Houston's Yates High School. What do you think?

[Jeff_Green]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

Sorry Lonnie - but if my daughter is playing as a Junior/Senior in high school - if the coach advised them to 'take it easy on the other team' because they are winning - I'd have his head on a platter.

It was bound to happen. We are at odds over this. Take up your sword, I challenge you to a dual!

This isn't a simple "take it easy because we are winning". This is a "take your foot off their throat because you are beating them by more than double." This isn't going ahead of a team by 20 points or 30 points. The poem you posted was great, but it talks about "We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us", but isn't insulting a team by running up the score doing just the opposite? You can use your talents to your fullest even if you aren't scoring 3 times what the other team does.

[jeffkohn]

Not having followed any of this closely, I don't know all the details. But as to whether it was unsportsmanlike, I would say "it depends". If they kept the starters in until the end of the game, or if the players and/or coach were showing attitude towards the other team, then yes that's unsportsmanlike. Not only that, but unnecessarily keeping your starters in could be asking for trouble, what if they get injured. It's also a disservice to the backup players on the winning team if you don't give them a chance to get in the game in that situation, so I could even see parents on the winning team being upset if their kid didn't get to play even though they were way ahead, just because a coach wanted to rub it in.

On other hand, if the bench crew was brought in and still whooped the other team, I don't think it's unsportsmanlike for those kids to play their best when given the opportunity. Telling them they should go easy just to spare the feelings of the other team is unfair, when they may not get many chances to play.

[Cajungaltx]

Originally Posted by Jeff_Green

It was bound to happen. We are at odds over this. Take up your sword, I challenge you to a dual!

This isn't a simple "take it easy because we are winning". This is a "take your foot off their throat because you are beating them by more than double." This isn't going ahead of a team by 20 points or 30 points. The poem you posted was great, but it talks about "We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us", but isn't insulting a team by running up the score doing just the opposite? You can use your talents to your fullest even if you aren't scoring 3 times what the other team does.

It's okay.... I still like you even though your wrong.

First off - consider where this school is, where these kids are. They are in Houston's third ward. Been down there? It's not someplace I go after it starts getting dark. In the last THREE years, that team has not lost ONE player to the no-pass no play rule. Not ONE. that means three years - every one of those kids on that team is passing their classes, and will graduate.

I want kids coming out of the third ward of Houston who understand that they have to perform their best - for the REST of their lives in everything they do. I danged sure don't want them STAYING in the third ward of Houston.

It is not the Yates basketball team, nor the Yates basketball coaches job to make the other team feel better/feel worse/play better/play worse.

Your argument is arranged on the concept that no one is as good as this team, that they are the 'ultimate' basketball team....and as such, they should be merciful to the other teams that they play because they are so superior.

Do you know WHY it's so important that they play like that? Because in the championship game that they just won - they came from behind in the 4th quarter to win. If they hadn't been doing that, they would have petered out just like the other team did, versus pulling ahead and winning.

Is it insulting for me to have 100x more clients than you because I am 'that' good? Maybe I should ease off a bit and let you have a few.

Is it insulting for me to have beat you in a race by hours because I am 'that' good? Maybe I should run a bit slower...so I don't win by 'quite so much'

Maybe Microsoft should stop and wait for their competitors....or Walmart...or....any of the other companies who outperformed their competition....

It would be different if we were talking 10 year olds - or if we were talking junior high....but this is a varsity team....17 & 18 year old kids...who very shortly will be playing for colleges, etc.

Would it be okay for them to play 'hard ball' when they get to college? Or if they make it to the NBA?

At which point are you okay with someone doing what they do well, to the best of their ability?

In the article above - Lee High Schools coach talked about how some of his players were 'depressed' after the game....how about his team watch the tapes, figure out where they could improve, and make it next years goal to beat the snot out of Yates because they have improved that much?

Here's a great POV from someone else: Yates' players refuse to be distracted from their mission | King Solomon's Mind | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
=======================================

Yates' players refuse to be distracted from their mission

This is why I like the Yates Lions.

They didn't think they played very good basketball, Yates basketball, in their 106-76 win over The Colony in the Class 4A state semifinal.

A game in which they forced 34 turnovers. The Colony shot 47 percent from the floor in the first half and hit 56 percent of its shots in the second. Yates still outscored them by 15 points in each half.

