FEBRUARY 2, 2016, 11:09 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2016, 11:12 AM
BY DARREN COOPER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The enterprise of North Jersey high school sports seemingly gets sicker by the day.
At this point, it’s almost a given that some coach, school, parent or athlete is cheating or acting inappropriately nearly every day.
There is no justification. There is no explanation. There is no excuse.
And it needs to stop.
Why do coaches use athletes who aren’t physically healthy? Why do coaches feel the need to berate kids publicly and privately? How in the world does a parent get into a physical confrontation with a coach during a football practice, as in what happened in October at St. Joseph? How does a coach allow eighth-graders to practice with a high school wrestling team, like the incident last month at Don Bosco?
The list of incidents goes on and on — just since the fall.
Why do schools allow kids to be athletic free agents and jump ship while sometimes using phony change of addresses as the pretense to transfer? What makes a parent reach out to an athlete, already in high school, and tell him he should play sports somewhere else so he can get noticed and attract that college scholarship?
Who would write “White girls are soft” on a dry-erase board before a girls basketball game, as, according to one coach, happened last weekend at the Bergen County tournament? Who would think “Blackensack,” the hashtag posted last week to the private Instagram account of Paramus wrestler Nick Ciambrone along with a photo of a Caucasian wrestler in a white Paramus singlet wrestling an African-American wrestler in a dark singlet, is clever or funny?
The thing that’s funny? The people who are cheating or acting inappropriately: You’re the loser. Really. You’re just the last one to know.
Your victories count, but they’re hollow. Your championships are glorious, but they’re tainted
https://www.northjersey.com/news/cooper-time-to-redefine-what-a-winner-is-1.1503940
Just like the res of society, everywhere you go people are uncivil and this passes to the children.
Since the entire Paramus wrestling team “liked” the nasty comment about Hackensack and passed it along, I guess they all thought it was clever and funny. Anyone involved out to be suspended from a few matches as the incident was an outgrowth of a school sponsored sporting event. I guess they get their poor judgement from their recently suspended coach.
News flash….nothing new here.
Just take a look at the beckhams and the rest of the scumbag in any professional sport sans motor racing. You get what you pay for.
Darren is a little bit of a hypocrite…he flies all over the country, the embedded reporter, covering the Parochials playing out of state games.
Maybe Darren and The Record should take a stand and refuse to cover this action.
The Record is helping fuel the fire….
Paramus wrestles Ridgewood tomorrow.
I wonder if any of the Paramus kids have anything to say to Torre Watson…?
Catholic schools always draw the Talent. Players with skills will always shine. Everybod else needs a reality check.
A little trash talking is part of sports… what a bunch of dainties.
8:46 – what part of racial slurs are sports trash talking? I’ve played HS and collegiate sports and my kids play sports so I know can appreciate trash talking but racial slurs have no place in any scenario that I can think of. May I ask, why would you think t”blackensack” is okay when the Paramus wrestler could have just said something along the lines of “Hackensack sucks”? And how does a racial slur support his suspended coach? Perhap you could explain?
So 10:44 – you determine where to draw the line on free speech?
Racial slurs are out but trash talking that attacks the integrity and manhood of the Hackensack players is OK?
Also the origin of the slang usage of “sucks” is sometimes attributed to a sexual act.
Although the etymology is not definitively established as such, it probably is best to avoid using the phrase “Hackensack Sucks” just to avoid the possibility of potentially insulting of offending any of the players or students of HHS or for that matter any of the residents of Hackensack. Don’t you agree?
Or is it OK to use “sucks”? – I look to you for guidance on which trash talk is appropriate and which is not.
12:55m (troll) – are you 8:46a? If so, please answer the questions.
No, 12:55p (troll), I don’t determine free speech or condone racial slurs, or questions anyone’s manhood and would offer that all trash talk is better left unsaid. But I think most people (teens and adults) would agree that teens are going to trash talk occasionally and given that they will, (“fill in the blank team) sucks” is less offensive than “(fill in the blank racial slur).” Wouldn’t you? I think, in general, most teens have a good sense of what is appropriate and it does not include racial slurs.
2:26
Is insulting people (aka “troll”) your idea of civilized speech? Or is “troll” “acceptable trash talk”?
More likely than not, you realize you’re position is flawed, but don’t know that when you insult someone you’ve already lost the argument.
You also realize that your comments make my point that you want to be the arbiter of which speech is acceptable and which is not. To summarize… now we know that all trash talk is bad, but occasional trash talk (is this limited to only teen usage?) should be allowed as long as it uses words like “suck” and not words like “black”.
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Btw, 2:26 What if I told you that The Hackensack City Council voted unanimously to call the city “Blackensack” all February for Black History month to honor the black residents in the city?
I bet you’d be behind that empowering initiative.
Ted Cruz will fix everything.