group of blacks guys running 15 metres in front of the group of white guys. Those black guys should let the white guys race in the pack.
And after the race they should pat the white dudes on the head and tell them how nice it is to see them try.
That would add a lot of integrity to the Olympics.”
Yeah. Did anybody else watch Usain Bolt during the 2008 Olympics when he completely smoked everyone and shattered the 100 meter record? The commentators actually chastised him for glancing back before he crossed the finish line, assuming that he was displaying arrogance. Not only did they accuse him of unsportsmanlike behavior, but they also criticized him because they said he could have gotten a better time if he hadn’t looked back. So it was “unsportsmanlike” that he didn’t crush these guys’ dreams even harder since he had the ability to do so. When they asked him about it after the race, he wasn’t the least bit concerned with breaking the record; he was just happy he won. Go figure.