Dallas Academy (Lost 100-0) Getting National Attention

[kepdawg]

Dallas Academy Bulldogs, 100-0 losers, gain national attention

11:33 PM CST on Friday, January 23, 2009

By BARRY HORN / The Dallas Morning News
bhorn@dallasnews.com

The Dallas Academy Bulldogs, losers of a 100-0 high school girls basketball game last week, have emerged as America's sweethearts.


They have become the rage of network television. Today, they're scheduled to appear on two early morning national shows, and the gifts are piling up.

"Everybody who hears the story is sympathetic if not empathetic," said Andrew Morse, executive producer of Good Morning America Weekend, explaining the media interest. "Everybody has been on a losing side and felt what it must have been to look at the scoreboard as the other team's point total continued to mount."

It's made for a grueling schedule.

The girls were up late Thursday night to participate in a faux practice taped by ABC's World News. After the report that mentioned the final score, their traditional losing ways and their learning problems was broadcast Friday night, anchor Diane Sawyer, looking straight into the camera, offered a gentle cheer, "And go Bulldogs."

Early this morning, the girls will be back in the Dallas Academy gym for a segment on ABC's Good Morning America Weekend. As soon as ABC is finished with them, CBS' Saturday Early Show will step in to do its interviews.

Presumably, Sunday will be a day of rest. Then everybody will be back in the gym early Monday morning for a scheduled interview with Matt Lauer of NBC's Today show.

And there has been Mark Cuban's invitation to be his guests at a Mavericks game as well as a call from Nike about sponsoring a team trip to the Feb. 15 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix. There may be some new uniforms thrown in.

The story unfolded on Jan. 13, when The Covenant School's team overwhelmed Dallas Academy, 100-0, keeping the pressure on until it reached 100 points. The game was played in an old North Dallas gym with few fans other than parents as witnesses. No media were present. But the score appeared in The Dallas Morning News the following day. It wasn't until a story about the game appeared in The News that the world took notice.

It was on Thursday, the day the story appeared, that Covenant, a North Dallas Christian School, issued an apology on its Web site, saying its team had achieved "victory without honor" and said it would forfeit the game.

When posted on dallas news.com, the story attracted 665,000 page views, the most since a controversy over who should be the Grapevine High School valedictorian attracted 853,000 in 2008. The season-high story for the Cowboys, perennial Web site favorites, was 300,000 page views in November when Tony Romo took a homeless man to the movies.

E-mails have flooded in from across the country and as far away as China commenting on the story. Most have questioned the motives of Covenant's coach for "running up" the score. But some have defended the coach for allowing his girls to play to their potential. None have blamed the Covenant players.

The attention has stunned Dallas Academy, which told its side of the story only after it was asked.

"It's really silly," said Jim Richardson, the school's headmaster, who has continually emphasized he has no hard feelings and pointed out that Covenant head of school Kyle Queal once spent time working for him as a substitute at Dallas Academy. "I remember once seeing a 1940s Gary Cooper movie in which people made a big deal about nothing. I think we're getting there fast."


LINK (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/012409dnspoacademy.4194876.html)

[Diocletian]

wow, that's messed up


I guess sometimes the loser can win more than than the victor.

[I. B. Watching]

They probably should practice a little more

[wildstangs]

My 8th grade team beat a team 38-0 this year. I wonder if they got any publicity?

[I. B. Watching]

Originally posted by wildstangs
My 8th grade team beat a team 38-0 this year. I wonder if they got any publicity?
That's a pretty good thrashing. If the team your team beat continues to not improve, then who knows, a segment on Good Morning America just might be on the horizon.

[Emerson1]

I remember we beat a team 44-4. After the game a fat kid on the other team tried to talk crap to us in the hall

[I. B. Watching]

Originally posted by Emerson1
I remember we beat a team 44-4. After the game a fat kid on the other team tried to talk crap to us in the hall
Did he score all four of their points?

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by I. B. Watching
Did he score all four of their points?
Doubtful, he was like 5'2" and really fat

[I. B. Watching]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Doubtful, he was like 5'2" and really fat

Lol, then he really didn't have anything to talk about

[Aesculus gilmus]

Covenant just fired its coach for disagreeing with the apology. It's the top story on the Dallas News site right now.

