Mercy - or NO Mercy?

DALLAS — The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize "for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

On its Web site last week, Covenant, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition," said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become one-sided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, said last week. More here.
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Permalink Reply by Charles Haines on January 27, 2009 at 2:38pm

After reading the original press release I was left with the impression that Covenant’s coach drove his team to humiliate Dallas Academy. That was the line that was crossed. It reminds me of when I play ball with my children. Yes I occasionally win, as part of teaching them good sportsmanship and to give them a reason to want to improve. But I don’t bring everything I have to bear as that would defeat the purpose and embitter them. Granted this was a ‘rival’ school matchup, but it seems that the coach lost perspective and even with the benefit of hindsight (and no doubt behind the scenes mentoring) was recalcitrant in his position. My guess is that that same attitude was prevalent beforehand and this was simply the breaking point.