Okay, so here is my soapbox deal of the day.
So much drama is going on today over an issue that happened
last night at a JV Baseball game between my son’s school, Yuba City High
School, and a local rival, Del Campo High School. Now, I’ll put this right out
there, when I was in high school at Mira Loma, we didn’t think too highly of DC
either. Them and El Camino HS. Rivalries Happen.
So, yesterday, game is progressing. The score is 3-3 in the
6th inning. There has been a lot of back and forth trash talking
between the teams. That happens. It’s part of the game. The next thing that
happens, isn’t usually part of the game. The First Base Coach for DC said **something**
(No, I have no clue what he said) to YC’s pitcher and dugout. It must have been
a good one because the next thing you know, the pitcher is flinging the ball at
the FB Coach. Huh? Seriously? Sigh. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on
which side of this fence you are on, the ball missed the coach. However, next
thing you know, the YC dugout empties and a brawl ensues. (I’ll link everything
at the bottom for your perusing pleasure.)
Now, I wasn’t there. The HS baseball team was too cliquey
for my son to get on so he went to performing arts. (Which he ROCKS at by the
way!!) However, he’s be on Varsity by now anyway as a senior, but I digress. (I'll write a fun entry about Seussical soon.)
Here is my take on this whole nightmare. Trash talking is
part of a game AND it is a game. Remember, game? Fun? Game = fun? (Just wanted
to get that out there.) Rivalries happen. I had them in high school and as an
avid sports fan, I have them now (hear that A’s fans!! Lol) But rivalries
shouldn’t resort to violence. The comebacks and the comments shouldn’t be in good
natured ribbing – no racial cracks, don’t talk about someone’s mother, etc.
Some little tart whipped out her phone and recorded the last
part of the “incident” complete with her commentary (highly enlightening - NOT) and her excitement about
getting to post it to YouTube. Personally, if that is your life’s ambition, you
need to rethink your goals and priorities. In this video, we see the DC FB
Coach chatting it up with people on the
sidelines for DC. Talking about the incident. Now, honestly, insert brain
filter. As a member of the coaching staff, and quite possibly the match to this
fuse, he should have kept his mouth shut. This is a situation being reviewed by
the respective teams and schools not onlookers. Do not discuss this outside the
school offices. Highly unprofessional and definitely unsportsmanlike conduct. There
are words and tones there that could be used against him.
I have a couple words that everyone on that field needs to
review and permanently place in their memories. The first one is sportsmanship.
Then there is compassion, responsibility, role model, and tact. No one involved,
except for the referee’s as far as I could see, embraced any of these
vocabulary words. Players, parents, onlookers, or coaching staff. Tempers
flared and chaos ensued.
Seriously, take the ribbing like a man. It is what it is. Something
to rile you up and get you off your game. If you are professional and mature
about the whole thing, you’d let it roll off your back like water off a duck. Deal
with it. If you let it get to you, they have won. There is no reason to start a
brawl like that, ever.
Hopefully, the truth will come out, tempers will cool, and
yes, unfortunately, a few boys are going to look back on this incident in 20
years and be very angry at themselves and full of regret as it may possibly
ruin their baseball careers. If not just for the rest of their high school days,
maybe their lives. Sad, that is. I am sure there will be suspensions and maybe
an expelling due to this and I’m sad for them, but the choice was theirs: take
it like a man, or act the idiot. The idiot won. Unfortunately, the idiot won
for some parents, too. What an example you are setting. Wow.
I also hope that BOTH schools will dispense the appropriate
amount of punishment. I am truly hoping that DC doesn’t brush this under the
rug but instead, realizes the actual situation and the comments made and punish
the coach adequately. While the brawl should never occurred, neither should a
comment that could incite such ire have been said. I don’t know what was said
and may never know, but I doubt it was appropriate.
Point is, we are all human. No one is more special than
anyone else. No one is all that and a bag of chips. We all put our pants on one
leg at a time and we are ALL a mirror of the school. As are the DC people. This
does not shine a golden light on either school.
So, while I am disappointed in the behavior that represented
YCHS last night, I am still proud to be a Honker Mom. I know too many other
kids that attend that school and give it a bright and positive reputation every
day. Maybe they aren’t as public as the athletic clubs. Maybe they aren’t
deemed as important as the athletic clubs. But they are special, kind, amazing,
intelligent, sweet, considerate, mature, and conscientious every day and that
behavior makes me proud to be a Honker Mom.
Lots of articles all over the web…sigh…the YouTube video is
embedded into one of the articles, but in case you want to just see, here:
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