Memo to bad and/or lazy referees: in the digital age, allow players to blatantly flagrant foul one another without a single whistle at your own risk. That’s a lesson the officials who oversaw a high school basketball game between Connell (Wash.) High and Highland High are learning the hard way this week, after film of their shockingly awful incompetence hit the internet.
Unfortunately the clip also did a little more than shine a light on the egregious no-calls by the refs, though, it also made the kids involved unwitting victims of some serious e-scrutiny. As per Yahoo! Sports:
“As it turns out, the clip did more than just spotlight an officiating problem; it also made seniors Cole Vanderbilt and teammate Kennan VanHollebeke look like the dirtiest players on the court.
Someone apparently didn't appreciate the fouls -- the fifth foul is definitely of the flagrant variety -- because before anyone could blink, the video had gone viral, with one website proclaiming Vanderbilt to be "the dirtiest basketball player in America."
While ?Christenson certainly proved his point with the video, what he didn't expect was the outcry on YouTube from commenters who viewed the clip. The negative and sometimes hurtful responses to the fouls forced Vanderbilt's coaches and family to go into damage-control mode.”
Far more significant than the specific details of this case, though, is what a great example it is of the positives and negatives associated with the digital age we currently live in. On one hand, continued awful officiating that could have led to injury gets called out in public and will no doubt be taken care of before these schools play anyone else. On the other hand, a young teenager now has to live with non-stop and at times viciously cruel criticism about the way he plays ball.
Check out the clip below and make your own conclusions on who deserves what share of the guilt.
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We too have now viewed and are truly horrified by this video. Yes, basketball can be physical and rough. Yes, we believe that the refs for this game should be retrained, or removed from high school refereeing. Not sure why the WIAA is allowing such officiating.
But we are incredulous that the district Superintendent and his school board would not immediately remove at least one of the players involved and the coach, before a child, yes – these are still ‘children’, gets his neck broken or a skull fractured. To have the team’s players smirking and low-fiving each other after each of these fouls in unconscionable. For the coach to be quoted “his (#34) team has rallied to support him” is unbelievable. With all of the specialized training that athletes must go through regarding concussions in order to participate in sports these days, how in the world can you tolerate such an attitude? The coach encourages such behaviors? He allows the players to believe that they should support such game tactics?
Whatever is decided to be done about Connell High School’s basketball program, anything short of removing player #34 and replacing Coach Garza is condoning indescribably sadistic ball playing and shame on you all.
The video is appalling. Actions speak louder than words. In football the definition of clothesline is “To strike an opponent across the face or neck with an extended forearm. Clotheslining is illegal.” How can that be tolerated in basketball? Ron Artest of the Lakers this last May received a one game suspension for clotheslining JJ Barea. It is totally unacceptable behavior at any level of play. #34’s smirk after that play is nauseating.
@Alex Groberman (author of article):
Are you for real??? The only thing you truly take issue with is the true intentions of the person who "taped" and posted the video. That's not the issue. The video did not "obviously" take a lot of work. Paraphrasing the Mastercard commercials: Time to videotape the game, a couple of hours; Time to chop the 5 videos out of the file and copy/paste them into a video-editing program multiple times, cutting the frame rate in half for each replay for effect, 15-20 minutes; The resulting video: PRICELESS!
Yes, this is the digital age and, if we were not, this entire situation could have been swept under the rug locally. Should the players be nationally vilified? That's for everyone to decide for themselves. However, if you perform like that in public where -legally- you have no reasonable expectation of privacy, the consequences are yours alone to bear. Personally, I wouldn't think any less of the person who videotaped this if his intention WAS for it to go viral. Perhaps he should have sought other avenues or perhaps what he did was proper. That is also for each person to decide for themselves.
Intentionally directing the spotlight away from the real issue is a true disservice. With all due respect, sir, you are attempting to cloud the issue by going off on a tangent and questioning the intentions of the person with the camera. The issue is not the intentions of the person who videotaped it. The issue is whether or not the basketball players were wrong. In that regard, I think you would be rather hard-pressed to find anyone who will defend the playing style of these two athletes.
