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

[ldelacruz]

Their basketball team is ranked #1 in the nation and their coach is under a lot of heat for running up the score. They have beaten teams by over 100 points on multiple occassions and is being accused of unsportsman like conduct. Rick Reilly wrote a column on ESPN and used some very threatening remarks about the coach!

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/colum...ick&id=4977305

Personally I think the coach is wrong and if I wouldnt get my Stacy Adams dirty then I would put my foot up his a$$!

[David Whatley]

My son was on a team in a 3A school and they went undefeated for 4 years. 85 points a game avg and held the opponents to an avg of 43. Socred over 100 4 times in one season. The coach would always slow them way down if they were up by much at the half, and put in the subs. There were times tho that the only way he could have held the score down was to not allow the kids to take a shot. How do you tell the kids they can't shoot? To me that would be as insulting or more so.
What was fun we had the #1 3 point shooter in the state, and the #1 and #7 free throw shooters in the state on the team.

[Truckman]

Let the team be their best...They'll never get another chance to play together......Ben

[KenJulio]

i use to play for coach wise when we were a lot leaner, he has always had an aggressive mentality to his game. As David said, how do you tell the players not to shoot, it's part of the game and they all have their dreams of making the NBA, so not being able to show your coach and scouts what you can do, you lessen the chance of getting a scholarship.

[Tom]

If you don't want them to run up the score, stop them.

[ldelacruz]

Beating a team by 135 points is not showcasing your talent! Running a full court press in the 4th quarter when your up by 85 isn't either.

I see it as being disrespectful and unsportsman like!

[KenJulio]

No disagreement about being unsportsmanlike, it's not like the other team doesn't know what to expect or how to prepare for it. Again, for the kids on the bench, theyre wanting to crack the starting line up, do you expect them to come in without intensity? For me, if you're gonna play, leave it out on the floor.

The team that they beat by 135 was the old high school he use to coach for, Robert E Lee HS in Houston. I just find that odd that it was against them that it was such a route.

Unlike the coach of the girl's highschool basketball team, Coach Wise is still coaching Yates.

[texkam]

I coached rec. b-ball. We were, let's say, very rec. (sucked), but always wanted the opponents "A" game, even in the 4th quarter. No problem being on the losing end. Coaches and parents have more of a problem with it and sadly that tends to rub off on the kids. Kids just want to play. IMHO it's more of a dis when a team is just jerkin' you around.

I remember Rick Pitino's 1st season at Kentucky. When questioned about playing a slower pace until they bring in some talent so as to keep games close. He responded with the attitude of we expect to win immediately. We're going to press and run and let the cards fall were they may. That year they pressed and ran with Kansas and hung 90 on them. The only problem was Kansas hung 150 on them. Well, a few short years later and they were cutting down the nets in the big dance.

[XtremePhoto]

It's sports. If someone wasn't complaining about the excessive points, they would be complaining Yates "didn't play hard" etc. etc. This is a once in a life time thing and from what I have seen watching them play, none of the kids are disrespectfully "in the face" of the opposing team, Yates is just kickin butt and taking names, it is their year and they have earned it.

And for those kid's on the Yates team, it is all about those scholarships and a college education and this is a means to an end.

I mean, I have been on a team that was terrible...and the receiving end of a butt kickin just like Yates deals out, but at the end of the game, we knew we played our best against them and lost...we didn't go away with our tail tucked cause they "took it easy on us..."

I would rather lose, lose big and know I did my best over walking away humiliated at losing and the opponent cut me slack and we still lost.

[Hotrodguru]

I would have them play hard each game as if it counted.

[ldelacruz]

It is oficial! I am the minority!

[Jeff_Green]

It's all about selfishness. Look at me and what I can do. There is no sportsmanship being displayed by Yates. Some here have said "it's all about scholarships". Well, what if someone on the other team is playing for a scholarship? All one walks away with is remembering how that team got slaughtered by 90-135 points. How many points did the other team score? No one remembers those stats because of a conceited, arrogant, coach with a chip on his shoulder.

[arich]

*yawn* we beat Yates in preseason my senior year so I'm going to choose to assume a superior attitude in regards to them for all eternity.

[birdwatcher48]

Just got breaking news from CBS that they won the championship...not a big surprise huh

[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.

Quite seriously.

I am not going to spend years as a parent telling my girls to play hard, to invest time training, and learning new skills and becoming better in the things she's passionate about, and then tell her she can 'only do that' when the competition is worthy, or only as long as she doesn't 'hurt the other teams feelings'.

Not if I expect her to understand that there are times she's going to get her a$$ handed to HER in a hand basket and that yes, it's okay to feel bad about it but that sometimes you come up against someone that is simply BETTER THAN YOU. You don't sit there and whine about it....you train harder, you figure out why they beat you, and you try to learn from it. There are some things she will NEVER be the best at....she's just going to have to ACCEPT that.

There is no 'mercy' rule in basketball.

Some sports (like softball) have a rule that says 'end the game if the other team gets ahead by x number of points'.

That's not there for basketball.

There was a basketball team a while back - Covenant - where the winning team was up by double digits and it was a shutout. People got up in arms, the school of the winning team issued an apology for having beat the other team and how they would try to ensure that NEVER happened again.

NEVER HAPPENED AGAIN??? WTH??

The basketball coach actually sent out an email/statement saying: "Heck no, my girls played their best, I'm not going to APOLOGIZE for them doing their best. "

Actually - this was his statement: "We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity."

He was fired.

He should have gotten a raise - and he should have been put in charge of the whole school as far as I'm concerned.

For teaching his girls to win at a game, which is just a GAME.

My absolute favorite poem is this - to me, it says it ALL when it comes to this issue:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

I think the world of you....so hopefully this ain't too harsh a response! ;-)