Apologizing for victory?

[allinking17]

DALLAS -- A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 game has a case of blowout remorse.

Now officials from The Covenant School say they are trying to do the right thing by seeking a forfeit and apologizing for the margin of victory.



Samantha Peloza grabs a rebound in practice a week after their 100-0 win.
"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," Kyle Queal, the head of the school, said in a statement, adding the forfeit was requested because "a victory without honor is a great loss."

The private Christian school defeated Dallas Academy last week. Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

A parent who attended the game told The Associated Press that Covenant continued to make 3-pointers -- even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.

"I think the bad judgment was in the full-court press and the 3-point shots," said Renee Peloza, whose daughter plays for Dallas Academy. "At some point, they should have backed off."

Dallas Academy coach Jeremy Civello told The Dallas Morning News that the game turned into a "layup drill," with the opposing team's guards waiting to steal the ball and drive to the basket. Covenant scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and "finally eased up when they got to 100 with about four minutes left," he said.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with "learning differences," such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become lopsided. There is, however, "a golden rule" that should have applied in this contest, said Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.

"On a personal note, I told the coach of the losing team how much I admire their girls for continuing to compete against all odds," Burleson said. "They showed much more character than the coach that allowed that score to get out of hand. It's up to the coach to control the outcome."

In the statement on the Covenant Web site, Queal said the game "does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition. We humbly apologize for our actions and seek the forgiveness of Dallas Academy, TAPPS and our community."

Covenant coach Micah Grimes did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press on Thursday.

Queal said school officials met with Dallas Academy officials to apologize and praised "each member of the Dallas Academy Varsity Girls Basketball team for their strength, composure and fortitude in a game in which they clearly emerged the winner."

Civello said he appreciated the gesture and has accepted the apology "with no ill feelings."

At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity. They also said they are excited about some of the attention they are receiving from the loss, including an invitation from Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to see an NBA game from his suite.

"Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing," said Shelby Hyatt, a freshman on the team. "Keep trying, and it's going to be OK."

Peloza said the coach and other parents praised the Dallas Academy girls afterward for limiting Covenant to 12 points in the fourth quarter. She added that neither her daughter nor her teammates seemed to dwell on the loss.

"Somewhere during that game they got caught up in the moment," Peloza said of the Covenant players, fans and coaches. "Our girls just moved on. That's the happy part of the story."

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[USCTrojans]

100-0 that has to be a first ever in Basketball LOL

[GloBug]

can u believe that. thats amazing. b ut whats up with them saying they will take a forfeit because they feel bad that they whooped them so bad LOL. i guess u can say it is good sportsmanship. i say they are throwing salt on the wound.

[eejit101]

idiots, play to win, if u win 100-0, celebr\ate, dont forfeit

[Dallas12]

Never apologize for a victory. I played sports in high school and we had one of the best teams in the state. And trust me we really kicked some schools butts and the throught never cross our mines to apologize to any of them.

[USCTrojans]

When you compete there's always the chance you can get your azz kicked, so why apologize, seriously this is BULL, but of course, a men's team would not be forfeiting nor apologizing, this is all because its a women team....

[Lilred36]

Well shooting threes when ur up 59--0 at halftime, is what you say a little over the top.They shoulda put all there benchwarmers in ran a offense that killed the clock.Trying to get to a 100 is ok if your in a somewhat competive game.I do feel bad for the team on the losing end, those girls must feel real bad about themselves,high school sports is not about winning, but teamwork and to make the players better people in the future.This my friends is why we are at brink of a depression in this country like none we have never seen.Me,Me,Me,I,I,I, haven't we seen enough of this.This is like saying its ok for CEO"S to get 10 million dollar bonus'e while there slashing there workforce, and people are losing there homes.NDN'ers that agree with these coaches are outa touch, hell even in the Pro's they slack off after victory is assured, would you want your kids to think the only thing important is winning?If so I am very sorry for you.These are 13-17 year olds, a time in your life when you should be learning compasssion for your fellow man.Forfiet no, the girls won, but the school should take a serious look at these coaches and some changes need to be made.

[USCTrojans]

That I agree with, the coach should have put the bench in....

