# Son cut from the team. Does mom have a case? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528 "2012-05-10T17:46:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/21 "2012-05-10T18:47:19Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > At least in _Starship Troopers_, a person typically gets replaced only after they’re dead or maimed. Unfortunately my district’s superintendent initiated a new program designed to cut down maimings by at least 13%. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/22 "2012-05-10T18:54:15Z")
What would change my mind about this is if evidence showed up that this was a regular practice each year and/or the nine students that were cut had been told beforehand that they were only placeholders. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/23 "2012-05-10T18:54:55Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Is having the best team the coach’s absolute priority? _Absolute priority_, meaning to the exclusion of all else? No. But if you’re in a decent but not basketball-factory type of program you’d expect winning to be the priority as long as the team follows the rules and the sport doesn’t interfere with academics. I admit this situation seems unfair and there is certainly grounds for protesting, and I think I assumed the coach always does this. If not, I don’t think it’s grounds for a lawsuit, but it’d be cause for replacing the coach or creating new rules and telling him not to do it again. Even if this is standard practice, of course, they can tell him to stop it and nobody will be hurt: kids will have to choose between the sports, but there’s nothing wrong with that and nobody’s entitled to play both. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/24 "2012-05-10T18:56:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A special tryout for the football team _three months after the regular tryouts took place??_ How do you know that _this isn’t the regular process at that school?_ ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/25 "2012-05-10T18:56:47Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > At least in _Starship Troopers_, a person typically gets replaced only after they’re dead or maimed. Yeah, but theyre allowed to have sex in pup tents with members of their team too. I dont think that is a benefit of being on the team ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/26 "2012-05-10T18:57:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A special tryout for the football team _three months after the regular tryouts took place??_ We don’t know what that school/coach’s policy is. Maybe this is a known, established thing that occurs every year; we don’t have that information. And even if this is the first time this has ever happened, which I severely doubt it is, it’s the coach’s prerogative to run his _extracurricular_ program any way he sees fit. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/27 "2012-05-10T19:00:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A special tryout for the football team _three months after the regular tryouts took place??_ I think you’re attaching special significance to the tryouts that isn’t there, or at least shouldn’t be there in my opinion. The point of the team is not to reward those who succeed at tryouts. Rather, the tryouts are there to serve the team. The point of the tryouts is to figure out who are the best players for the team. If circumstances change, you can run another set of tryouts or if you already know that a new player is better, simply cut the worst kid. The suggestion that this kid is missing out on scholarships because he got cut from the team is ludicrous. The kids who get athletic scholarships are the ones that no one would even consider cutting from the team, because they’re the star players. If this kid wants to participate in a sport, tell him to go join the X-Country team. They’ll take anybody who shows up to practice. Everyone gets to run the races. The only ones who count for the team are the ones the coaches select, but they tend to just select the top finishers from the previous race. Success in running is much more quantitatively assessable than in basketball. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/28 "2012-05-10T19:02:06Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > How do you know that _this isn’t the regular process at that school?_ Who the hell would bother to go to the early tryouts knowing that the coach was holding out for the football team to be available three months later? If the players who made the team knew ahead of time that the coach was only biding his time until his _real_ team was available, how high do think the moral would have been? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/29 "2012-05-10T19:06:27Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Who the hell would bother to go to the early tryouts knowing that the coach was holding out for the football team to be available three months later? If the players who made the team knew ahead of time that the coach was only biding his time until his _real_ team was available, how high do think the moral would have been? Two of the original group got to stay so there was still a chance that they’d stay on the team. They had a few months to improve their skills before the next tryout which gives them an advantage. The last tryout was, perhaps, only available to people on winter sports teams who couldn’t make the earlier ones. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/30 "2012-05-10T19:07:57Z")
