by mr palmThe teams that I played on in high school never did that well. I'd like to think I was a big part of that. Wait, that's not a good thing. We saw our share of lopsided losses which were the games that I actually played in (towards the end). However, we never suffered a defeat like Dallas Academy girls basketball team did.
Covenant Lady Knights: 100
Dallas Academy Bulldogs: 0
Ouch. That's not just running up the score. That's putting the score on the space shuttle and blasting off.
Following the Jan. 13 blowout, Covenant head coach Micah Grimes has been the target of criticism calling the dominant victory "shameful and an embarrassment." The harshest words came from his own boss. "This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition," said Covenant headmaster Kyle Queal.
The
Dallas Academy, which specializes in teaching students with learning differences like dyslexia, fields a varsity team of 8 girls from its high school of 20 girls. The school accepted an apology from Mr. Queal.
Mr. Grimes refused to agree with the apology. He was fired last week. (
National Post article)
Was it right for Mr. Grimes to lose his job over this? Is a lopsided victory like the Covenant-Dallas Academy game an example of "un-Christ-like" competition?
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Comments (61)
This isn't even a matter of being 'unchristlike' , but rather unsportsmanlike and classless.
That's more embarassing for the winning team than the other team. I know coaches who have enough decency to make sure their team doesn't go to 100 when the score is 98-72. It's out of respect.
Don't run up the score. That's just bad form.
It was wrong for him to lose the job over this. The schools need to understand that this is a competitive sport, and that the students are to play to the best of their abilities. If that means a huge upset victory, so be it - it's excellent preparation for the real world. The other school with learning disability students needs to get over it.
However... if a mercy rule was already in effect when this happened, then it's possible to state that the coach acted in violation of the mercy rule (although that wouldn't likely happen, seeing as the game would end immediately once the mercy rule was enacted).
I heard about this. It was ridiculous for two reasons.
1. Those educationally challenged girls should consider intramurals instead. Or practice a lot harder to be competitive. C'mon you can't even lay it up once? Or step down to div II, III, whatever it takes.
2. The winning coach should've changed gameplan by halftime. They were blowing them out... maybe put the 2nd and 3rd stringers in and let them get some play time?? The coach seems pretty low class.
What was he supposed to do? Tell them to give the other team a few points? It's all a part of the game!
I am reluctant to mix sports and theology too enthusiastically. The man should have been fired based on what he is teaching these kids about sportsmanship.
If two teams are more or less evenly matched, that's one thing. For a varsity team to score 150 against a 6th grade team proves nothing as far as athleticisim or sporstmanship.
If a team sucks that bad they shouldn't be playing and should just sit out a season to practice until next season. Dallas should learn from this loss and come back stronger next year.
If a school based on kids with learning disabilities made an interscholastic team, they should have already considered the consequences to follow like, in this example, being beaten. The one reason you make an interscholastic team is:
1.) promote healthy exercise
2.) help kids discover athletic talents
3.) compete against other schools to share those talents
4.) promote self discipline to better yourself
So, to answer your question, blowing out a team is not un-Christ-like. It just means that you need to work harder to develop those skills, play again next season, and use it as a motivator to get better so it doesn't happen again.
I've been on a soccer team that has suffered many big losses (2 -12, 0-11, 2-7, 0-9). And those at the time, yes, I was a bit mad, but it served as a wake up call for the team. Next season, the biggest loss we encountered was only 3-5. The other team is only doing what they are suppose to be doing: playing the game. It's like saying someone who makes $50k a year calls someone else un-Christ-like because they make $100k a year.
Jesus played basketball?
"I honestly don't see what the big deal is," noted recent Covenant transfer Lisa Leslie.
Haha! I think it's funny that this is national news. I went to private school in Dallas/Fort Worth. Unmatched teams isn't that unusual. I don't think sportsmanship really entered into the early church mind's much...and I doubt they had a church-wide basketball team.
1. What IS Christ-like competition?
2. It seems more un-Christlike to fire someone for doing their job and being unapologetic for it than to actually, well, do your job and be unapologetic for it.
If you're a school and you have a foundation on the Bible, then sports probably don't belong in your school, and if they are there, then you ought to have guidelines that keep instances like this from coming up. Is there no ruling on how much a team can win by? If not, Grimes was only playing by the rules given to him by the same system which employed him and has now dismissed him for following by their very own rules. Good call Covenant.
The point of sports: Win (otherwise people wouldn't make millions for their talent). This is why it is difficult to fit them into a scripture based system like Covenant (or my former college). The concept of sports doesn't work well with the submissive and humble people of the kingdom of G-d. Games do. But not most sports.
