2008-09 MAXPREPS TOP 10 STORIES OF THE YEAR
Ranking: No. 8
What: Host The Covenant School defeated Dallas Academy 100-0 in girls basketball game setting off a national debate on sportsmanship and when to take the foot off the pedal.
When: Jan. 13, 2009
Where: Covenant School, Dallas Texas
How: Covenant took leads of 35-0, 59-0 and 88-0 after each of the first three quarters before reaching 100-0 with about four minutes to play.
Why significant?: The game inspired lively debate how coaches should handle games between teams with obvious skill and athletic differences.
MaxPreps Stories of the Year: A panel of six MaxPreps national writers established the top 10 stories of the year, and voted them in order in terms of national interest, importance and possible future significance.
Monday: No. 7 – An Oregon girl almost doubles one of our nation’s most recognizable and treasured records held by an American Icon.
A GIRLS BASKETBALL game in the middle of January in Texas isn’t normally much of a draw, let alone a compelling story.
But what occurred between the visiting Dallas Academy Bulldogs and the Covenant School Knights struck all the extremes and caused a national firestorm of discussion and debate about sportsmanship, lopsided scores and boundaries.
Covenant scored a preposterous 100-0 victory on the court but then pretty much lost by the same proportions among public opinion.
The Knights’ coach Micah Grimes was fired shortly afterward at the same time Dallas Academy players and coaches were featured on national television morning shows and invited to be guests to NBA games.
There were few fans at the game pitting small schools from the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools organization. There were no reporters. But once the score was revealed in Dallas newspapers and at MaxPreps, the ammunition was fired and the national media moved in.
The Dallas Morning News reported the scores after each quarter: 35-0, 59-0, 88-0 and that Covenant hit triple figures with about four minutes left before finally calling off the troops.
Dallas Academy didn’t make a big deal about it, though after the loss actually withdrew from league play for the rest of the season. The Bulldogs played non-league games only and finished 0-5.
Sports, especially girls basketball, isn’t a big priority at the school known for helping kids with learning problems. Bulldogs Athletic Director Jermy Civello told the DMN that Dallas Academy squads plays to learn about team work and other life lessons.
This one was definitely about humility.
“This is what it came down to in the second half: steal at half court and layup,” Civello said. “Steal and layup. Steal and layup. It was a layup drill. They finally eased up when they got to 100.
“I’m sure they could have won by 30 points and still had just as good a time.”
Grimes said he was not happy with the outcome, intended no harm and saw it as a learning opportunity.
His boss Kyle Queal, head of Covenant, was much more firm saying “It was poor judgment. I look at the box score and look at the box score, and it was not justified. It will never happen again.”
Humble celebrities
In the meantime, the networks locked down on the Dallas Academy campus, with segments from CBS’ Saturday Early Show, ABC’s Good Morning America Weekend and NBC’s Today show.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban invited the Dallas Academy team to be his guests at a game and Nike sponsored a trip the NBA All-State Game in Phoenix.
The original story about the game on dallasnews.com attracted 665,000 page views, more than double the high for any Dallas Cowboy story during the 2008 season. They also got e-mails from throughout the country and as far away as China, debating whether Grimes ran up the score or allowed his player to play to their potential.
Dallas Academy Headmaster Jim Richardson thought all the attention to the game was silly and didn’t hold any grudges against Covenant.
But about a week after the game, Queal and Todd Doshier, a chairman of the school’s board of trustees, apologized in writing on the school’s website and offered to forfeit the contest: “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition.”
Grimes, a fourth-season off-campus coach who lifted Covenant from a 2-19 team to a state-title contender, responded to the school website message with a posting on flightbasketball.com.
“I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel 'embarrassed' or 'ashamed,’ “ Grimes wrote. “We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy.”
After the post, Grimes was fired.
Though his season was over, the Knights and the debates continued.
Lopsided scores, balanced debate
Covenant finished the season 18-6, winning other games 66-7, 62-12, 57-8, 65-5 and 72-8 to name a few. It lost a third-round playoff game 59-49 to Texoma Christian to end the season and finished almost doubling opponents score, 1,430 to 722.
But that isn’t much different that most elite national teams.
The average margin of victory for Covenant was 28.6. The average margin among top 10 teams in the MaxPreps/National Guard girls final poll was 27.9.
As far as debates on the issue, there were no shortages of opinions and blogs.
The most interesting and balanced may have come from the Positive Coaching Alliance website.
Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson said coaches need to prepare for weak or overmatched foes just like preparing for an equal rival.
If facing an obviously overmatched squad then start reserves, let less nimble forwards and centers bring the ball up court, and work on off-hands.
“Blow-out games provides as many teachable moments as do highly-contested ones,” Thompson wrote.
But a fellow coach Richard Dyer disagreed. He said you always play to win, no matter what situation.
“I would be more embarrassed if I was losing and the other team started dribbling with their left hands or centers playing guard,” he wrote. “That is embarrassing because now you are telling me that I’m such a joke that I can beat you with my left hand. What’s next? Blind folds?
“I want my kids to compete whether they win or lose because guess what? That’s real life.”
Thompson doesn’t disagree. But educators need to find a way to teach kids not to bury and trample other kids. There’s a way to be more human and compassionate and still be competitive and skilled.
“Sports soars when worthy opponents compete and it takes their best to win,” Thompson wrote. “Mismatches happen, so coaches must prepare their teams to play weak opponents with class, just as they prepare them to play tough opponents with determination.
“Otherwise, why not schedule against a kindergarten team and go for 500 points?”
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
