It’s assholes like those parents who are the reason why some kids grow up social outcasts with no friends and a hell of a lot of anger/pain/depression. Jesus, don’t they give a fuck about anything? If it were their kid who had been abused they might be singing a different tune.
Why does the immediate glory of some stupid athletic event take priority over nobility, justice, and honesty? Fuck them.
One parent said: “There’s a whole group of innocent young men whose names are being dragged through the mud.”
Whatever. Hazing in athletics doesn’t happen in secrecy. I imagine most if not all the members of the team knew that this happened. And, they chose not to report it. Fuck them. For those who truly didn’t, then you know what? It’s a fucking high school football team!!! Life doesn’t end at 16 people.
I was the victim of some relatively “benign” sexual hazing when I was in 5th grade (in the drama club, if you can believe it), and in no way is it okay. It is not harmless, it’s demeaning, degrading, and hurtful.
Fuck those students, and the parents who think a stupid football season is more important than the self-esteem and dignity of the kid who was fucking bullied and demeaned by his own football team.
Who the hell forcibly tea bags someone as hazing? In my day people would have made fun of the person that did that, instead of the person who received it.
What’s your basis for the imaginative statement that most if not all of the team knew about the incident? The article merely says:
Since there are 75 team members, your conclusion seems quite a leap.
You then go on to posit that even if they didn’t know, it doesn’t matter. as it’s merely a high school football game.
Although I agree wholeheartedly with the punishment, I disagree just as strongly with this reasoning. Football, at least to the players, as a very important part of high school, and casting this punishment as a “so what if you’re innocent - it’s only football” is absolutely without merit. Football is a valuable part of high school atheletic life, and should not be dismissed as if meaningless.
That said, I concur in the result reached. The essence of a football team is the concept of team. It’s absolutely proper to punish the team in a football context. That is, I don’t support jail sentences for the innocent members, but imposing a football related penalty for the actions of only a few members is appropriate. It teaches the lesson that these boys are part of a team, and their actions affect not only themselves but others - innocent others - that are depending on them to pull their share. This is an excellent lesson, and one of the things that makes football a fine addition to high school life.
Well, I guess from my experience in high school sports, I find it hard to believe that this would have been a secret from anyone. Not that they were all in on it as it happened, but that after the fact I imagine that the story passed on to most members of the team.
As far as my dismissing those who didn’t know, perhaps I sounded a little calous. But, I suppose the lesson is that if you team up with jerks and assholes, you set yourself up to get in trouble by association. I think that, as you say, a huge part of football is the “team,” and if the team can’t operate as such in an appropraite manner, then the team should not exist, regardless of the merrits of individual members.
As far as my dismissing gootball as meaningless, I think in fact I’m acknowledging the powerful tool of learning that it is. And unfortunately these boys lost the game.
And when I said this:
I was really directing it at the parents who are complaining. They’re the ones who seem to think that the actual game is more important than anything else.
I also was pleased to see that there was no lawsuit or anything involved, and feel that the steps taken were 100% the right thing to do.
Unfortunately the parents decided to villify the administration instead of siezing this oportunity to teach.
It’s not Texas-it’s Pennsylvania. But not the hellhole between Pittsburgh and Philly-this is IN the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Our bishop doesn’t take shit when it comes to sexual abuse by clergy, and I have a feeling if the parents keep this up, Wuerl is going to have something to say to the school officials who didn’t report it.
ravendays.org (that site I talk about on occasion) managed to find this cite, which has, shall we say, a different take on it than I expected anyone to have the stomach to muster:
The real shame is that this has soiled the reputation of a wonderful school with a great football tradition. Hell, this is the school that reared one of the great people in Pro football, Dan Marino (and Marc Bulger, the Rams current QB). And, of course,
iampunha: What is the take at that website? I just see the linked articles which just chronicle the events. I loved this from Dennis Roddy’s article:
I also have to say that I now know what “teabagging” is and I am not a better person for it.