For the past couple of weeks, my fellow Observers, I have found myself, yet again, shaking my head while watching the sports segment of the nightly news. Normally this is the last 5 minutes or so of the broadcast, but lately it has been one of the lead stories, if not the lead itself, depending on what channel your watching. That in itself can catch the average viewer off guard to begin with. When you realize that these stories are not about professional sports but rather high school athletics, you start getting into "now I've seen everything" territory. One would hope that these reports would deal with achievement, charity, community, sportsmanship or persevering. Yes.... one would hope for these subjects, but as we watch, we learn that they reflect assault, unsportsmanlike conduct, selfishness, self centeredness and retaliation.
If you have any interest in sports, the news, the internet or even newspapers it was extremely difficult to miss the two students that play football for John Jay High School in San Antonio Texas willingly assault a game official in the last minutes of a game on this past September 4th. Michael Moreno,17 and Victor Rojas, 15 tackled umpire Robert Watts, a 14 year veteran official, from behind and then "speared" the downed referee while he laid helpless and disoriented on the field in a fashion that would make The Rated "R" Superstar, Edge green with envy. The attack was "provoked" by what Moreno and Rojas claim were racial slurs directed at John Jay players and "questionable" calls made by Watts against their team. Watts had also been involved with earlier calls that resulted in two John Jay players being ejected from the game in separate incidents.
In an exclusive interview on September 18th's Good Morning America, Moreno claimed that assistant head coach Mack Breed told him "You need to hit the ref. He needs to pay the price." And explained his actions by saying "I just did what I was told.". Rojas claims that he heard Watts tell a Hispanic player to "Speak English. This is America." And both claimed that they heard Watts make racial comments toward black players, twice. Moreno also stated that "It was hard for me during the whole thing to actually do what I did. I am greatly sorry for this and regret it greatly and I just hope that people can change their mind about us and lighten up on our consequences.".
Both students were suspended for three days and until a complete investigation is made and disciplinary hearings at the Northside Independent School District are held, are banned from playing and will have to attend an alternative high school. The two youths (no My Cousin Vinny pun intended) could possibly face criminal assault charges which if convicted carries a penalty (pun intended) of 6 months in jail and fines up to $2000.00. Breed was on paid leave at this writing and had yet not publically commented himself, however this past Wednesday, John Jay principal Robert Harris related to the press a signed statement from Breed that admitted he, (Breed) "Directed the students to make the referee pay for his racial comments and calls.". This Friday as the hearings began Breed resigned and apparently recanted his written statement to Harris by stating through his attorney that "He never intended for the players to hit the referee".
Watts' attorney, Alan Goldberg, stated that Watts claims no wrong doing and that the players and coach are "flat out lying" about the racial slurs. He also called attention to the fact that in the fourteen years that Watts has been officiating for the district there have been absolutely no reports of him engaging in derogatory or racial comments towards anyone.
Although shameful and sad that we all have to endure these two children committing these acts this is, unfortunately, not an isolated event. A week after the fore mentioned incident, a St. Anthony Catholic High School football player, in the same town, shoved a referee in a tantrum over that referee throwing a penalty flag against him for shoving an opponent after a play. Also earlier this month another high school player in California reached under the face mask of an opposing player and wiped a heat rub substance across his eyes in an attempt to remove him from the game. In 2013 an Annville Pennsylvania high school student was brought up on assault charges after he ripped the helmet off an opponent and beat him over the head with it repeatedly.
Before I move on to my comments about this situation, I'd like to address a few things about what was said by the players and coach of John Jay. Now, I understand that these people were very upset due to what they claim the official said, but the actions they took are completely inexcusable and furthermore make no sense to me and prompt a few questions on my part. First of all, why attack anyone? Why not just report the incident to Watts supervisors or whatever sports commission the school system has? Why has no one had this particular problem with this official in over 14 years? What? This guy just woke up one morning and decided he didn't care for non-white football players anymore? Why would a coach tell players to attack an official? Why would he admit to it if he did and then recant? Why would these students carry out such a request? So many questions and not enough answers that reside within the realm of logic. Moreno claims he "just did what he was told."
