Friday column: Onward Christian coaching

Back in my days as an athlete, I never liked getting beat. But almost as bad as losing was winning too easily.

If it was clear there was no challenge, I would quickly get bored, my attention would wander, my effort would flag.

Not so for the Covenant School in Dallas, whose girls basketball team recently whipped, beat down, annihilated and (insert your favorite sports verb here) their “rivals” from Dallas Academy.

First quarter: 35-0. Fight on.

Second quarter: 59-0. Fight on.

Third quarter: 88-0. Fight on.

Fourth quarter: 100-0. We can hit triple digits!

As the magic number neared, Covenant coaches, players and fans got increasingly excited, and the team reportedly was still shooting 3-pointers in the final period. Dallas Academy coach Andrew Lott also claims that while Covenant coach Micah Grimes called off his full-court press early in the game, Grimes later instituted an alternative press.

“This is what it came down to in the second half,” said Dallas Academy athletic director Jeremy Civello: “Steal at half court and layup. Steal and layup. Steal and layup. It was a layup drill.”

Two things should be noted. One, Dallas Academy — a school that caters to students with learning disabilities — hasn’t won a girls basketball game in four years. Two, Covenant is a Christian school.

In light of the both notes, Kyle Queal, the headmaster for Covenant, called the 100-0 win “shameful,” saying, “This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition.”

Now, it’s clear to me 100-0 doesn’t reflect an honorable approach to competition, but the question of it being Christlike is more thorny.

If Christlike refers to the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount and his injunction to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” well and good. Point taken.

But what if it refers to the Jesus that got after the Pharisees and Sadducees? I don’t recall any quarter being given there (“Woe to you, hypocrites!”). What if it’s the Jesus of the cleansing of the Temple, driving out the moneychangers with a whip made of cords? What’s if it’s the Jesus of the Second Coming, kicking butt and taking names?
Obviously, the cross-section of theology and high-school girls basketball is more complicated than the headmaster appreciates.

After Queal apologized to Dallas Academy, Covenant coach Grimes disputed the need for a mea culpa, claiming, “My girls played with honor and integrity.” For that, he was fired.

And as he didn’t — as far as I know — offer Scriptural support for his position, I expect the controversy over the game only to continue to rage. Which means that perhaps we can look forward to bumper stickers sprouting up in Dallas with the letters “WWJS?”

That stands, of course, for “What Would Jesus Score?”

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.