I have a little update on the Mixed Message I talked about where the school was reinstating a basketball player over the objection of the coach for drinking, which was against the coaches rules. Obviously this happened while I was without Internet so I don't have the story but today's Gazette opinion sums it up.
I have to agree, this sends the wrong message to the children of the state. Get caught drinking, get suspended from the basketball team, have your parents complain about the suspension, and get reinstated and the coach fired.
WHERE IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OUR SCHOOLS HAVE TO TEACH OUR KIDS IN THIS SCENARIO!!!! Yea, teach them to get away with something clearly illegal, but I thought our responsibility was to teach them right from wrong, not if you are good at sports you can get away with anything you like.
What is happening to us as a society that venerates athletes over the law? How sad.
I feel bad about my outlook, how I feel about people and society, and that I'll never be part of society the way I should. Mike Tyson
The school board backed him up, and he took a team comprised of mostly sophomores and junior to a decent run at the divisional tournament.
The community, however, was not so kind, and his family left the next year.
The loss was definitely ours, as we lost a hell of a coach and teacher, and a man of principle and integrity.
When I was working a graveyard shift at a drug store in Flagstaff, AZ in the early 1980s, we would often have Indians (Flag is just west of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations) come in after 1:00 a.m. (the cut-off time for sales of distilled spirits). If they didn't try to steal flasks of booze, they would buy bottles of Scope or Listerine. And it wasn't to keep their breath fresh.
The coach shouldn't have been fired -- he should've been given a raise (along with a medal). Hopefully, he'll find another job, perferably at a place that respects teachers instead of coddling students.