WHAT IS COMPETING AND COMPETITION?

4 out of 5 analysts agree that Kentucky basketball will be something to reckon with come March. That reminds me of on old saying, "beware the Cats of March." (I think it was in Shakespeare's Julius Rupp or something like that). I have been telling people for two years now that Gillispie was the man for the job and that his, yes, I am going to say it again, unrelenting conditioning and constant pressure to compete will pay off huge divide ends. I mean we have held every SEC school to under 39% FG shooting...THAT IS RIDICULOUS! The unassuming basketball genius is trying his best to get the Cats to hold a team scoreless for an entire game!?! I read earlier in the year Mike Porter said that Coach Gillispie challenged them to pitch a shutout this year. As I said a few posts back, how would 85-0 sound to Big Blue Nation? Our Chests would swell to a ginormous size and we wouldn't be able to be around any other fans without being obnoxiously over-chatty about it. Gillispie, a Texas native and former high school coach, preaches defense and shut outs...but is that the right attitude to have? Is it wrong to not allow the other team to score a basket? Don't baskets accidently get made? Not all offense is skill, there is a lot of luck involved. Could you imagine Lamar comes in to Lexington next year, or some division II school, and we thump them 85-0? Would there be anything remorseful about that for you as a fan or a person? This is brings up a very controversial point concerning a girls basketball team and another Texas coach, Micah Grimes.

The Covenant School girls basketball team defeated Dallas Academy team 100-0! That my friends is impressive. But here is the controversy, Dallas only has 8 girls on the varsity team and only 20 girls in their high school, and they have been winless in the last four years, and they were down 59-0 at the half. According to the Associated Press there is no mercy rule in girls basketball, so the game goes until the final buzzer sounds. The Head Master and the Board Chair issued a statement on their website to apologize for the "unChristian-like" display. WHAT? I am not sure I understand the logic behind this statement:

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."

What is a non-Christian about playing your best? The real question is why were the girls of Dallas Academy playing Covenant? And why are they in the same league? I can understand that there are those who think that the Convenant girls shouldn't have continued playing, but they did only score 12 points in the fourth quarter and 29 in the third. Were they supposed to stop playing all together? They play a full-court pressure and shoot a lot of threes. One of their players did score 48 points. They are also undefeated in their 2A district by score of 54-29, 66-7, 77-27. Nevertheless Covenant is going to forfiet the win. They do have losses to three other, larger schools. So, it reasons that they either became really good when they enter conference play or the competition is not worthy of that being called competition. Maybe they need to be moved to a 3A District, instead of the lower 2A. I'm not sure that the Dallas Academy girls should be in the 2A though, or maybe then need a new coach, considering they haven't won in four years. But to say that this was not Christian to continue to play, is a bit over the top. What would have been the Christian thing to do? Let them get a few baskets or play them at your skill level ? If this were a park game or a church league, then yeah, let them get a few baskets, but if you are talking about organized basketball with both teams agreeing on the rules and those rules remain unbroken...then it is a tough loss. What I think is great, is that the girls of Dallas Academy are over it and they don't really want to accept the forfiet loss; they want to earn the win. Good for you.

Here is a personal note. (Pulling from the recesses of my brain) I remember being 11 and having just started trying to playing basketball. My dad is teaching me in the driveway of our house; the lessons were purely fundamental. First, I wasn't allowed to shoot past ten feet away from the rim (not until I was strong enough to use the correct form from a farther distance). Second, the importance of learning to dribble. You need to be able to create your own offense, if you are always relying on someone else to get you the ball in the perfect spot you may not get to shoot too much. Third, defense is a must. You can score on accident, but you can't block, box out, steal, or shut someone down consistently by accident. Fourth, winning is a priviledge not a right; you have to earn victories. My dad played me to his skill level as a 40 year-old man and a once great athlete. Now, I am not condoning the physical level that he played me at, elbow to the chest, and pushing and shoving, but it took me four years to beat him; he missed one shot and in about 30 minutes of play and I didn't miss. He always said that the day I beat him that I will have actually beat him. He didn't allow me to win to feel better about myself, it was actually an achievement. He wanted to instill this in me so much that he wouldn't let me win at checkers. A win is a win and a loss is a loss.

This philosophy was the reinforced in middle school. I remember sitting in the locker room after gym class contemplating how unwanted I felt. I was picked last during a gym-class basketball game. Jimmie, a kid who had no coordination and no rugged boyishness about him was picked before me...I was dead last. Looking back I can't blame them. I can still see myself rocketing the ball towards the rim with unholy form and no skill whatsoever, and double dribbling everytime I touched the ball. (I don't think Jimmie even attempt a shot, that is probably why they wanted him over me). As sat there mulling over my play and the feelings of being last, I decided that no one would ever pick me last at basketball again. I went home and started a regiment of shooting for 6-8 hours a day (under my dad's watchful and very corrective eye) and all day weekends. I went from being picked last in middle school to playing with (skill-wise) and beating senoirs as a freshman in high school. The difference was passion and effort.

I really am glad that my dad didn't let me win just because he felt sorry for me. He would not have been helping me, but enabling me to think that I was better than I really was. Now, I have played many players ranging from college, ex-college, ex-semi-pro and gym rats and I have played very well. I haven't always won but I have always represented myself and my training.

The skill set that the Dallas Academy girls have been blessed with may have nothing to do with basketball. They may be great musicians or artists or business minded girls...but it is apparent that they need more training, passion, and effort before they get on the court. I hope that this either spurs the girls on to become great basketball players or to become great at what their skill set is. This much is true that are bad at basketball and there is no sugar coating it; Covenant is 100 times better than Dallas Academy.

The hardest part of this story, for me, is that the Coach Grimes was fired. The Covenant Headmaster is not commenting on whether that this had anything to do with the response that Coach Grimes emaied to a website. He stated that his girls acted with dignity and integrity. He didn't not agree with the school's apology. If the girls weren't jeering and making fun and they played within the rules, then I see nothing wrong with the score either.

All that to say this, I am hoping that the Cats shut out Ole Miss. That would be a great first for this team. Oh, and compete on every play. he he.