Compassion has nothing to do with scoreboards. It has to do with hungry people, naked people, abused people and so on. To put Christ into sports like that is ridiculous (because even if you do so successfully, you've destroyed a sport and made it a game or social activity). This is not Grimes fault, it is the schools fault for putting him in a position where he believes he held responsible to enable kids to become winners and dominate over others with their physical abilities instead of teaching them about serving, loving, honoring and blessing others. Had they been learning the former, the athletes themselves would have stopped the game don't you think?
@NightCometh@xanga - I bet Ignatius would slam dunk over Origen. Origen sucks on defense. But Tatian and Justin (the Martyr) are seriously a two man dream team. They should be on NBA JAM for SNES. You could use a code for them like with Bill Clinton or Air Dog.
You're right, it sounds a bit silly.
I played basketball in freshman year and I don't know the rules everywhere, but here in Washington, the quarters are 8 minutes, that is only 32 minutes of game time. There is a 30 second shot clock, which means about 60-80 possessions total if you use the clock. They were up 59-0 at halftime, and I just read this in our paper:
"A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that
Covenant continued to make 3-pointers - even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points."
They were shooting threes and running a press defense while up 59-0. That is incredibly poor sportsmanship and it doesn't matter if they are a Christian school or not. Sports in high school are not about embarrassing or disrespecting your opponent. I play softball now, and, trust me, we are reminded of that. We are there to win of course, but also have fun and hope that our opponent has fun and doesn't get hurt. There is no life lesson in this and it is sad that people think "well, if the other girls suck so bad they shouldn't be playing." That is awful. Fine, they will lose a lot of games, but they do not deserve to be intentionally humiliated. And I don't entirely blame the coach. Those girls on the team went along with it. We are not stupid, we know what is right and wrong. They have to have a team captain and shame on her for not being a leader, which is her job, and speaking up.
*Disclaimer to Revelife readers: The above is my opinion and solely my opinion. My intent is to write these words in charity, however I cannot account for how they are interpreted. I do not intend harm, offense, or any type of "holier than thou" attitude. They are simply words with which you can agree or disagree. I only ask that you be charitable. Thank you. In Christ, Megan.
@TheGreatBout@xanga - If you're a school and you have a foundation on the Bible, then sports probably don't belong in your school,"
The concept of sports doesn't work well with the submissive and humble people of the kingdom of G-d. Games do.
I think that's absolutely ridiculous. You're basically saying that ANY competition is not biblical, as your argument seems to do with submission and humility. Perhaps Paul shouldn't have used analogies of running a race, or competing for a prize? If he thought competition was a bad thing, that would have been a perfectly good time to mention it.
I also don't understand your distinction between games and sports. Is it only ok to play games without winners? Games and sports are the same in that they have winners and losers. Care to explain why it's ok to win a game but not a sport? I just don't get it. It seems that with your argument, we shouldn't have spelling bees, county fair animal showing competitions, or video games, because someone wins and 'dominates' instead of serving.
You can show humility, class, respect, and even being a servant in sports. There are many examples of it all throughout sports.
@scramBledmegZntoasT@xanga - I agree. Whether it's a Christian school or not is irrelevant. In any amateur sport (and arguably professional), you don't run up the score. It's just not classy. You don't have to roll over and let the other team score, but you stop the full court press, and you put in your bench warmers.
I put far more blame on the small school for choosing to play in this division than on Covenant for playing their game. Seriously, is it that much more encouraging to a losing team to get freebies? I'd feel a lot more discouraged by that than by what did happen.
@figachewy@xanga - In middle school, we were horribly outmatched and went 3-20 for the season. The fact that many of the teams didn't stop the press, even after the scores were imbalanced, didn't bother us. We understood the nature of the competition and knew that we needed to work very hard to have a chance. Of course, losing a game sucks, but whether it was by two points or forty was irrelevant from a long-term standpoint. Either way, we lost the game, and that's what mattered.
