Sportsmanship Fail
By: Keith
I read an article today about a high school basketball team in Texas, Houston Yates, that won a game by 135 points. Both the point total, 170, and the point spread, 135, were records. I don’t necessarily think sportsmanship is universally lacking in youth and high school sports, but this incident doesn’t support my opinion. This incident demonstrates a decided lack of sportsmanship. The coach’s excuse for the walloping was this: “We are looking for another state championship, and we can’t get that unless we are continuing to get better and perfect our game.” To that I say this guy should be fired first for being stupid and second for being a jerk. Basketball demands scoring, defense and ball control. This coach wants us to believe that his team could only get better by putting up crazy numbers. What about working on passing the ball around and managing the clock? His excuse is weak. It’s pretty clear he just wanted his name in a record book at the expense of a bunch of kids from a much crappier team. There’s no honor in that.
I am not guilt free when it comes to being a poor sport. Then again, I was a high school athlete when I committed my transgression, not the coach. In 1993 I won the Div II New England Championships in Cross Country. I also won the Div II New England Track Championships for the Mile. I was ranked by Harrier Magazine as one of the top 50 High School Cross Country runners in the United States. I went on to Run Track and Cross Country at the University of Oklahoma. I was to high school running what this team is to basketball. I regularly blew people out and embarrassed them. One day in 1992 I ran a race in which I lapped a couple of runners during a mile race. Instead of just finishing the race and being gracious, I ran a couple of circles around one of the slower runners and then ran, facing backwards, to the finish line. Oh, I thought I was hilarious – until I started paying less attention to my triumph and more to the other runner. I didn’t just beat him, I humiliated him too. That was totally unacceptable, and I realized it as soon as I looked him in the face.
My victory was meaningless. I felt terrible, and my coach suspended me from the following week’s races. He did it knowing it would likely cost us a team win. It was the right thing to do because he was more concerned about shaping young minds than he was about winning. I don’t run competitively anymore, but that experience is one of my strongest and most valuable lessons in my athletic career. The basketball coach from Houston Yates should be ashamed for sending his team out to slaughter the opposition. He should have showed some class and found a way to mitigate the damage. There are three circumstances that I can think of where winning big is totally acceptable.
1. Professional Sports: If you’re a pro, you should be able to keep up with the competition. If you can’t, then you should be able to take a beating.
2. Olympics: It’s all about records in the Olympics. Go for it!
3. Hated College Rivalry Games: They’d do it to you if you didn’t do it to them. (OU/Texas, Ohio State/Michigan). Besides, it’s all good fun when it’s a rivalry game anyway.
High school sports are where kids need to learn how to play fair and play hard. They also need to be taught how to win gracefully. What this coach did is selfish. He didn’t do it for the kids, he did it for himself. The kids now have an empty record against an unworthy opponent. They’ll grow up and look back on this experience and feel like they should have done something differently. If only their coach had been a man and actually coached his team. What do you think? Maybe I’m wrong. Was the point spread unsportsmanlike? Did the coach show poor judgment? Should he keep his job or get fired?
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i too will never forget the race you’re talking about. it was painful to watch as a fan, but I don’t think you should beat yourself up about it too much. it would have been different if you’d been coaching someone to act that way and not just being an overly hyped up high schooler. you’re point is right about this coach. what a nim-wit!
oh.. and I really should have added.. haven’t we all done stupid things?? i can’t even count the number of times I’ve wished I could take some words or actions of mine back, but by the time you’re a coach, you should certainly have good sportsmanship down.. if nothing else.
didn’t mean to sound judgemental before. 
Tammy, yes indeed! We have all done stupid things. I’m glad you remember that little incident
I still think about what a complete idiot I was. Can’t believe I did that. But, like you say, it just goes to show that even when we aren’t necessarily bad people, we all have the capacity for stupidity. Thanks!
One of the things we need to do with our kids is teach them winning and losing – graciously. We can’t leave good sportsmanship up to teams, peers, coaches. We need to exemplify it at home, as well. Not always easy.