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by Aesculus gilmus
Covenant just fired its coach for disagreeing with the apology. It's the top story on the Dallas News site right now. oh boy

[bullfrog_alumni_02]

its been a minute since i have posted heavily on here, but i have to give the covenant a pat on the back for their administration deciding to forfeit of the reasons it stated, or were stated in the article. i agree on almost every account that the coach might have been letting his players play to their potential; however. triple digits is overkill. i used to assist the varsity basketball coach by taping the games for him my freshman and sophomore years in high school, i witnessed LW win against chisolm trail academy by like 60 points, i think the final score was 104-44. and i can say that the coach was just letting the players play, but now looking at a situation that parallels the game i taped i cant help but realize that the coach could have (and should have) put the breaks on in the 4th qtr. its amazing to watch your colors put up gaudy numbers against anyone, however not at the price of anyone's dignity. i dont recall anything about the game except the score. but it is still an injustice to all athletes involved when a coach, an adult, does something like that to destroy a childs dreams or hopes. at the higher levels where everyone is an adult, its a little more open however that should still be taken into account when you are in something like coaching. the firing of the cov's coach was the right move because he obviously didnt hold integrity and/or honor in high regard. hopefully Dallas Academy can use this as motivation to spring board themselves into bettering themselves and their futures.

[kaorder1999]

Originally posted by Ernest T Bass
Im pretty sick of this whole ordeal. Was the HC wrong? Ethically, yes. But, there's no rule against running up the score, and in the end, this is a COMPETITION! If you have a problem with it, then find a way to make the score closer. If you can't put good enough athletes on the field(court) to do that, and it still hurts your feelings, then don't put a team on the court.
I would never do this, and I wouldn't respect a coach who did do it. But, to be fired over this is absolutely ridiculous! What should happen, is every other team that Covenant plays tries to run up the score and the Covenant coach should probably find difficulty in ever getting a job at Dallas Academy. But that's it! This is just more of the feel-good, Im ok-you're ok, entitlement BS that's taking over every other facet of society.
Covenant, or whatever they're called, and their coach, owe absolutely nothing to Dallas Academy other than to show up and play the game according to the rules. They did that. Now shut up!

He wasnt fired for running up the score. He was fired for releasing the statement he made....not smart to speak out against your employer!

[kaorder1999]

even more...the dude didn't even teach at the school or anything. All he did was coach basketball. He should have just kept his mouth shut....or in this case....should have kept his keyboard shut!

[pancho villa]

Seems to me the Bulldogs need to learn how to play basketball!

[I. B. Watching]

or do something else

[Heffelfinger]

I think the wrong coach got fired.

[kaorder1999]

i dont care if I think my principal is an idiot and doesnt know what he is talking about....I would never get on a public forum or website and say anything negative about my school. You just have to know when to keep your mouth shut. He knew their was a chance he would lose his job...and if he valued his job enough....he should have shut up!

[Heffelfinger]

You are right about shutting up. Take your win and enjoy it for what is worth.

[Macarthur]

The big issue that many folks don't understand is that this team has girls with "learning disabilities". This was not a fair fight from the beginning.

Also, even after it was clear in the first quarter that this was way loopsided, the coach continued to periodically "press" during the game.

Classless.

[kaorder1999]

Originally posted by Macarthur
The big issue that many folks don't understand is that this team has girls with "learning disabilities". This was not a fair fight from the beginning.

Also, even after it was clear in the first quarter that this was way loopsided, the coach continued to periodically "press" during the game.

Classless.

I agree. There are things you can do to prevent this from happening.

[themsu97]

that is where the problem comes in... the coach still had team in a press and the girls were still shooting 3's... that is running up the score...
being on each side, it sucks... I have beaten teams pretty handily but after about a 25 point lead, the press comes off... drop into a zone... tell the kids no more 3's and they have to run the offense at least one time through before a shot is attempted... and it cannot be a 3... no more fast breaks either...
there are times even in this that the score will still get out of hand, but like running the dive in football, there comes a point when the other teams has to stop you

[STAggie]

This was just a classless win. My Little Dribblers team was up 19-2 at half this past Saturday and I shut it down. I felt bad enough about that score. We ended up winning 25-15. There is no reason to run the score up unless it is a rivalry game or the coach has a history of doing it to other teams.

