We’ve all seen sports teams show visible signs of support for charities while on the field of play. MLB does pink bats and wristbands on Mother’s Day for breast cancer, and blue wristbands on Father’s Day for prostate cancer. The NFL has pink towels, pink shoes, and pink gloves for breast cancer for the entire month of October. And several NCAA women’s basketball teams wear pink uniforms in support of breast cancer for one game each season. This worthwhile trend has trickled down to the high school level, and the other night during a girls’ basketball game between Columbus (Neb.) High School and Omaha’s Burke High School, the home Burke team opted to wear pink uniforms in support of that night’s fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Their plans were to auction off the uniforms after the game to help raise additional money for an organization that grants wishes such as trips to Disneyland and the chance to meet a celebrity or athlete to children ages 2-17 who are terminally ill.
What a wonderful cause, right? As Cameron Smith wrote on his Yahoo! sports blog, “The gesture is a win-win proposition: It raises money for a charitable cause, it gives student athletes a deeper sense of awareness of how they can make a difference in their every day life and it puts sports in their proper place.” At an age when certain things (friends, Twilight, sports, the opposite sex) easily become the be-all-end-all for teenagers, this night showed these athletes, and their families and fans, what was really important. At the end of the game, there would be a winner and a loser, sure, but in the grand scheme of things who ended up where wasn’t a really big deal. The players and crowd were reminded of that by the evening’s larger goal.
What should have been a night of fundraising and basketball turned into a night of fundraising, basketball, and douchebaggery of an unwarranted degree at the start of the second half. The athletic director of the visiting Columbus Discoverers informed the team’s head coach that the Burke girls were in violation of the rules by hosting the game and yet not wearing white uniforms. That’s one slap to the back of the head.
Instead of telling the AD that the reason for the pink unis outweighed the broken rule, the Columbus head coach then turned to the refs and pushed the issue. Head slap number two.
Finally, the refs, who also could’ve pointed out that charity is more important than whether or not the home team is wearing white, decided to “fix” the situation by issuing a technical foul against Burke. Head slap number three.
I understand that rules are necessary to make sure that sports are played fairly, safely, and consistently. In this case, though, Burke High wasn’t wearing their away jerseys just to do so, and they weren’t wearing neon green jerseys just because they wanted to. They were wearing pink unis as an opportunity to do what they could in support of a fundraising event for a very worthy charitable organization. Unfortunately, the visiting team’s AD and head coach were apparently too eager for any advantage possible in the game that they were willing to put better judgment, understanding, and common courtesy aside.
Getting to take two technical shots didn’t have any impact on the score of the game, as the Discoverers won by a very healthy margin. It’s hard to overlook the mental impact it may have had on the game though; the Burke girls thought they were playing their part in a great fundraiser only to be told that their method of doing so broke a rule. Again, at that age, being told you broke a rule when you thought you were doing something right can be hard to get past.
So whose fault is it? The blame for this unbelievably epic fail lies with both the AD and head coach of the Columbus Discoverers. Sure the refs were the ones who called the technical foul, but once an issue is raised regarding a broken rule, their hands become tied, charitable fundraiser or not. The guys from Columbus should’ve recognized a good idea for a good cause when they saw it, not taken away from these girls’ memories of this night. It’s important to note that, while recalling this game will inevitably bring to mind the technical foul, these girls will also be able to remember that the auctioning of their pink uniforms raised an additional $2600 for Make-A-Wish. For that, they should be very proud of themselves and not let the petty stupidity of grown men ruin a great deed.
As for the two men at fault here, pull your heads out of your asses and remember that these are high school girls’ teams, not two D-I programs looking for a bid to the Big Dance. There are things more important than the final score of a basketball game, and they would do well to learn that lesson.
Congrats, Idiots.
The Poor Sports 