I had mixed feelings watching the Minnesota Class AA Prep Bowl Championship game between West Central/Ashby Area vs. Chatfield last Friday. On one hand I wanted to cheer for the team from the region, because I always do when they get that far in the state tournament; but on the other hand I wanted Chatfield to prove they could win the title without their starting quarterback who was kicked out of the Barnesville game in the semifinals for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That feeling catapulted when the quarterback’s parents decided to sue the Minnesota State High School League to let him play last Friday. If you are wondering why the young man acted the way he did in the semifinal game, head-butting a player for his first offense, then kicking an opposing player to get ejected, and then being caught on video shoving a teammate trying to console him; now we know why, he is enabled by his parents.
I have no idea how anyone could look at the video of the incidents and not say, sorry son, you deserve to follow the MSHSL rules and miss this game. I would be unfair to criticize the coach, athletic director, principal or superintendent not knowing the discussions, if there were any with the parents and the player in this situation, but if the parents would have told any of them about their plans to take legal action, the correct response would have been, “don’t waste your time, he is not playing, this action will be an embarrassment to our school, community, and football program,.”
I have no earthly idea if those conversations ever happened, and seeing the videos of other Chatfield players being gracious in victory against both Barnesville and WCA-Ashby by greeting them with a handshake and/or hug was a nice display of sportsmanship. Seeing that I know that one bad apple didn’t ruin the whole bunch. Watching the Chatfield 14-13 victory over the Knights I can honestly say I wished both teams could have won. They both played their hearts out. It was good for Chatfield to win without the player, so it wasn’t a cloud over the title if he would have played; and if they would have lost the narrative that they would have won with him didn’t become a factor.
Thank goodness the judge ruled the way she did, and hopefully parents will look at this episode before they consider taking this action in the future. Letting him play would have started a bad precedent. As far as the young athlete, I don’t know if this will change his attitude, because the actions of his parents prove he hasn’t been told he has done anything wrong much in his life.
Comments