The lawsuit seems silly, and practically designed to generate righteous indignation about entitled brats and their ridiculous parents. (And trust me, I bow to no one when it comes to eye-rolling at overindulgent parenting.) But this was a really shitty thing that the school did. You can’t let a bunch of kids who didn’t show up for two months of games and practices (for whatever reason) come along and replace the kids who did. If they want the football kids to be able to play basketball they need to figure out a way to get them on the team from the start. Otherwise the kids should just have to choose which one they want to do. I’m kind of surprised that their high school athletic association lets them replace almost the whole team two months into the season, but I’ve barely thought about high school sports in almost twenty years so maybe I shouldn’t be. (Edit: to be clear, I don’t think this is the sort of thing one should sue over. I’m sure the school probably has every right to do what they’re doing. I’m just saying it’s shitty that they do.) ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/31 "2012-05-10T19:07:58Z")
At first I was pretty outraged on behalf of the kid, but then remembered that basketball is a winter sport, so there wouldn’t be any games between August and October, and the kid didn’t forfeit participation in any other sport by assuming he was on the basketball team. (Unless there were other winter sports whose tryouts he missed during that period.) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/32 "2012-05-10T19:18:07Z")
They must do sports different there then where I went to school. When I was in HS if you wanted to go out for a sport you went out, and it was you PE class. In my case football was the last class of the day and we continued practice for another hour or so after school. No was ever cut from the team. You could quit and go to a regular gym class but coach never cut anyone. Now out of the guys on the team we had “teams” or strings 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (called blood, sweat, and tears BTW). Which string you were on was a matter of how good you were. If you were the best you were first string, if you were not as good 2nd, and if you sucked tears. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/33 "2012-05-10T19:20:09Z")
Where I coach, athletes are not allowed to join their next sport until their current sport has finished the season or otherwise released by the coach. There is overlap between the completion of fall sports and the start of practice for winter sports. Same for winter to spring. Athletes are not guaranteed a spot until all athletes have joined the team. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/34 "2012-05-10T19:22:55Z")
Laste year Arkansas state football playoffs started on 11/11. PDF schedules of AR high school basketball list several teams that start hoops in mid-October with most starting in late October/early November. If your FB team is a contender there’s considerable overlap between the two seasons. ---
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/35 "2012-05-10T19:34:52Z")
It’s a bizarre thing for a lawsuit. I agree with the sentiment that the school/coach is shitty. This kind of thing is the sort of drama for the PTA or something like that. There should be school hearings and all kinds of melodrama confined to the school system itself. I thought PTA-types lived for this kind of shit. ---
**Author:** ![Blkshp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blkshp/32/7135_2.png) [@Blkshp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blkshp)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/36 "2012-05-10T20:08:17Z")
They are called extra-curricular activities for a reason. Not to mention that most people - even a kid - should be aware that when a team starts working out in August for a season that doesn’t even begin until late October or November things might change. [“My constitutional right to hoops has been violated!”] ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/37 "2012-05-10T20:08:19Z")
I think it’s stupid to sue the school. I also think it’s stupid to have special tryouts months later so the coach can get the team he wants. Part of life is deadlines and prioritizing. If you can’t participate in tryouts for a winter sport because you’re in a fall sport, decide whether you like football or basketball better. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/38 "2012-05-10T20:12:53Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I think it’s stupid to sue the school. I also think it’s stupid to have special tryouts months later so the coach can get the team he wants. Part of life is deadlines and prioritizing. If you can’t participate in tryouts for a winter sport because you’re in a fall sport, decide whether you like football or basketball better. Not if that doesn’t result in the best possible team. I mean, that might be how you would run the program, and that’s fine, but you’d be in a small minority. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/39 "2012-05-10T20:17:29Z")
My high school never re-tried out sports teams when more athletes became available and I’d never heard until now of any school doing something like that. I mean, you have to establish a cut off at some point or else the coach is trying people out before every game to make sure he’s got the best possible team. It’s a stupid way to run a high school sports team and demoralizes everyone except the few jocks who get to be star players in multiple sports. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528/40 "2012-05-10T20:23:27Z")
So put the kid on JV and he can suit up with varsity halfway through the season if he is good. My son was JV and played up more than once. Just because you don’t hit Varsity for the first game doesn’t mean you aren’t playing. (note - assuming their system is similar to what I know from OK and CA) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/son-cut-from-the-team-does-mom-have-a-case/621528.md?page=3)