That would make sense if he was 5, not 17. Rojas is a little younger at 15 and I still don't buy the "doing what they were told" excuse. Undoubtedly these two players knew it was wrong to act on what they claim Breed asked of them, but they did it anyway. What does make sense to me is Moreno hoping that "people will lighten up on" their "consequences". It also follows suit that they both hung their coach out to dry. Breed is no help to these kids either in taking the heat for them by admitting that he "directed the students to make the referee pay". He didn't....not directly. He very well may, in frustration, said something similar to what he claims he did in his statement, but it wasn't directed at anyone in the form of an order to be carried out by his players. These kids did this on their own. More's the pity. The biggest problem that I have with all those involved is that they are playing the race card in an attempt to get them out of the position they put themselves in. Much to their disappointment, no one is buying the bridge their selling. Maybe that's why Breed changed his story upon resigning.
Welcome to the world that we have created. The world where our children don't lose anymore. Where everyone is a winner at Pop Warner, Pee Wee Baseball, Little League, youth soccer, cheerleading and even the after school chess club. Yes Jimmy, you did get checkmated in three moves, but you did your best....so here's a trophy. Why have we decided not to teach our children at a very young age that you don't always win? That sometimes your not the one who gets the award? This practice of childrearing raised it's non-losing, everybody gets a ribbon, lose is a four letter word, head in just the last generation. As usual, my loyal reader, the blame ultimately falls on the adults. Not only do we teach our children early on that they won't lose, later on we teach them that winning is everything.
We've all seen the ridiculous lengths some of these "sport" parents go to at these games no matter what the competition. There they are, yelling obscenities at the officials, the children on the opposing team, arguing toe to toe with the coach of their team, the coaches themselves yelling at the kids.... it's even come to blows on more that one occasion and we've all benefited the viewing of said incidents on the internet... Thanks YouTube! Again, like YouTube, this seems to be a phenomenon that has appeared in the last 25 years or so. I grew up playing Little League and soccer and I was lucky if even one of my parents showed up at any of my games, let alone calling the umpire a jerk or some other colorful metaphor for calling a strike on me. And you know something? I'm thankful for their indifference to my sport participation. It taught me that it was just a game. It taught me to win and lose gracefully. It showed me that I could have fun with my friends and classmates no matter what the outcome. So, thank you Mom And Dad!
Another problem we face, along with the everyone wins mentality and the sport nut parents is that sports are being relied on more frequently these days as a way to get an education. Except for the fanatical, delusions of grandeur few, most high school players know that it is more probable to win the lottery than to make a living at playing professional sports. Unless your last name is Manning and not only can your father get you a starting QB position on a college team he can also override the draft process and get you on the team that you want to play for. Who needs to wait for free agency anyway? Other than that, its a relatively unachievable goal. What you can a achieve more readily is scholarship money for achieving at sports. With college tuitions climbing to record numbers and families falling from the ranks of middle class due to the state of the economy, more and more students are looking to sports as a ways to offset the cost of college. Even though unjustified, as far as I'm concerned, when certain situations happen on the field of play that could possibly take away those scholarship chances, people sometimes react violently against what they perceive as a threat to their education prospects. Even the students get involved with the carnage... sometimes.
We look to youth sports to teach our children things like commitment, working together to achieve a common goal, the ethic of fair play, to build character by winning with humility and losing with integrity. The spirit of competition was never meant to be a win at all costs concept, but unfortunately it has been as of late. Pressured by parents and authority figures our children fall victim to philosophies that can cloud their judgment of right and wrong. Even though adult influence has a lot to do with the inappropriate actions on the field recently, we cannot and should not dismiss them as "just kids" making mistakes. It's not only the guidance of adults that needs to be scrutinized but children have to be taught that there are consequences for the actions they commit and sometimes they are severe. As adults it is our responsibility to children to make them aware that life is not a game or sport. To teach them that they will not always win and when they don't they have to react in a dignified manner. Now if only we can find someone to teach the adults that. Strictly an Observation. If you'll excuse me, I heard there's a video of a fight at a math club tournament on You Tube.
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