By all accounts, this wasn't a rivalry game. There's also evidence (provided by KTRK's Christine Dobbyn) that this whipping was pre-meditated, and that the players for Yates went into the game with the expressed intent of scoring 200 points on an out-manned Lee team.
Now, I'm not exactly sure when the right time is to cut bait and back off a little, but if you're still employing a full court press defense and fast breaks in the second half when the halftime score was 100-12 then I've a feeling you're going to face some backlash from most people who at least have a superficial relationship with the concept of sportsmanship. Nevermind that these were High School kids, not young adults in a College program, or well-compensated professional athletes. Nope, 15-18 year old high-school kids who are supposed to be learning valuable life lessons from the wizened coach who's job is to craft them into productive adults......
Except, at Yates obviously, that's not what boys basketball is about. It's about winning and setting records and going through life never having to look askance at those who are beneath you. It's about self-congratulatory chest-pounding after dunking the ball over someone with 1/10th your athletic ability. It's about a coach who desperately wants to go undefeated and have his legacy forever cemented in the hall of Texas High School Basketball honor. Obviously, the folks at Yates are OK with this. They've made the decision to sacrifice sportsmanship in favor of winning, and winning big.
And that's fine. Because it's not about what I think, or what you think, it's about what the coach, kids, their families and the school thinks. And they think that what they've got going now is pretty cool. As long as their willing to accept the other side of it, because all good things will come to an end, and eventually they'll be on the losing side of a whipping in some sport. Hopefully it will be epic in scope. I also hope that people point to this when their coaches and parents gripe about being 'disrespected' and all of the other nonsense that goes along with it.
Because, when they do, I'm going to point back to this, and remind them that they're invited to open up a can of silence. Nobody cares how you feel.
As for the Lee team? Their coach had a chance to teach his players about losing with dignity even when faced with an impossible situation. He could have taught them about how to react when all of the chips are down and you're facing insurmountable odds. Instead, he pulled the victim card, blamed everyone but himself, and let his team lose control. The losers in this game were short-changed by their coach as well.
Both coaches are lucky that they're not being rated as teachers by whoever it is handles the hiring/firing decisions at their respective schools. Because if they were, both would be turning in their whistles today. This game wasn't a failure of the kids, it was a failure of both coaches to teach the kids how to be adults. That's the real tragedy here.
