Commentary

Football: What would you do about players who attacked ref?

The circumstances that led to a referee being blindsided on a high school football field in Texas on Sept. 4 are beginning to emerge.

Surely, you've seen the video on YouTube where two players from John Jay High School in San Antonio attacked referee Robert Watts from behind and knocked him to the ground. The players went on national TV days later and said they hit the referee after being instructed to do so by John Jay assistant coach Mack Breed over a series of bad calls and racist remarks allegedly made by Watts.

Watts, who is white, has denied using the N-word or any offensive language to the Hispanic players.

On Thursday, Breed essentially backed up the players' account when he resigned his coaching position at the school. Either that, or he's decided to take the blame in the hope the players may be allowed to return.

What is clear is that Breed should not be allowed to coach again at the high school or junior high level. But what about the two players, the ones who actually did the dirty work?

Kick them out of school and off the team for good, including the sophomore, Victor Rojas, who, under normal circumstances, would have two more years to play? That was my first reaction, but now I'm not so sure.

Have you ever seen the TV show "What would you do?" Hosted by John Quinones, it stages different scenarios and uses hidden cameras to see how people react in uncomfortable or awkward situations. For example, would you say something to a store manager if you saw someone shoplifting?

Most of us would say yes, but the hidden camera in this episode showed some who did nothing.

So, "What would you do?" if a coach told you to do something you should have already known wasn't right? Would you still do it?

Judging through the eyes of an adult, I say absolutely not. But pretend for a moment you're either 15 and 17, like these two boys, and wanted to please your coach.

I remember a situation in junior high where our coach instructed my brother, who was playing linebacker, to knock the center of the opposing team backward before the first snap of the game. Our coach told us beforehand in the locker room he wanted to do this because their coaches and players, from a big school in the suburbs, regarded us as a bunch of scumbags from the inner city.

We all cheered the plan only to find out later their coach didn't say those things and their players were friendly in the postgame handshakes.

From an adult perspective, I know now that was a cheap stunt by our coach and a poor example of sportsmanship. There are other ways of getting players fired up for a game instead of lying to them.

And under no circumstances should a coach instruct or even imply to a player that he take out a referee.

Currently, the two boys have been assigned to an alternative school for 75 days as punishment. No decision about their possible return will be made until the governing body for high school sports in Texas holds another hearing in October.

What Rojas and senior Mike Moreno did was unacceptable, even at the behest of an authority figure, and I would not allow either player back on the team. Nor, would I ask John Jay to forfeit the rest of its games as some have suggested.

But I'd likely be open to letting Rojas, the sophomore, return for next season if he showed real remorse and kept out of trouble during the off-season. But that's just me.

So, the question remains "What would you do?"

Sports on 09/27/2015

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