Being It

On January 14, 2011, Christian Heritage High School (Utah) beat West Ridge Academy (Utah) in a girl's basketball game by the score of 108-3.

Even though Christian Heritage High thought it would be disrespectful to slow down the game, there were endless remarks about the ugliness and unsportsmanlike conduct in the outcome of the game by various national sports and news talking heads.

A similar event took place in January of 2009.

Dallas Academy High School in Texas had only 20 girls in attendance and 8 members on the girl's varsity basketball team. They hadn't won a game in more than 4 years.

On January 10, 2009, Dallas Academy played Covenant School in a girl's varsity basketball game. Both are private, parochial schools.

Covenant School beat Dallas Academy 100 to zero.

Micah Grimes was in his fourth season as coach of the Covenant High School Girls Varsity Basketball Team. The team had a record of 2-19 in his first season and he built the program into a state championship contender by the 2009 season.

Covenant often plays larger out-of-district school and had a 6-3 record for the 2008-2009 season so far that year.

When the score was 25-0 against Dallas Academy, Grimes called off Covenant's full-court defensive pressure and began resting starters.

The score was 59-0 at halftime.

In the fourth quarter, Covenant only scored 12 points, totally ceasing scoring in the last four minutes once they reached 100.

Kyle Queal, head of Covenant Academy, subsequently issued an apology to Dallas Academy and offered to forfeit the game -- "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened.... A victory without honor is a great loss."

The following Sunday, January 25, 2009, Coach Grimes posted the following statement on a youth basketball website.

"I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially that the Covenant School Girl's Basketball Team should feel embarrassed or ashamed. We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. My girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy."

Shortly thereafter on the same day, Coach Grimes was fired.

Later, Covenant School posted a statement on their website seeking the "forgiveness of Dallas Academy" while expressing their "regrets" for the "shameful" outcome of the game. "This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like approach to competition."

A Christ-like approach to competition?

Is it a Christ-like approach to fire someone for properly doing their job?

Is everyone in Texas insane?

One of the freshman players on the Dallas Academy team, Shelby Hyatt, was asked about the game -- "Even if you're losing, you might as well keep playing. Keep trying and it's going to be okay."

Well, apparently everyone in Texas isn't insane after all.

Recently, a school district in California banned the game of tag from grade school playgrounds. They felt that someone had to be “it” and would thereby get their feelings hurt, thus creating victims with low self-esteem.

Self-esteem is a confidence and satisfaction in oneself. It comes from what we think of ourselves. Basically, you are what you think you are. The higher your self-esteem, the more confidence and satisfaction you possess.

People with high self-esteem respect themselves, thereby gaining respect from others.

• To have high self-esteem, you must realistically accept who and what you are, and have a feeling of worth and competency.

• You must be capable of meeting life’s challenge and believe you’re worthy of happiness.

People with low self-esteem often withdraw within themselves or try to prove themselves by impressing others.

• They lack confidence, hence avoid exposing themselves to failure, or become arrogant and egotistical to make up for their shortcomings.

• They’ll often blame others rather than take responsibility for their own actions.

Nothing builds self-esteem like accomplishment. Sports are an endeavor in achievement. As in life, there are winners and losers. The lesson to be learned in any competition is to win with honor and to lose with grace. You give it your best effort and live with the consequences.

Some signs you may be suffering from low self-esteem are:

• You’re not only afraid of heights but are also afraid of widths.

• You consider indecision to be the key to flexibility.

• Sometimes you stop to think, then forget to start again.

• Your imaginary friend is smarter and better looking than you.

• You used to be indecisive, but now you’re not so sure.

• If at first you don’t succeed, you blame it on the vast right-wing conspiracy.

• You believe that reality is the leading cause of stress.

• When you finally get it all together, you forget where you put it.

• You believe that growing old is inevitable but growing up is optional.

• You always wanted to be a procrastinator but never got around to it.

• You don’t suffer from low self-esteem – you enjoy every minute of it.

• You were “it” once playing tag as a child and it ruined your life.

