My high school, now Tommy's, won the Varsity Girls Soccer Championship this past Sunday at the very impressive soccer stadium in Germantown, Maryland. New coach. First year and the championship trophy now resides at 27th and Military Road in the District. Congratulations to all.
But now comes the story behind the story.
I try to catch the team's games largely to watch one of the most impressive players I've had the privilege to meet. Plus I enjoy visiting with her parents. Last year she was named team captain. She was only a Junior but she had excellent on-field execution. Her passes were arrow straight and to the right person. She was awesome when heading with the ball towards the goal. And she could shoot straight, curved, high, low but always true. Two prestigious New England schools offered her a scholarship. She's that good.
She did not play even a minute in this year's championship game and very little during the regular season. She didn't play because last year she quit the team.
She quit in protest over the coach. He was, in my opinion, a total butthole. He reminded me of more than a few CYO baseball coaches during the 1950s. Only his pet lineup played the games. Apparently she shared the sentiment. Apparently too the school found merit in her actions. They fired the coach.
I thought she showed a great deal of courage in her actions. Her teammates didn't. For the most part they shunned her. She stood alone. Got a bad coach replaced with a good one and carried the consequences of her action with dignity and maturity.
In fact, the new coach told her before the game that she would not play because he didn't want to cause any complaints to be fired his way. I call that gutless and pitiful. She took the news in stride and cheered when the team scored the winning goal and at the final whistle she jumped with joy. No one knew the story behind her riding the bench. I call that courage.
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On the other hand, I call the sports media's demand for Joe Pa's resignation shameless. Stop for a moment and think. Coach Joe did not see the acts. If he had, his Italian instincts would have found the perpetrator in a world of physical hurt. I guarantee it.
Coach Joe had one person's word. He acted upon it by reporting it to the higher school authorities. The media spent all day expressing phony righteous indignation over his not reporting it to the police. Remember at that point it was hearsay. It was up to the school to act.
So you say, Coach Joe should have fired the man. Based on what? If he acted in a punitive fashion he would have been guilty of the media's greatest sin: assuming one guilty until proven innocent. Coach Joe didn't sign the man's pay check. He didn't play judge or jury based on one man's accusation.
Years ago I was talking to a very fine gentleman about our children. He told me that a parent heard his son tell another youngster: "My Dad always beats me!" Outraged she called the police and had the man arrested. What the woman didn't hear was the first part of the conversation where my friend's son told the other boy: "My Dad and I play soccer every day but..."
If Coach Joe had walked into the shower room and saw the incident reported in the media, I only pray he would have had a pistol and shot the bastard. I call that the only Christian thing to do.
