An Editorial: The state of HS sports and its a free country
 

Actually, this is more about the state of HS boys basketball, but I am concerned this is a harbinger of things to come. The latest “professional” HS basketball player, West Virginia's Huntington High School star OJ Mayo, was ejected from a game for receiving his second technical foul. He then followed the ref to the scorers table and the ref ended up on the floor of the gym. By the rules of the state association, Mayo is to serve a 2 game suspension (next two games) just for the ejection (automatic with the second T), without even considering the ref ending up on the floor. These next two games, however, are highly publicized interstate games, one at Duke University against a team from California. Of course, this suspension was taken to court and a temporary injunction ordered permitting him (and 5 teammates who were ejected for leaving the bench to enter the fray) to play. The coach blames the whole thing on the ref. Check out this thread.

This creature I have called a “professional” HS basketball player is a relatively recent invention. Although there have been players going pro right out of high school since the beginning of professional sports (esp. baseball), this really got started with Kobe Bryant, evolved into Kevin Garnett, Labron James, and now OJ Mayo. Mayo's mother apparently even moved from state to state to find the best HS program for him.

The spectacle of interstate “Travel” HS basketball, national championships (however mythical), ESPN coverage of games set up as thinly disguised recruiting trips, and the like, coupled with the general hoodlum-ization of the NBA, has resulted in athletes playing on HS varsity teams who act like, and are treated like, some of the worst case examples of star football players at football factories like U of Miami, etc. (Plenty of other examples, not to single out Miami).

Now, if press reports are to be believed, we have a high school administration completely in the pocket of the star athlete who models his behavior after his idols in the NBA, courts placing a "right to play" above sportsmanship and the rules of the game, and big money broadcast networks egging all of this on.

Kind of makes me glad we don't have big time professional softball.

When I read stories like this, demonstrating a value system for high school athletics that seems so out of whack, there is one consolation I can take.

This sort of behavior is a tiny fraction of what high school sports are all about. It is the small exception, not the rule.

The NFHS reports that over seven million high school students participated in all of their combined programs. For boys basketball, there were over one-half million participants.

Sure, I hope that situations like this one can be straightened out, with an emphasis on sportsmanship, fair play and following the rules. For the vast majority of high school athletes those are the values that will guide their high school experience.