McKinley High School is known for the number of players who have gone on to play in the NFL. One of their current players, who is being touted as an NFL prospect, is Jewish. The coaches took it upon themselves to order him to eat a pepperoni pizza, even though he’s Jewish. They told him if he didn’t eat the pizza, he would be kicked off the team.
Absolutely disgusting.
A lawyer representing the family said they might consider filing a first amendment lawsuit against the school district.
They really should. This is bullshit and I’m sure the ACLU would support them.
What was the purported reason for this even supposed to be? I can’t even see any way to spin this beyond “we want to persecute Jews for being Jewish”.
It looked to me like they wanted to impose their authority over him.
The only being higher than God is a Football Coach.
Yeah, he missed a weight training session and he’s reportedly a “prominent athlete who has been offered several scholarships to play football in college, although being just a junior”. So it’s possible that he was not falling in line with the coaches, and maybe acting like a hotshot who can be insubordinate. (Total WAG on my part.) But that doesn’t even come close to justifying what they did; I don’t think anything could.
If that is what he did, running laps would be the appropriate punishment. This is idiocy that I can’t begin to fathom.
Even if that’s the case, the punishment is a ridiculously extreme over-reaction for a first offense. If this isn’t the first time, the coaching staff is to blame for not dealing with the problem before it got out of hand.
And the fact the whole coaching staff was onboard with this is a result of extreme football worship by the community.
And I thought this was going to be about Glee. I guess that was Lima, not Canton…
I have to guess this attitude has been strongly present in McKinley High School. These coaches must have long been told they are untouchable. Because I can’t imagine any other reason they thought they would get away with this.
It could be. But this is crazy
Yes, which is why I said:
Having lived my first 27 years in the Akron-Canton area, these folks are right. H.S. Football is a big thing in Ohio (maybe not the equal of Texas, but still very important to many communities). And Canton is where (it is said) the NFL began and the NFL Hall of Fame is located there. McKinley football has a long history of state championships and the McKinley-Massilion football game draws many thousands every year.
So yeah, the coaches are pretty important, as long as they win, and if these guys have been successful (and they were 4-1 in a COVID-shortened season last fall), then I suspect they’ll get away with it, abominable as their actions were.
Along with the “football coach is higher than God” attitude (of which there seems to be some here in Texas as mentioned above,) I think this also reflects a cultural misconception that a religious prohibition against something is a mere preference or dislike - that if someone’s religion prohibits this or that, it’s a mere short hurdle - not understanding how truly serious they take it.
I suspect part of it was the kid is Jewish.
Not a real religion like Christianity. /sarcasm
I predict they won’t. This is way too far.
Plus, the decision won’t just be made at McKinley High School. There are higher organizations that monitor school sports. These organizations have members who have no connection to McKinley High School. They’ll be perfectly willing to punish these guys in order to protect the system’s reputation.
Plus, a lawsuit alleging religious discrimination, naming each of the coaches in their personal and official capacities, the school officials, and the school district, could be pretty hard to sweep under the rug, especially if seeking large damages award against each coach personally.
That explains it. He’s their star player. They’d rather violate his constitutional rights than lose a game by benching him.
I haven’t seen any mention of his position. Some positions are far more central to winning than others.