[Lilred36]

Well high school sports in my opion is to teach our kids about teamwork,I do not know the whole story here, but those girls on that losing team could be affected a long time because of this.Dallas I to played in high school although everyone wants to win sportsmanship is what we were taught.Of course if you win there should be no apologies, but in this case the losing team was obviously overmatched and the good players should have been benched, and the goal of getting to a 100 should have never been a goal.This is a girls high school game!!! The win was never in doubt, I really feel sorry for you that agree with this and Dallas if you and Eejit have a little girl that try's her best.It should not matter if they win or lose.This is just another sad saga in the direction this country is headed, shame on all of you that agree with this.If the people in Texas who look over high school sports there do not reprimand the coach for this then they should be ashamed and let go.Sad,Sad times in our country.

[eejit101]

Who cares, losing is something you need to learn how to deal with in life. They should all grow up, they got trashed, cos they suck, the only way they will feel really bad is if their coach gives them way to much belief. Deep inside they must have known they would get beat, and if they didnt, it shows them how much work they need to put in.

And BTW - basketball and 0 points??? Even if you just threw it from the walf way line every posession youd get at least one in. What kind of crappy offence coordination did they have???

[Lilred36]

Eejit I still like you a little but you sure are off here.Alot of high school girls teams can barely get a team, some in my area had six players.One was the scorer, what you don;t get you heatless Brit.At this age alot girls feel odd about the way they look and putting on shorts and playing in front of a crowd would be the vlast thing they wanna do.As far as scoring sounds to me like the winning team had a full court press on most of the time.100 points is rare for girls even the great college teams don't get there,and the girls get less time than boys.You know what I am just wasting my words, you guys are self centered and outa touch.

[Arsenal28]

Well, being a varsity level coach for the boy's soccer team in my school district, I can say that the coaching staff of that winning team has a lot to learn when it comes to winning with class. There are poor teams in every division of every sport at every level. It does not mean that they have to be embarrassed about how they play. I don't think a team should ever have to apologize for winning, they were doing what they were told by their coaches. The coaches should have stepped in and made a change to how the game was being played. There are teams in the Buffalo area that my team could beat 10-0 or more in a soccer game. In those games, we get a comfortable lead, sit the starters, and let the reserves get some time. If they continue to score then we set restrictions on how they play. For example, completing 10 passes before a shot, only scoring off of a cross, things like that. Obviously we don't yell out to the team about the restrictions, that is even more embarrassing for the opposing team, but my teams knows that when the game is starting to get out of hand, we change our style.

I have to say that I am a bit surprised by some of the comments from people here but I don't really know any of you on a personal level, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Words like "they suck" and other comments have no place in a high school level game. Especially when the score is 100-0. And I would be even more disappointed in the losing team if they actually did start throwing the ball from half court in a desperate attempt to score just one basket. A score of 100-3 doesn't sound any better. Instead, they stuck to their game plan and kept on doing what they had been working on all game. Unfortunately they didn't have the same skill as the other team and were beaten in a classless way. The good news for the Dallas Academy is that the girls are very excited about how much press this story has gotten. I wish them the best and hope that other coaches presented with similar situations would take a different plan of action when playing a weaker team.

[Lilred36]

Very nice reply Arsenal, glad theres someone here that understands.Thank you thank you.

[eejit101]

I do understand, but i think the winning team apologising for winning???

Compare it to poker - you play 10 HUs vs a weak apponent. Youve won the first 9, do u let win win the last?? Hell no.

You play sports to win, professionally and socially. If i play soccer with friends, i try and score. If i play squash (which i do quite well), i try and win. Thats the point of a score being kept.

My point here - as a "heartless brit", is to say this 100-0 loss for Dallas or whoever, is life affirming, it will help them in later life maybe. They get an idea of disappointment. They understand how the game is played by a great team, and can learn/improve.

Im not saying they suck, im sure they would beat me at basketball. Im just saying their coach cant be that good or even a proper coach if he cant call plays and change the way they were playing to even get one score.

The girls did nothing wrong. My point is they should learn to lose, and a huge loss (which ive felt at school playing football), just makes you want to get better.

[Lilred36]

My point you still don't get it.nuff said.

[eejit101]

My point you still don't get it.nuff said.

right. I do get it, i just dont agree with all of it. Can i not have a point of view?

[woohoosue]

yup me too....also believe the coaches need a spanking for this ...it is not the eros teams fault they are new and short(not in height in number) ...everyone needs to start somewhere.... but i too think apologiing for winning and forfeitting is wrong....apology by coaches is a MUST!...they really dropped the ball here ... what a shame i want heros teaching my kids ...stories like this just fuel un already apathy filled environment(the Public with our pathetic school system) ... I need more stories about Heros in our schools ..Where are they?

