Mercy rules?

Pax vobiscum ("Peace be with you") Sisters!

Would Jesus Run Up The Score?
Christian School Under Fire For Winning 100-0
Matthew Coutts, National Post Published

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Going into the second half of its high school girls basketball game this month, The Covenant Lady Knights were beating an inferior Dallas Academy Bulldogs team 59-0 with victory appearing inevitable.

What followed was described as a "great loss" for the Texas-based Christian academy, as the team kept the pressure on and trounced the Bulldogs in a 100-0 drubbing, raising an ethical firestorm and questions about exactly how wide a margin of victory is victory enough.

The debate came to a head on Sunday, when coach Micah Grimes refused to agree with an apology issued by Covenant head Kyle Queal, in which he called the win a "victory without honour" and called for the game to be forfeited to Dallas Academy, which had not yet won a game in divisional play.

"It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honourable approach to competition," Mr. Queal wrote in a note posted on the school's Web site, just over a week after the January 13 game.

"The school and its representatives in no way support or condone the running up of a score against any team in any sport for any reason."

The concept of mercy in amateur sports goes beyond a religious debate as a number of North American leagues have instituted mercy rules, from having time tick by unimpeded if a game becomes lopsided to simply ending a game if the result becomes to embarrassing.

But the idea that a team driving itself to victory could be considered unChristian raises the puzzling question: "What would Jesus do, if faced with a far inferior basketball team?"

Bob Bumpas, a representative of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, America's largest Christian sports organization, said Christian athletes and coaches shouldn't have a compassion-based mercy rule that any other team wouldn't have.

"As Christians and obeying what God's word says in the Bible, we are supposed to do the best we can in any endeavour of life. So I would think in sports we should do the best we can and perform our best for the Lord," he said. "You are supposed to compete, and compete to your very best until the end of the game. Of course, that goes the other way around. If you are losing, and losing by a large margin, you should continue to play to the best of your potential."

Mr. Grimes has remained quiet since his termination, but did issue a statement refusing to apologize for the win and rejecting the notion the victory wasn't Christ-like. "Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honour and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy. We honour God, ourselves, and our families when we step on the court to compete," he said on the Web site for the coaching academy, Flight Basketball.

"Competition builds character, and teaches us to value selflessness, hard work, and perseverance. As a coach, I have instilled in my girls these values. So if I lose my job over these statements, I will walk away with my integrity."

Under Mr. Grimes' coaching, The Lady Knights went from a losing 2-19 record four years ago to the first Final Four appearance in the school's history last season.

Meanwhile the private Dallas Academy, which boasts small class sizes and specializes in teaching students with learning differences such as dyslexia, accepted the apology with "no ill feelings."

Despite being awarded the victory against Covenant, a move their athletic department does not support, the team has since withdrawn from district play and is building a schedule against prominently junior varsity opponents.