Blog http://www.greenvillefamilypartnership.org/blog Greenville Family Partnership blog en-us Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:23:49 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss BlueInk CMS Southside High School Basketball or Brawl? http://www.greenvillefamilypartnership.org/blog/2010/3/2/southside_high_school_basketbal_brawl Does anyone else think that what happened at the Southside High School basketball game that ended in a brawl is a sad statement on where we are today as a community raising our young people, the leaders of tomorrow? After all, we see it in the NBA & the NFL and we have seen it at our own college games and in little league. So, I guess it’s nothing new. Maybe in a few years we can skip the ball and just go right to the fighting. I read the articles, watched the news, and listened to the interviews carefully. All the reports did for me was to create more questions in my mind and raise more fear in my heart. My feelings and reactions were and still are sadness, fear, disappointment, and a sense of hopelessness as a bystander or spectator.

  • Did anyone else besides me see people leaving the stands to join in more so than break it up?
  • Was there really a “feeling” in the air that something might happen at this game?
  • Are we allowing our young people to maybe expect and incite trouble?
  • Are we not seeing this more and more and is it making the headlines?
  • Is this what we want our sporting venues and events to come to?
  • Are the consequences appropriate? Or, are we just making excuses and saying it was someone else’s fault?
  • Are we really at the point where we stop the tradition of sportsmanship (hand shakes after a game) because it is too dangerous?
  • Do we have to discuss more law enforcement at the games “just in case”?
  • Do we think that there is a connection between losing a championship game and a lack of self-discipline, sportsmanship, respect, and civility in the winner?

I don’t know about you but these are the thoughts running through my mind. We will move on, keep it out of the media, change the rules in the name of safety, and I believe the price we pay for this is to lose more young people and that is quite a loss. There will be no winners here until we work at this and work hard with our kids and that will take the parents working with the coaches and the schools won’t it? I am full of questions and fear for the future. I do not see this as a problem only for Southside High School but as a problem for all of us if we care about our young people in this community. What do you think?

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