Robbed
I want to watch Oxford High School play football this Friday night. I want to witness the class these young men will display as many of them walk onto a high school gridiron for the last time. I’d actually like to shake the hand of each player and coach, just to offer my congratulations, my admiration. But that’s not really the story.
You see, Oxford was 9-and-0 after last week’s game, essentially guaranteed a berth in the state playoffs and would quite possibly end the regular season with a perfect 10-and-0 record going into the playoffs. This was the team’s best record in more than a decade, and if you understand anything about the game, you don’t have to be reminded of the dedication, sweat and guts it took to get there.
The fans, parents, the whole city was responding with gate and concession receipts climbing weekly. The stands were filling up with supporters eager to cheer the Yellow Jackets onto their next hard fought victory. And the excitement grew every Friday night as Oxford chalked up win-after-impressive-win. Yep, Oxford would fight for a state championship.
But that’s what would have been.
Two weeks ago, the Alabama High School Athletic Association, which governs high school athletics as the NCAA governs college athletics, received an anonymous complaint that Oxford had been playing an ineligible player during the first 7 games. There would be a mandatory investigation, during which time the player in question would be sidelined while officials delved into the allegations.
It was true. The player, according to AHSAA rules, was not eligible to play high school football. He had never been a discipline problem, at his new school or old. No run-ins with the law. No violations of team rules or the rules of sportsmanlike behavior. He wasn’t illegally recruited. No traffic tickets. Essentially, the young man did nothing wrong.
What he did was move with his parents to Oxford and enrolls in school, AND tells school officials this comprised their family unit, the entire family. Turns out that wasn’t the truth. Our player has a younger brother who stayed behind to live with an aunt. No further explanation was offered. We don’t know if the younger sibling was in an advanced class that might have been hard to transfer, or if he was in a special ed class in which he felt comfortable and productive in more familiar surroundings. There is any number of plausible explanations including parental separation or divorce, financial hardships, it goes on.
Over the next two weeks, the facts were reviewed and a final decision was handed down by the AHSAA, with school principal Trey Holladay receiving the news just hours before last week’s game. Holladay allowed the students to enjoy the weekend, yet another win they would savor, and then call the team and parents together Sunday to break the news.
The AHSAA had ruled the player was indeed ineligible. The school would pay a small monetary fine, endure a year of probation, and forfeit the team’s first 7 victories. Their season dropped instantly to 2-and-7 and all hopes of a playoff berth were lost. For these young athletes, ranked number 8 in the state among class 6-A teams, their season would abruptly end Friday night with regular season play.
In the room where they gathered to hear the awful news, the young man at the center of the hail storm stood in the back and away from his teammates as he learned their fate. His presence had just cost his team the entire season, and there was nothing anyone could do.
Try for a moment to put yourself in that young man’s shoes, the realization of it all, the disappointment, the guilt. Some players spend a lifetime remembering a failed kick or a dropped pass. I wonder what our player will remember years from now as he looks back, and you know he will, and how he’ll be affected by it? I pray for him. Imagine the rest of the team, collectively and as individuals, who had sacrificed and given more of themselves than they realized they could give. The shattering of their dreams this way seems particularly cruel and unfair.
Any man who has ever player or coached it knows football is much more than a game. It's a series of invaluable life lessons that follow and often guide its players through the remainder of their lives. They learn about fairness and good sportsmanship. They learn hard work, self-discipline, responsibility, self-confidence, team-building and character. It's walking across the field to congratulate eye-to-eye an opponent who has just defeated you. It's extending your hand in friendship to accept just as graciously the congratulations of a team you've just beaten. Sometimes it’s holding your head up and accepting what fate, or in this case the AHSAA has handed you.
At the end of the meeting, as the players were filing out of the room, they each consoled in friendship the ineligible young player, to a man. He won’t be allowed to dress with the team this final Friday. He’ll watch the game from the stands.
It’s an away game; they’re playing some school I’ve never heard of. But afterwards, the team, coaches, band and cheerleaders will travel back to their own stadium in Oxford for a little reception. Their fans are planning a hero’s welcome for their team that will likely go undefeated on the field of play. Congratulations are most certainly in order. For me personally, I’m expecting a remarkable show of class and character on the part of these student athletes and that alone is worth the drive. Besides, I really want to shake their hands, and tell them how proud I feel for them.