These girls are smart and capable enough to understand that the competition will be stiff. Asking the other team to tone it down would be an insult to the losing team, since it implies that the winners don't think the losers deserve an A-game.
i take exception to the phrase unChrist-like...He had nothing to do with the game...the issue at hand is this... is it unfair, or unSPORTSMAN-like that the coach left his starters in for the whole game, when it was clear, early on, they had the other team outclassed?...to the guy who said they, the kids on the team with the losing score, should consider intramurals, i say, have you ever competed in a sport in your life, and felt the comraderie, excitement, and sense of team?...should any child be denied that?...Yeah?...start with yours then...if your kids were enthused about sport and were deemed playworthy by their coach, they have every reason and right to play, even in the case where their skillset may not be on par with other kids...it still doesn't warrant a coach directing the better team to stomp a mudhole in them...period...what ever happened to fair play?...peace, eventually ...animal
Well, I believe Jesus would want us to do our best - "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might"
Therefore, those girls did nothing wrong and that coach should not have lost his job.
@Theophilus166@xanga - What I'm basically saying, actually, is that this situation is a perfect example of how sports often lead Christian persons into the temptation to not be humble servants but to apply a sports mentality to the world. Being on top is important, success is measured by how well you can defeat others, G-d blesses winners (how many times do you hear that after a game? "I wanna praise G-d for helping me pull it off in the 4th quarter tonight! Praise Jesus Christ!) and so on.
I'm not saying ALL competition is bad. To ignore the existence of battle or competition in the world would be, as you put it, ridiculous. We (believers) even fight a battle (Ephesians 6:2). This doesn't mean we need to encourage battle between our members. But we have to be wise enough to see it in the world.
What I AM saying, is that sports often bring out the bad in people and then finds a way to couple it with G-d (often seen in an atmospheres lacking biblical education or "christian" schools, which are often the same thing sadly). This brings about an unhealthy mentality and produces the type of person who won't stop playing a game because they are embarrassing someone else and would prefer to win, or just don't know how to stop being malicious (even in something as small as sportsmanship). Coaches and players alike. How is it nobody representing Covenant recognized "this isn't kind, gentle or loving" and decided to display that truth?
Those are the people nations send to war on their behalf. Because it's easy to persuade them to do so.
There are lots of great games or activities that don't require winners or losers. I would promote those activities. "Not everything has to be a competition."
Is this extreme? Yeah. But that's okay.
@TheGreatBout@xanga - Sports can bring out the bad in people. But so does traffic. So does religion. So does pretty much everything. That's just the nature of things.
Something tells me you haven't played sports much in your life. Stuff like this isn't normal, which is why it makes news. Most people who play sports do it because they enjoy the game, they enjoy the exercise, and it's fun. I think it's foolish to throw it out because it can cause temptation. If that's the case, we might as well ban pretty much everything. We're fallen people who sin in everything we do.
@Theophilus166@xanga - I played hockey for 12 years. I played indoor soccer for 2 years. I played roller hockey for 3 years. I played little league baseball as a kid for a season or two. And I've played many seasons of different intramural sports through high school and college. So, not a ton, but a fair amount of sporting activity in my life (about 19 or 20 years).
Well then we should submit ourselves to violent video games and other media. We should support the porn industry because hey, it's just a temptation and we sin. Also, there's no reason to stand against war. All I'm saying here is that it can be good to have boundaries. We need to acknowledge the temptation, the dangers, and address them. Sports are totally permissible (even if not usually beneficial) but we have to recognize them for what they are, and recognize what comes with them and then act accordingly. We need to emphasize the staples of scripture and example self-control and justice and so on.
I'm not saying sports or evil. I'm just saying they are dangerous to Christian integrity (for fans too!) and we need to be on our guard against the temptations to lose self-control or shame others for the sake of "fun" or "entertainment."
It's just a game really..I'm not sure how would anyone apply Jesus teachings in a realm of a sports game other than the attitude of the players. At least not to my knowledge there wasn't no showboating any unsportsmanlike conduct going on.
What would the other coach (the winning team) wanted his team to do?
@scramBledmegZntoasT@xanga - I totally agree with you.
The coach of the winning team actually, in my opinion, should have played his second or third string the whole game. This school was familiar to them, I'm sure, and they probably already knew their skill level. That would have given girls that don't usually get to play some game time and would have given the other team a fighting chance.
To those who think the school should not even be playing at the same level, the school, according to the their coach, is playing other schools of like size and the decision is not the individual schools to make. I believe this is how most if not all high school athletics work. Also, to the people who commented about the losing team whining etc. you should have seen the interview they did on GMA. They were smiling and not at all upset about the loss. They didn't say one bad thing about the other team. Their coach talked about their goals of bettering themselves as people and as a team. They were impressive and the coach of the other team should have taken notes.
i don't think they did anything wrong. as someone else said, it's not the job of the winning team to help the losing team score points, or not look bad. i don't see how that would send a realistic message... no way anyone is going to do that for you in real life.