Sportsmanship a precious commodity in high school sports

At first viewing, it looked like a bush league thing to do. Not cool at all. It smacked of bullying. It smacked of Maloney baloney.

Before their game at Xavier on Oct. 22, the Spartan players charged from one side of the field directly through Xavier cheerleaders who had formed two lines to welcome their own team.

The Maloney player leading the charge, carrying a green flag, caught the first cheerleader unaware and nearly bumped into her. The cheerleader at one end of the line quickly dropped the banner. Most players hopped over it. Some trampled it.

From the far side — initially blocked from view of the Meriden Record Journal camera angle — was a man dressed all in black with a black cap. He ran in front of the flag bearer and was the first to jump over the banner. Athletic director Bob McKee identified him as head coach Kevin Frederick.

As the players rushed past, the Xavier cheerleader at the end of the line on the far side extended her hands as if it to say, “What the heck is going on here?”

Excellent question.

If anyone watched this video only a fool would not conclude, wow, this could have been an invitation to a brawl between two teams. Emotions are high. Bravado is high. We must protect our house!

Sportsmanship is a precious commodity.

And that is the beauty and the beast of 2021 where iPhone videos become our journalism and where reactions on social media become our valued opinions.

Things may not be exactly as they appear, or they may be. Truths revealed may not be the whole truth, or they may be. And when it comes to the games our kids play, one question must be: What could the adults have done?

Last week, a video emerged showing the teenaged daughter of former NBA player Corey Benjamin sucker-punching an opponent in a game at a Southern California youth event. It was a brutal blow that left the girl on the floor with a concussion. The video went viral.

The victim’s mom, Alice Ham, filed a police report and she alleges that Benjamin’s daughter was encouraged by her mom to hit the victim. It turned out that a few months ago Benjamin’s daughter was banned from another venue after attacking not one — but two opponents — with a flurry of punches.

Without any media cov

ering the event, the video served an important purpose. There could be no denials or half-baked rationalizations. Corey Benjamin issued a public apology. He said his daughter will get the help needed.

One question for responsible adults: After the first rampage, what the heck was that 14-year-old girl doing on the floor anytime this soon?

Near Pittsburgh a couple of weeks ago, a girl was subjected to repulsive chants by Armstrong High students at a hockey game. Her crime? She was playing goal for the opposing team. It wasn’t a couple of kids. It was at least 50. And those chants didn’t last only a moment or two. They were caught on video lasting for some time.

The chants were vulgar. They chants were degrading. The PIHL barred Armstrong students from its hockey games the remainder of the season. The school did not disclose the discipline the students received.

The league commissioner called the actions “disgusting” and that the game should have been stopped with the offenders escorted out of the building.

The uplifting news was in an ensuing game hundreds of folks showed up in support of the young goalie. Yet again it was the video that went viral that had forced the full accounting.

One question remains: Why didn’t any of the adults step in and

stop those chants?

A few weeks ago, Inglewood (Calif.) High football coach Mil’Von James made Jack Cochran look like Coach Snowflake with a 106-0 torching of Morningside. He went for a two-point conversion with, yikes, a 104-0 lead. The score was 86-0 at halftime. CIF Southern Section condemned Inglewood’s actions. Morningside’s coach called it “classless.” James had declined to play backups and was initially reluctant to use a running clock.

Inglewood’s principal apologized on behalf of the school and team and said James also apologized.

The score was repulsive. There was a total lack of competitive honor. Guys like James should be fired, not honored. He’s supposed to be the adult on the sidelines.

The score elicited thousands and thousands of condemning social media responses, including one from Dick Vitale. Yet you wonder if James really did embrace the message and more importantly explained that message to his players.

After Cochran ran up the scores at different schools, the CIAC made national news years ago when it implemented a rule to suspend coaches who won by more than 50 points. While it was logistically flawed, I’ll go to my sports writing grave defending the spirit of the rule. There are a sprinkling of coaches who can’t stop themselves.

The ensuing move by the CIAC to a running clock when a lead grows to 35 has mostly worked.

Fourteen games out of approximately 600, including four this past weekend, have been decided by more than 50 points. Only one, Stonington over Griswold/Wheeler, has been decided by 60.

James has brought in several transfers and rebuilt a winless program into a powerhouse in only a few years. He had also built Hawkins High into a power before being fired for using ineligible players. He has ties to Premium Sports L.A, whose president unsurprisingly defended James on Instagram. Hey, no one took it easy on Inglewood when it was down. There were plenty of other predictable responses: If you don’t want to lose 106-0, get better, etc. A few players retweeted those questioning criticism: James has turned around the program, eight seniors are getting D-1 scholarships and that’s what matters. One game doesn’t negate all the good they’ve done for the community …

Again, this is where responsible adults must step in and explain the level of false equivalence in this reasoning. Apples and oranges, if you will. Because you do good things does not mean you cannot do wrong things. They need to be judged and weighted accordingly. It is such an important aspect of understanding the nuances of sportsmanship.

Which brings us to the Maloney-Xavier video.

McKee said he had been told there was no locker room available for Maloney and Xavier would use the school and outdoor courtyard. Some leagues, McKee said, have

rules that teams must get equivalent facilities. He called the CIAC about alliance games and was told its rule was only for the playoffs.

Told one end zone would serve as the locker room, McKee said he asked for a private area. The team got one down an embankment behind the bleachers. The Spartans entered the field in the one gate available.

“It was not meant to be malicious,” said McKee, who arrived in the second quarter. “Kevin came up to me at halftime and brought it up to my attention first. He felt bad about the situation.

“One hundred percent, it was not any form of intimidation. You can see in the video they are all trying to jump over the banner. When the wind started blowing, it moved a little bit. It wasn’t like they were trying to destroy it.”

I totally buy they weren’t trying to destroy the banner, although they did damage it. And most tried to jump over it. Some made no effort.

So it was all an accident? “Absolutely,’ McKee said. “I can tell you where we host games at Falcon Field, the visiting team has to go through my cheerleaders. My cheerleaders are lined up. I have had to tell them, ‘Put your sign away.’ ”

Let’s not kid ourselves. The cheerleaders were lined up through the middle of the field. The players easily could have gone on either side of them. And if they didn’t recognize this, the coaches could have directed them.

McKee did have a question for me. Why did I wait four weeks to bring this up? The reason? I only heard about it last week. He pointed out the team was getting a lot of credit for a jersey exchange with teachers, is on the verge of a state playoff spot and there a lot of good things to address.

Excellent point. And few better than the nuances of sportsmanship, which has a date of expiration beyond four weeks.

When first contacted Saturday by email, Xavier AD Dan DeConti said he understands the emotions of the game, yet “If Xavier football players had done something like this, I would have had them issue an apology to the (cheerleaders).”

That’s exactly what should have happened — and didn’t. It shouldn’t be complicated. The cheerleaders reacted well. They quickly came up with a new banner for Xavier to run through.

On Monday, DeConti emailed to say he and McKee had just spoken on the phone. He said it was important to note the game was played without any incident. He also said, “I didn’t think to tell our cheerleaders to wait for the visiting team to enter before setting up their banner.”

Adults, they say the darnedest things.

I’m going to stop right here before the poor cheerleaders get blamed on social media for nearly starting a riot.

In the new era where everyone is a journalist, sometimes you have to believe half of what you see and half of what you hear.