Call me crazy, but when have we ever taught our kids to strive for anything less than their best? Now, I know that I am arguing against national sentiment here but, for goodness sake, the girls were just playing some basketball. Now, I wasn’t sitting in the stands, so I certainly cannot speak to how the parents, coaches, and players were behaving in terms of their demeanor. Maybe they were gloating more than a younger sibling who beats his brother at Mario Kart. In that case, I certainly understand calling for them to turn tone it down a little bit. But, to ask them to avoid the proverbial mushroom or drive Mario straight into a banana peel is what is unsportsmanlike, in my opinion. Why shouldn’t the girls have continued to play at their best? What kind of an outrage would there be if we found out that coaches and managers of professional teams were working to keep scores of a game closer than they might otherwise be? Once you start getting into that kind of manipulation of a sport, you might as well strip the players down to their underwear and send them out into the ring to fight for the title in Wrestlemania.

The Covenant School commented, after public outcry, of course, that the way their team behaved was not, “Christ-like.” Really? Maybe I’m remembering my Bible incorrectly here but, Christ was pretty blatant about what he did, wasn’t he? De he really try to die quietly, without much more fanfare than this year’s Miss America pageant? What The Covenant School did was not about trying to embarrass the girls of Dallas Academy. They simply tried to play basketball. And they did so… very well. There is no doubt that the girls of Dallas Academy showed great poise in their defeat. They are obviously quite resilient teens that are learning how to be extremely gracious and resilient losers. But, in this whole mess, are they really learning the right lesson about sports themselves. The last time that I checked, sporting events were competitions. One team pitted against another, fighting it out for the best record, the trophy, bragging rights… yes, bragging rights. While participating in sports as a youth is certainly about character building as well, what kind of character does it build when you tell a bunch of kids, “Don’t worry. Playing basketball isn’t about scoring points. It’s about how you feel when the game is over.” Well, I guess that it’s Dallas Academy who are the winners in the end. Because, I’m sure that they are feeling much better than The Covenant School girls who, at the moment, are just waiting for their own crucifixes to be finished so that they can climb on up (though we would all like to see them do that in a public and showy way, I’m sure).

But then, isn’t there the off chance that the Dallas Academy girls don’t want to be coddled? Isn’t there the chance that, maybe, they just want to play without the opposing team pitying them? Maybe not. I suppose that, the next game they play, they should start off with an extra 40 points, just to be fair.

Maybe it’s just me…

Ferguson said: “The scoreline was important. We showed a ruthless streak about us, possibly for the first time this season”

You be the judge.

I’m not usually one that takes hard stances on issues like this, but there is something to be said for treating the other teams as equals. If that means running up the score, so be it. I personally do hope there is some tempering by the winning team, though. It’s alright to stick to solid play and execute your plan, but it is wholly unsportsmanlike to be pulling off unnecessarily fancy moves or over-celebrating a goal (or homerun) when you’re winning by a huge margin.