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Wolf, I probably should have touched on that. I wonder how many of these kids even considered that scoring that many points might seem a little excessive? Have any of them been taught at home about sportsmanship? Excellent point! The coach can’t be responsible for parent’s instilling poor sportsmanship in their kids.
I don’t think the coach should get fired (unless he is on the side line yelling “sweep the leg” like that Kublai Khan guy in the Karate Kid). HS sports is about the kids playing their best, unsportsman or not, the kids controlled the game.
William, thank you for the comment. I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one. I think HS sports is, like you say about doing your best and playing hard. But, I think it’s the coaches responsibility to make responsible decisions for his team. I’d agree with you if we were talking a professional team here. But, HS kids, in many respects, are quite immature. They need a coach who can shape them, not just say “go out and score a bajillion points on whoever lets you”. Anyway, we disagree, but that’s cool. Thanks for visiting, and thanks for contributing!
Great post! Thanks for sharing! I agree with you on many levels. As you said, that coach should be shaping minds and teaching some decorum, not decimating a less talented team. When we were kids there were winners and there were losers and while it sucked to be on the losing end, it wasn’t the end of the world. It made us try harder and want to get better. We played hard and we learned a lot. Now, in many places, it starts early. Little kids don’t learn that there are winners AND losers. They are taught that everyone is a winner (which isn’t so bad in some cases). BUT…Every kid on the soccer team gets a trophy even if they never played. What is this teaching them for the future? This can open an whole new can of worms, so I will stop. Sportsmanship is lacking in so many ways. Thanks again for posting.
Nini, Thanks for the comment today
I completely agree with you about everyone being a winner. Kids are essentially being taught that the only thing that matters is showing up, not effort, not skill, just showing up. It’s really silly. I think I even wrote an article about it a while back, but I can’t really remember now. In any case, I agree. Thanks again
The article states “that saw a fight break out between the district rivals”. District rivals? I know you say it is okay in college, why not HS. Also just because the coach had poor judgement in running up the score does not mean he should get fired. Also, youy said so yourself, when you were kid, you showed off, I bet these kids were showing off. The coach was not shooting the baskets. the coach was not playing defense. The kids were. He was telling his kids to play the best game they could. That is what a coach does.
I would have done differently if I were coaching. But I also do not think it is fair to suggest a guy lose his job for making the best team out there. That is his job.
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William, HS is much different than college, and college is much different than professional sports. I’ve participated in all three levels. HS kids are still very immature physically and mentally. I showed off in HS and so did these kids. No difference, except my coach taught me a lesson afterwards. Also, a basketball coach gets timeouts. No such thing in track. He had plenty of opportunities to be a real coach. You’re suggesting there is basically no point in having a coach. He’s just there to sit around on the bench, that the kids should control the entire game. First you say the coach has no control over the actions of the players. Then you say he’s coaching them to play their hardest. He’s either responsible or he isn’t. And, you’re also saying that what this coach does is standard practice in coaching. That “that’s what a coach does.” I disagree. That isn’t what a HS coach does. A high school coach is hired to win, but he’s also hired to be guidance for developing minds and bodies. Division I college coaches are hired to win. The consequences for failure could be millions of dollars in revenue. HS sports have no such concern. It’s still good to win, and competition is a must. But, in HS there is a greater emphasis on sportsmanship. After I learned my lesson in HS I still won just as much. Sometimes I won by a lot. But, I respected my opponents more. Again, track is much different than basketball. In basketball it’s all about wins and losses. The point spread is irrelevant because the quality of opponent changes every week. I just can’t see how 135 points is justifiable. Even in college and professional sports coaches rarely run up the score as much as they can. I remember a game vs Texas A&M in which OU was winning 65-3 (or something like that). Bob Stoops pulled the entire starting team in the third quarter because there was no chance of A&M coming back. Also, New England had a game this year against Tennessee where the score was like 60-0. It could have been worse, but Bellichek decided to just start running the ball in the 4th quarter. You’re saying they’re bad coaches or that they aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing. In track it’s about personal bests (because the track never changes shape or distance).
Keith,
Please do not put words in my mouth. You are assuming I think certain things because I do not think that a the coach should be fired. I did not suggest that the kids should control the game.
