"Parent accuses Texas high school football coach of bullying after 91-0 blowout game"When I first saw that headline I though there were three possible options for what the "bullying" could be:
- The losing coach mistreating his own players for getting blown out.
- The winning coach in some way showing aggression towards or taunting the losing players.
- The winning coach forcing his own players to behave in a manner they did not want to.
- The winning coach said “I’m upset about it, I don’t like it. I sit there the whole third and fourth quarter and try to think how I can keep us from scoring.”
- He played his backups (and backups backups) in the second half.
- The clock also never stopped in the second half.
- He didn't let his punt returners run back kicks.
- He stopped throwing the ball.
- He did everything short of punting on first down or taking a knee on every play.
- The losing coach took no issue with how the game was played.
- The complaint itself even complimented the sportsmanship of the winning players.
First off, I hate the fact that this is news. The ridiculous actions of one delusional person shouldn't be worth occupying our time. I realize bullying is a hot button issue these days, but I find it hard to fathom how a varsity high school athlete could be psychologically damaged in any way by losing badly to a respectful opponent.
Maybe the parent should also file "bullying" charges against the referees for allowing the game to take place. Probably any spectators in the crowd who may have been cheering when all those points were scored are at fault as well. And don't forget the team bus driver, who clearly didn't do enough to comfort the emotionally distraught players on the ride home.
It scares me how much easier and easier it's becoming to find ways to put the blame on others when things don't always go your way. This afternoon it was announced that the school district had completed it's investigation and found "no grounds" for bullying. In my book the parent who filed the complaint should now be required to pay any and all expenses incurred by forcing the absurd investigation to take place.
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Like Branch Rickey told Jackie Robinson in "42" about the bigots, "These people have to live with themselves."
ReplyDeleteHe's right -- it's gotta be tough being that self-indulgently ignorant.
In my umping and coaching days, it was always easy to spot the, shall we say, youth-ball-parent "newbies." High-school varsity, though, seems a bit late for such attitudes and antics.
A friend of mine said "it's getting harder and harder to tell sometimes who is the parent and who is the child."
ReplyDeleteTrue enough.
ReplyDeleteBy the same token, it's not so hard to figure out "whose parent is that?"
Generally, it's the child who looks most uneasy
Parenting is an enormous responsibility and there's really no handbook...but erring on the side of patience and common sense is rarely a bad idea!