A Dallas debacle

It’s been hard to ignore the story of the Texas high school girls basketball game that saw one school beat another 100-0.

The most recent development was the news that the winning team, Covenant School, had fired its head coach Micah Grimes.

While it’s unfortunate to see anyone lose their job, especially in this economy, Grimes’ firing seems warranted — especially after the coach reportedly refused to fully apologize for the blowout win.

He never should have been forced to apologize, because he never should have put himself in that position in the first place.

Where was Grimes’ focus during the game?

Was it on the court, where his team reportedly pressed on defense and hoisted 3-pointers until late in the fourth quarter?

Or was it on the sidelines and stands, where fans and even an assistant coach allegedly cheered the team on as it nudged closer and closer to the century mark?

Up almost 60 points at halftime, don’t you call off the dogs?

I’m no coach, but how about substituting in your bench, dropping into a zone on defense and simply running out the clock on offense by passing the ball around.

I don’t blame the Covenant players for reportedly being excited about getting to 100 points on the scoreboard, but high school athletes — teenagers — can’t always be expected to be cognizant of the big picture — that’s where a coach should have stepped in.

Scoring 100 points and holding your opponent to zero is impressive — that Covenant team must be pretty good. Most local girls teams rarely break 60 points over the course of an entire game, much less come close to it in one half.

Which leads to my final thought, and hopefully something the league that governs the pair of schools could look into if they're not already — why are these two teams playing each other in the first place?

I’m not saying the losing squad should be barred from competing — but aren’t there more competitive games out there that they can insert into its schedule?

Again, I’m no expert, but once in a while I do have flashes of common sense. It’s too bad some of the adults at that game apparently didn’t.

Teaching and encouraging sportsmanship, especially in high school sports, should be equally, if not more, important than racking up wins and points.

If this had happened in the pros or competitive collegiate ranks it'd be one thing, but the majority of high school athletes play sports to have fun, and that shouldn't come at the expense of another player or team.