Regarding Bellichik and the other guy
“You’re saying they’re bad coaches or that they aren’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing” I did not say that.
I am saying that the coach should not be fired for this incident.
I appreciate you opinion and stance on the issue but we are talking HS. Not Middle school and not elementary school, What is the difference between a senior in HS and a freshman in College…three months. What is the difference between a Senior in HS and a Professional B-ballplayer inCleveland. .about three months.
I do not think that what the Yates team did Caoch and players was correct but I do not find any reason for a person to lose their job.
thanks for the lively debate.
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I didn’t think I was putting words in your mouth. Sorry if it seems I did. I thought I was interpreting what you were saying. In any case, I probably wouldn’t fire the coach either. But, if I were an administrator, I’d definitely have a talk with him about his actions (or lack of actions). If it’s a recurring problem then I might fire him as a consequence. You’re right that a college freshman is hardly different than a HS Senior. But, then a middle schooler is hardly different than a High Schooler. I guess there are artificial delineations put in place because that’s what people consider a convenient breaking point. maybe that what people would consider typical stages of development. I would. So, you’re right. The max of one is no different than the minimum of another. Still, as a group there is a big difference in experiences. Those experiences shape our development. Thank you too, for an equally vigorous debate
You make a good point here that one of the most important parts of sports is shaping young minds. University of Oregon had a rather public case of this on their football team this year after one of the players punched a rival player. The coach suspended the player and the punishment provided a strong lesson for the offending player, the team and the millions who heard about the news. Few remember the score from that game, but I’m sure they will never forget the lesson the coach taught them that day.
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There are a few good perspectives on this and great post. I too have done a few stupid things in victory I still feel bad about. The difference to me whether you are 7 years old or 77 years old is how you handle winning and losing. If you play games or sports you will have your share of crazy wins (like the post), bad beats, close finishes, and ties. I don’t care how many points a team lost by what I care about is the coach reminding them to play the game the best they can and to be respectful in their success. I have learned very much from getting my butt kicked from people I genuinely liked and this can be learned at any age.
I am curious what the difference is in a coach “letting” his athletes beat a kid or kids by a whole lap in the mile, pinning them in 3 seconds in wrestling, or a whole group of kids winning a soccer game 15-0. For anyone that chooses to play sports the formula of “very good” playing “not very good” will always be relative to the persons involved. A lion cub learns very young the mother is the answer for the time being and it gets over that hard fact of life.
My dad used to tell me growing up “somebody somewhere is always going to be bigger, faster, stronger, and meaner – now today that somebody is me as far as you are concerned”.
Goss, I think the difference is that in Basketball a win is relative to the opponent you’re playing not the amount of points you score. Wrestling is the sort of sport that can turn on a dime, and there are not many things that can be done during a match other than just keep pinning the other guy. Track is about running fast. There is no defense, the track never changes shape based on the competition. It’s just as possible to run a 4 minute mile no matter who the opponent is, Barney Frank or Frank Shorter. Thus the amount of win is irrelevant. It isn’t disrespectful to beat someone by alot because everybody knows you’re only there to run fast, it’s nothing personal. In basketball there is an opposing team that makes every match different. A 135 point win means relatively nothing because It isn’t like they were playing the Lakers. Instead they were playing a crappy team so of course they put up a million points. Thus, scoring so many points is unsportsmanlike because it’s unnecessary. If that were not the case then professional teams would not let up in the 4th quarter of a big win like I mentioned before. A win is a win and the points make no difference unlike track where time actually does matter (for records and standings and such).
In looking at the differences of how we view different sports this is helpful. The outer structures of the differences can be viewed as correct. There is also a level of correctness in the belief that an athlete or group of athlete’s doing their very best is all the same. So this makes the definition of what you consider unsportsmanlike on this issue an opinion which is very fair especially seeing this is about opinions
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So in saying that should we label a coach good or bad based on the number of views people see this in? Of should we consider what the coach is actually teaching in terms of always pushing kids to try hard and be respectful in any win or loss? To me they are all good questions on the topic.