Life is a series of trials and tribulations – sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes you’re “it.”

Embrace the experience and move on -- in only two days, tomorrow will be yesterday.

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Quote for the Day – "Sports does not build character -- it reveals it." John Wooden

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Bret Burquest is the author of 12 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a few dogs and where "it" often refers to "that thing over yonder".

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Armadillo Antics

There's a tool shed in my backyard about the size and shape of a typical outhouse. We no longer have use for the outhouse around here, typical or otherwise, since we discovered the miracle of indoor plumbing.

Under the tool shed lives an armadillo. His name is Armando.

The word ‘armadillo’ comes from the Latin word ‘arma,’ meaning wearing armor, and the Latin word ‘dillo’ meaning a very weird thing. In other words, an armadillo is a very weird thing wearing armor, much like Nancy Pelosi if she were wearing armor.

It's basically a small animal, about the size of a pregnant sewer rat, that looks like a miniature brontosaurus afflicted with the shingles.

Armando and I have much in common. We both sleep all day and come out late at night.

I like to gaze at the stars and Armando likes to waddle around the premises in the dark, scratching the ground in search of edible tidbits.

My dog, Buddy Lee, considers Armando to be an intruder.

Armando considers Buddy Lee to be 22 pounds of buffoonery with four legs.

Buddy Lee circles Armando, pretending to be formidable.

Armando ignores such nonsense, knowing he's impervious to an attack because he has the ability to instantaneously curl up into a facsimile of a bowling ball.

Many armadillos occupy my property, about eight acres of hilly woods. They seem to delight in digging holes small enough to be hidden from normal peripheral vision yet large enough to twist an adult ankle, about the size of my ankle, if that adult isn’t careful where he or she steps.

Not only are armadillos hanging out with me, but they also seem to be prevalent throughout the surrounding region. I took an informal, unscientific survey last month of the roadways within five miles of my country estate, keeping a running tally on road-kill whenever I ventured out into the real world. Over a period of 30 days, I counted 11 armadillos, 7 possums, 4 raccoons, and a banana peel.

In terms of road-kill, armadillos are either incredibly abundant or possibly suicidal.

Armadillos are closely related to the anteater and come in about 20 varieties. All varieties have an armored shell for defense. The two most common models are the three-banded and nine-banded variety. The three-banded ones are the only ones capable of curling up into a ball as a defense mechanism.

Because armadillos have a low metabolic rate, with virtually no fat reserves, they can’t survive in colder climates. Native to South America, they’re found in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kansas and Arkansas. In fact, the armadillo is the state mammal of Texas.

If I’m not mistaken, the state mammal of Louisiana is the red-necked yahoo.

Much like the Housewives of Beverly Hills, the armadillo spends a great deal of its time foraging for food. While the Housewives of Beverly Hills dine on French cuisine and hot fudge sundaes, the armadillo prefers insects, grubs and small vertebrates.

Armadillos have very few teeth, which contain no enamel, that are similar to peg-like molars. Since they primarily eat insects, they don’t have to do a lot of heaving chewing anyway. Like most insect eating mammals, they have a very long, sticky tongue to gather up tiny creatures as quickly as possible.

Armadillos have one of the most unique reproductive features in nature. They always give birth to four identical young, the only mammal known to do so. All four young develop from the same egg and even share the same placenta in the womb. Breeding occurs in July and the embryo remains in a dormant state until November. The four young are born in a burrow in March. All four young are identical quadruplets, always the same sex.

Some female armadillos, mostly ones used in research, have given birth long after they were captured, sometimes up to two years later -- these so-called ‘virgin births’ are a result of the female’s ability to delay implantation of the fertilized egg during times of stress.

By the way, it’s illegal to own an armadillo in Kansas or Missouri, and all road-kill in Oklahoma is legal tender.

Buddy Lee discovered the wonderful world of the skunk one night not long ago. It has given him a greater appreciation of random critters roaming about.

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Quote for the Day – “I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” Winston Churchill

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Bret Burquest is the author of 12 books. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a few dogs and where armadillos flourish.

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