[Farmersfan]

We expect it in all other aspects of our society so why shouldn't we expect the successful team to back off to accommodate the lesser team? Or better yet why don't we just impliment a handicap system. Academy gets a 90 point handicap before the game. That way they actually only lost by 10 points. Or if Covenant only scores 89 then Academy wins the game outright. YAAAAAAA HOOOOOOOOO!! Boy what a team!!!

[JR2004]

Originally posted by kaorder1999
i dont care if I think my principal is an idiot and doesnt know what he is talking about....I would never get on a public forum or website and say anything negative about my school. You just have to know when to keep your mouth shut. He knew their was a chance he would lose his job...and if he valued his job enough....he should have shut up!

You're right. I think that's what most folks have missed about why this coach lost his job. You just don't do what this guy did and make comments publicly that go against what your school and boss have already said. He didn't know when to shut up and it cost him his job.

[PHS Wildcats]

What's said is that there are only 20 females at the school. 8 on the Varisty team, 6 of the 8 has never played basketball and 3 or 4 are in the 9th grade. They haven't won a game in 4 yrs. The Covenant coach is classless. You are up 59-0 at halftime. In the 2nd half you are still putting on a full court press and shooting 3 pointers. I hear people say he didn't run up the score, because they only scored 12 pts in the 4th. Wow!! It was 88-0 at the end og the 3rd.

[NastySlot]

why didn't the clock and scoreboard keeper just run that thing?

[TheDOCTORdre]

this year my team beat another team 50-10. after we went up 30-4 i put in our special needs girl for the remainder of the game and we still managed to put up 50

[sportzman44]

Originally posted by TheDOCTORdre
this year my team beat another team 50-10. after we went up 30-4 i put in our special needs girl for the remainder of the game and we still managed to put up 50

This happened to us recently,we had outscored the opponent by app.30 pts. the first half the coach pulled the starters the 2nd half and stopped the press and we still outscored the opponents by 25 in the second half.The coach was accused of running up the score but what people fail to realize is that the players who do not get a lot of playing time still go out there and try to do their best.Is it fair to put these players on the court and then tell them not to play?I don't think so.
I do not agree wiyh still shooting three pointers and pressing but you cannot tell kids who rarely get the opportunity to play to sit on the ball and not shoot.

just my 2 cents

[hookandladder]

Originally posted by kaorder1999
i dont care if I think my principal is an idiot and doesnt know what he is talking about....I would never get on a public forum or website and say anything negative about my school. You just have to know when to keep your mouth shut. He knew their was a chance he would lose his job...and if he valued his job enough....he should have shut up!

Was he really a coach or just a Dad coaching at a private school, we have coaches in our area at private school's who are not quote coaches. Some do a very good job however this is not their only job, they work other job's during the day. So if he was not a quote professional coach with a degree I can see this happening, you see this type of behavior in little dribblers and little league programs, some coaches it's all about winning at all cost. Not saying all, just some.

[kepdawg]

Originally posted by hookandladder
Was he really a coach or just a Dad coaching at a private school, we have coaches in our area at private school's who are not quote coaches. Some do a very good job however this is not their only job, they work other job's during the day. So if he was not a quote professional coach with a degree I can see this happening, you see this type of behavior in little dribblers and little league programs, some coaches it's all about winning at all cost. Not saying all, just some.

I don't know of too many coaches with coaching degrees so how do you determine if someone is really a coach?

[lange4]

The response the Covenant coach wrote was to explain about the game. He said they did not press after 3 min into game and were up 25-0. They only shot 4 three's the entire game. 3 in first 3 min and 1 in 3rd qtr. Went into 2-3 zone at 3 min mark of 1st qtr.
Here that May has a really good girls team and to keep from running scores way up they have to pass the ball 10 times before they shoot. You sit in the stands and listen to the crowd count down 5-4-3-2-1-shoot. That sounds pretty degrading to me.

[hookandladder]

Originally posted by kepdawg
I don't know of too many coaches with coaching degrees so how do you determine if someone is really a coach?

At private schools you do not need to have a college degree or even gone to college to be a coach. As I stated before some private school coaches work a full day job elsewhere and then coach sports at a private school. Do you understand what I am saying now.