---noozguy
You see, Oxford was 9-and-0 after last week’s game, essentially guaranteed a berth in the state playoffs and would quite possibly end the regular season with a perfect 10-and-0 record going into the playoffs. This was the team’s best record in more than a decade, and if you understand anything about the game, you don’t have to be reminded of the dedication, sweat and guts it took to get there.
The fans, parents, the whole city was responding with gate and concession receipts climbing weekly. The stands were filling up with supporters eager to cheer the Yellow Jackets onto their next hard fought victory. And the excitement grew every Friday night as Oxford chalked up win-after-impressive-win. Yep, Oxford would fight for a state championship.
But that’s what would have been.
Two weeks ago, the Alabama High School Athletic Association, which governs high school athletics as the NCAA governs college athletics, received an anonymous complaint that Oxford had been playing an ineligible player during the first 7 games. There would be a mandatory investigation, during which time the player in question would be sidelined while officials delved into the allegations.
It was true. The player, according to AHSAA rules, was not eligible to play high school football. He had never been a discipline problem, at his new school or old. No run-ins with the law. No violations of team rules or the rules of sportsmanlike behavior. He wasn’t illegally recruited. No traffic tickets. Essentially, the young man did nothing wrong.
What he did was move with his parents to Oxford and enrolls in school, AND tells school officials this comprised their family unit, the entire family. Turns out that wasn’t the truth. Our player has a younger brother who stayed behind to live with an aunt. No further explanation was offered. We don’t know if the younger sibling was in an advanced class that might have been hard to transfer, or if he was in a special ed class in which he felt comfortable and productive in more familiar surroundings. There is any number of plausible explanations including parental separation or divorce, financial hardships, it goes on.
Over the next two weeks, the facts were reviewed and a final decision was handed down by the AHSAA, with school principal Trey Holladay receiving the news just hours before last week’s game. Holladay allowed the students to enjoy the weekend, yet another win they would savor, and then call the team and parents together Sunday to break the news.
The AHSAA had ruled the player was indeed ineligible. The school would pay a small monetary fine, endure a year of probation, and forfeit the team’s first 7 victories. Their season dropped instantly to 2-and-7 and all hopes of a playoff berth were lost. For these young athletes, ranked number 8 in the state among class 6-A teams, their season would abruptly end Friday night with regular season play.
In the room where they gathered to hear the awful news, the young man at the center of the hail storm stood in the back and away from his teammates as he learned their fate. His presence had just cost his team the entire season, and there was nothing anyone could do.
Try for a moment to put yourself in that young man’s shoes, the realization of it all, the disappointment, the guilt. Some players spend a lifetime remembering a failed kick or a dropped pass. I wonder what our player will remember years from now as he looks back, and you know he will, and how he’ll be affected by it? I pray for him. Imagine the rest of the team, collectively and as individuals, who had sacrificed and given more of themselves than they realized they could give. The shattering of their dreams this way seems particularly cruel and unfair.
Any man who has ever player or coached it knows football is much more than a game. It's a series of invaluable life lessons that follow and often guide its players through the remainder of their lives. They learn about fairness and good sportsmanship. They learn hard work, self-discipline, responsibility, self-confidence, team-building and character. It's walking across the field to congratulate eye-to-eye an opponent who has just defeated you. It's extending your hand in friendship to accept just as graciously the congratulations of a team you've just beaten. Sometimes it’s holding your head up and accepting what fate, or in this case the AHSAA has handed you.
At the end of the meeting, as the players were filing out of the room, they each consoled in friendship the ineligible young player, to a man. He won’t be allowed to dress with the team this final Friday. He’ll watch the game from the stands.
It’s an away game; they’re playing some school I’ve never heard of. But afterwards, the team, coaches, band and cheerleaders will travel back to their own stadium in Oxford for a little reception. Their fans are planning a hero’s welcome for their team that will likely go undefeated on the field of play. Congratulations are most certainly in order. For me personally, I’m expecting a remarkable show of class and character on the part of these student athletes and that alone is worth the drive. Besides, I really want to shake their hands, and tell them how proud I feel for them.
---noozguy
posted by noozguy at 11:26 AM
0 comments
