A post by Maynard
“Any time an individual…leaps so far…ahead…and throws a system…out of balance…you’ve got a problem.”
—Hillary Clinton (Quoted in the introductory pages of The Drudge Manifesto)
“I am sure that none of us sheds a tear because there are no millionaires.”
—Fidel Castro (speaking proudly of equality in Cuba in a May Day speech)
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbor’s.”
—Exodus 20:17
This is a silly little news item, but it encapsulates the greater cultural question of whether it is a bad thing if one person pulls far ahead of another person on a (metaphorical and in this case literal) level playing field. Are we enriched by winners in our midst, or are we threatened by them? Do we have the authority to bring them down to our level?
On Friday, we saw: Girls Basketball Team Regrets Winning 100-0, Seeks Forfeit. And today, Girls Basketball Coach Fired After 100-0 Win.
On one hand:
Covenant School, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition,” said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.
Another point of view:
Coach Micah Grimes made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to the newspaper that he does not agree with his school’s assessment.
“In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls’ basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed,” Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. “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.”
Events such as this echo Kurt Vonnegut’s dystopian short story, “Harrison Bergeron”. There’s an indie film version of this tale in the works, Finally Equal, complete with a dramatic cameo by Tammy as the arch-fiend Diana Moon Glampers. (The movie preview is also posted here on YouTube. Look for a quick shot of Tammy at the 2-minute mark.)
See also this earlier post, “Student Punished for Being Smarter, Faster than Everyone Else”.
Trucking OBSCENE!!!!!
That sums it up GIRLSGOTRHYTHM ! Anyone hear any buzz about when ‘Finally Equal’ comes out ? I can’t wait to see our Tammys debut. I’m hoping it’s before Feb.25th 🙂
when i was in high school, i helped coach my junior high school girl’s basketball team. against our rivals, they kicked our a$$ by 30 points in the second half and i remember calling time out and telling the girls i’d be back. i told the other coach what a jerk she was and how she ought to be ashamed of herself. our girls didn’t remember the final score, but they did remember that the coach will always stick up for their players. and that we would collectively smack that coach (not the other players) if we ever saw her in public.
rick