It’s OK to let up on the other team if your team is winning easily, but it is not required. Playing by the rules is required. To hell with politically-correct liberalism that is poisoning our formerly great nation!
Having a healthy and strong 25 year old man give up his bus seat to a 75 year old lady is not "required". Sportsmanship is not "required".
Both are values that were once considered traditional American values. You either believe in values or you don't. Values are not "required".
Is Good Sportsmanship a Thing of the Past?
On October 7th 1916, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland College at football 222-0. Earlier that year Cumberland had beaten Georgia Tech at baseball 22-0, and Tech was in a mood for revenge at their better sport.
So both teams showed an utter lack of class by beating up the weakling to a pulp. How does that bring "honor" to either one of them?
When I was in third grade, back when JFK was still in the White House, a bigger neighborhood kid got the better of me in a fight. In frustration, on my way back home, I punched his five year old little brother in the stomach. Our Dads, who had been friends since childhood, laid down the law.
What I did, my father told me, was cowardly. I still remember that lesson.
In traditional American values, deliberately beating up on the weak has always marked you as cowardly.
Even in prison "codes of honor", a murderer that kills another man that was considered his equal enjoys the highest respect while rapists and child molestors that preyed on the weak must be kept segregated from the rest of the prison population so that the other prisoners won't kill them.
The basketball team that Coach Grimes intentionally humiliated with a full court press 100 - 0 score HAD NOT WON A SINGLE GAME IN FOUR YEARS.
Coach Grimes showed the same level of immaturity that I had when, as a third grader, I punched a much weaker 5 year old in the stomach so I could feel better about myself.
Was the Georgia Tech coach, a cultured Ivy League law school graduate, denounced and then fired for his psychological brutality? No, actually instead he was made a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, and the most famous football award was named after him. The coach’s name was John Heisman.
So, John Heisman once had an "I once punched a five year old in the stomach" episode.
That does not enhance his reputation.
And, once again, Coach Grimes was not fired for "psychological brutality".
He was fired for his subsequent insubordination.
“Having a healthy and strong 25 year old man give up his bus seat to a 75 year old lady is not “required”.”
Anything wrong with a 25 year old woman giving up her seat to a 75 year old man? I’ve never seen it, but I suppose it must have happened, somewhere, sometime.
The only time anyone ever gave me a seat on a public conveyance is when I was 16, and I fainted from an acute stomach upset. I regained consciousness seated, with a pretty nurse looking at me with concern. I recall smiling at that point in time.
I have no objection if you politically-correct liberals want to introduce a “mercy” rule in basketball, like they have in Little League Baseball. Then all participants can follow the rules, slightly more secure in the knowledge they won’t be called nasty names by politically-correct liberals who love to invent rules after the fact.
This seems similar to me to the politically-correct liberal mentality that criticizes the Israelis because they kill too many terrorists without incurring enough casualties. Yes, 100-0 is a very good score in war also.
As for Coach Grimes, once your employer publicly calls you and your players nasty names, you have a choice. You can be a man or a craven slave. The coach knew exactly what he was doing when he was “insubordinate”, and he has my respect. As the coach said:
“In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Website, I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel “embarrassed” or “ashamed”. 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. We honor God, ourselves, and our families when we step on the court to compete. I do not wish to forfeit the game. What kind of example does it set for our children? Do we really want to punish Covenant School girls? Does forfeiting really help Dallas Academy girls? We experienced a blowout almost 4 years ago and it was painful, but it made us who we are today. I believe in the lessons that sports teach us. Competition builds character, and teaches us to value selflessness, hard work, and perseverance. As a coach, I have instilled in my girls these values. So if I lose my job over these statements, I will walk away with my integrity.”
“Sincerely,
Micah Grimes”
http://www.flightbasketball.com/100-0-Texas-Game-Response-From-Coach.html
Well done coach. If anyone wants their child to learn basketball really well, you can reach the coach at his business, mgrimes@flightbasketball.com ; I suspect they are doing quite well after all of the free publicity.
As for those poor “victims” at Cumberland College, they have hired a historian to preserve the memory of their historic rout at the hands of John Heisman’s men:
http://www2.cumberland.edu/about/gotc/gamestory.html
And Cumberland still plays football!