And the Lions were disappointed in their play.

This is why I LOVE Darius "Pee Wee" Gardner.

Minutes after the win - Yates' 57th straight and a victory that put it in the state championship game on Saturday - the Lions' senior point guard said the first thing they would do Friday morning was have a meeting.

A players' only meeting.

"No coaches, nobody, but the players," Gardner said. "We just don't play like that."

This is a team that doesn't accept mediocrity.

We can whine, moan and debate their philosophy, their coach's level of sportsmanship and, of course, whether they are the best team in the country, but don't forget the most important thing about the Lions: they take perfection seriously.

===========================================

Were they acting like idiots before/after the game? Were they into the other team talking about how they were going to beat them? Were they disrespectful?

Not according to what I can find....

TO me, sportsmanship is shaking hands after the game - not moving out of the way so the other team can score.

There simply is no 'mercy' rule - and the other teams that they beat - they have ownership of the ball as well....and they can slow the game down just as well as the other team.

[Jeff_Green]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

It's okay.... I still like you even though your wrong.

First off - consider where this school is, where these kids are. They are in Houston's third ward. Been down there? It's not someplace I go after it starts getting dark. In the last THREE years, that team has not lost ONE player to the no-pass no play rule. Not ONE. that means three years - every one of those kids on that team is passing their classes, and will graduate.

Well, how many of them have been allowed to pass by lenient teachers?? Oh that is a whole other story! hehe

I guess we will just agree that you are wrong.

Tell ya what, I'll wrestle ya for it <G>

[Cajungaltx]

Originally Posted by jeffkohn

Not having followed any of this closely, I don't know all the details. But as to whether it was unsportsmanlike, I would say "it depends". If they kept the starters in until the end of the game, or if the players and/or coach were showing attitude towards the other team, then yes that's unsportsmanlike. Not only that, but unnecessarily keeping your starters in could be asking for trouble, what if they get injured. It's also a disservice to the backup players on the winning team if you don't give them a chance to get in the game in that situation, so I could even see parents on the winning team being upset if their kid didn't get to play even though they were way ahead, just because a coach wanted to rub it in.

On other hand, if the bench crew was brought in and still whooped the other team, I don't think it's unsportsmanlike for those kids to play their best when given the opportunity. Telling them they should go easy just to spare the feelings of the other team is unfair, when they may not get many chances to play.

All 15 team members play - and the starters play less than half the game usually... unfortunately (for the other team!), even their backup players are freaking amazing.

[jeffkohn]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

All 15 team members play - and the starters play less than half the game usually... unfortunately (for the other team!), even their backup players are freaking amazing.

In that case I say let them play. Imagine being a 2nd or 3rd string player on that team, hoping to get a chance to play college ball in the future, maybe get a scholarship. It sure would suck if the only times you got in the game, you were told you had to "go easy" or do "passing drills".

[texkam]

OK Donna, you had me until the Microsoft analogy. Unlike Microsoft, Yates doesn't cheat.

[Toad]

This sounds to me like another example of "dumbing down" to make the idiot / losers feel better about not being great at something.

Oh... you can't beat that team? That's ok, we'll tell them to take it easy on you so that it won't hurt too bad. You want a tissue?

Oh... you can't pass that test? That's ok, we'll make the test easier so that you don't have to feel like an idiot when you can't figure out 1+1.

I think getting their a$$ handed to them, on a silver platter, with green beans and mashed potatoes, is PREPARING them for the real world. Because out here in job land, the other people DO NOT take their foot off of your throat when they got you down. And this is something you need to learn how to deal with in school, instead of complaining to _______ that Bob in accounting is being too hard on you.

Should I complain to ______ that _____ is a better photographer than me, and that I don't think it's fair that they can charge $30,000.00 to shoot a wedding, when nobody would pay me over a grand? Maybe he should lower his prices so that he's not making SO MUCH MORE than I am, because I'M not good enough to charge as much as he does. That's not my fault, it's his fault. I shouldn't go out and practice and make myself better... OH NOOO!!! ______ should just take it easier on me, and charge less / not do such a great job at shooting weddings.
Or at least that is what you are teaching these kids when they lost so badly. It's not THEIR fault they lost by such a large margin, it's the OTHER teams fault. Yeah... let's blame it on the EVIL WINNER, because they are just a bunch of meanies.