[Lilred36]

Eejit, this is my last reply to this,but first thank you Sue,I totally agree.Now Eejit without looking I believe your word were,"idiots" play to win or something like that first, no one should call"CHILDREN" idiots!! FINAL. Second these are high schoolers,I want no one teaching my kids your crazy ideas of winning is all that matters.These children will rember this forever, thats just wrong and no I do not think you get it,your entitled to do what ever you want, and to think whatever.If this is your views on this my opioun of you has drastically changed, as I said before the pro's and college levels don't even stoop this low.This is whats wrong with the world today, people with your views.I am done with this subject, this is a great injustice to our scholastic sports.

[eejit101]

"idiots, play to win" was the start of my first post.

Idiots was aimed at the people trying to get the winners to apologise.

And sue said some of the same stuff i did!

Your opinion of me has changed because a shool sports tea got their a$$ handed to them at basketball, and im thinking that the team that won shouldnt apologise? Its not all about the winning, BUT, and answer this.

If it ISNT all about the winning, and just the "taking part that counts" attitude, then why has all this fuss started if the kids shouldnt care about the score?? pwned.

To summarise - they lost. Live with it! Ive lost at games by HUGE scores and you just shrug it off. Their obviously not going to be NBA womens pro's, play for fun, aim to win, if you lose, at least you tried. If the Patriots played me and my friends at NFL we would all end up dead and lose 175-0 in 20 minutes. But we woud laugh, and pick ourselves up, and get better fromt he experience!

[Lilred36]

Jesus your heartless and now I see the real you.Thanks Eejit for clearing this up.I really hope you have kids one day.I never said the team should apologize,I believe i said the coaches need to be reprimanded.Ok I now am done with this post, and again thanks Eejit.

[eejit101]

Yes so heartless. I give to charity for kids, i worked with kids, what i DONT do is give them false hope. If i have kids ill give them all the support the need. If they want to play soccer, ill play with them, i just wont tell them they are good enough to win the world cup if they arent. As they will resent you when they realsie they arent

[Arsenal28]

I do understand, but i think the winning team apologising for winning???

Compare it to poker - you play 10 HUs vs a weak apponent. Youve won the first 9, do u let win win the last?? Hell no.

You play sports to win, professionally and socially. If i play soccer with friends, i try and score. If i play squash (which i do quite well), i try and win. Thats the point of a score being kept.

My point here - as a "heartless brit", is to say this 100-0 loss for Dallas or whoever, is life affirming, it will help them in later life maybe. They get an idea of disappointment. They understand how the game is played by a great team, and can learn/improve.

Im not saying they suck, im sure they would beat me at basketball. Im just saying their coach cant be that good or even a proper coach if he cant call plays and change the way they were playing to even get one score.

The girls did nothing wrong. My point is they should learn to lose, and a huge loss (which ive felt at school playing football), just makes you want to get better.

They haven't won a game in 4 years. They already know how to lose. They are playing for the love of the game.

[eejit101]

I didnt know that they hadnt won a game in 4years. IF so.... and they pay for the love of it, dont they expect this by now? This just seems weird

[Lilred36]

I won a tournament why doesn't it say that above my name? Oh and this is my last reply to you EEJIT.You miss the whole point here, one last time.No one here has said the winning team should apologize.Yes they are used to losing.The winning team kept putting the hammer down,shooting 3s after a 59-0 halftime lead is just unsportsmanlike.No one faults the girls that won.IT IS THE DAMM COACHES WHO LEFT THE GOOD PLAYERS IN>Getting to 100 and holding your opponents to zero, doesn't get you anything else,victory was in hand.Do you understand how hard it is for some schools to even dress a girls team?The point Eejit is that the coaches on the winning team had no reason to get to 100, the first player on there team that shot a 3 in the second half shoulda been benched.Winning is ok but trying to embarass someone is different.These coaches knew they were'nt going lose this game before it started.Also I never said nothing about try and you will win, in high school"Teamwork,Playing to your best ability and learning the fundamentals is all that matters".I feel sorry for alot folks here.I think you should rethink some of the stuff you said,I am done now no more posts.

[Arsenal28]

I didnt know that they hadnt won a game in 4years. IF so.... and they pay for the love of it, dont they expect this by now? This just seems weird

I agree that it would be weird if it was the school that got beat was asking for an apology. Instead it was the head of the school that won the game that was looking to give an apology. I thought it was a nice gesture by the head of the school since the coach didn't seem to care about what went on.