Shawn Collins
Belleville, IL
Amen, spot-on, absolutely correct. Don't shoot the messenger - fire the refs, fire the coach and kick those two or three goons off the squad and perhaps suspend them for a couple of days. Laughingly, I do have to take issue with calling these clowns "athletes."
You say Amen like you are a christian yet children are goons.. I don't even know what a goon is, but you have used it as a very bad quote. With all the bullying and child suicides people act like this. I was at the game and no one was hurt!!! I don't want the referees job but you sound like you would be great at it or at least better than any others you've seen. I was never taught this way to show God's Love maybe you should share with your family and mom and your church family and see how proud they are of you.
OK, Mr./Ms. Hilmes, read on and become edified,
I called what I saw as I saw it. I do not care that "no one got hurt" as you claim. I have been an athlete AND a Christian all of my life and I know a few things about what I saw: 1) The violations were all unsportsmanlike and illegal in basketball, 2) those acts could have crippled their recipients, 3) the fact that no one got hurt entirely a result of God's grace; far less malicious and vile acts have caused tragic and permanent injury on far too many occasions, 4) the prime miscreant, #34, was smirking and snickering at the result of his most heinous act which very easily could have fractured the other player's skull and killed him. It is asinine of you to classify my remarks as "bullying." There is nothing wrong with expressing a bit of public outrage, especially when it is directed at those who are in charge of our children, i.e. referees, coaches and parents. And, yes, sometimes even the little darlings themselves must be punished, especially when they are old enough to know better.
Furthermore, I have shared this post with many people, ALL of them Christians. Their reaction to what happened was utter disgust; their reaction to what I wrote was entirely positive; their reaction to what you wrote was pity. Be wary of hypocrisy when you set out to admonish someone for perceived faults. I reference your implication that my "family, mom and church family," would be ashamed of my writings. Perhaps you should revisit the Book of Matthew, Chapter 7, verses 1-5,
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."
Finally, here is the definition of a goon: "a goon is someone that is employed as someone's personal enforcer, such as either a personal bodyguard or a ruffian who is kept on staff to intimidate or assault people." Not having checked this definition before writing my piece, I would say that I too hit it right on the spot, AMEN. "Amen," by the way, is merely an attestation of agreement, an affirmation. It may or may not connote religion.
I can be a Christian and still abhor evil acts. Similarly, I can still be a Christian and speak sternly, if not crossly, to you. Advice: lighten up, there are plenty of true offenders out there at whom you might want to aim your big pointy finger of accusation, i.e. the parents that allow their children to act like players #34 and 42. Those boys are bullies.
Peace out, cubscout
Mr. Groberman, are you serious when you conclude your article with, "On the other hand, a young teenager now has to live with non-stop and at times viciously cruel criticism about the way he plays ball???" The vicious physical behavior of this punk and his teammates on the basketball court is the issue here. What Vanderbilt and his fellow assailants do on the court cannot, in anyone's catechism of athletics, be classified as, "playing ball." Oh, boo hoo, people have called a spade a spade and now these poor darlings have to suffer the consequences of their actions because someone caught their punk butts on video. Oh, the humanity, how unfair!!?? HE/THEY GET(S) WHAT HE/THEY DESERVE(S)! Those CONNELL punks deliberately smashed, hacked and mauled their opponents, walking around the court afterwards like dumb, fat wastes of space, grimacing and smirking as if to say, "Who me? No way! What a bad call!" None of them has any basketball/athletic skill whatsoever. Furthermore, as he clearly condones this behavior, the Connell coach ought to be fired and banned from Washington high school athletics. After the fifth foul (the most egregious), the other referee is actually laughing with Vanderbilt as the players from the other team help their teammate off the floor. They are both a couple of pigs who deserve a beat down and a boot from any sort of high school sports. There isn't a scrap of athleticism between the two of them. Had this sort of crap happened on the floor of any high school court in Ohio, the parents would have taken these butt heads off the court and escorted them off the premises.
The refs did not call that game right. 2 (maybe 3) of the fouls by 34 should have been ejections. Maybe not his first one, but the clothesline and the running hip check should have been automatics.
I would feel bad for him if he wasn't giggling about the clothesline.
The lack of empathy by players #34 & #42 towards others, even on their own team, is deeply concerning..