Quick Hits - 4/6/15

*** First off, two things about the Faribault Dance line story.  Last week we heard two of the schools involved, Lakeville South and Wayzata, had actually punished the coaches involved in the coordinated attack on the Faribault High School Dance Team, which won the state tournament competition at Target Center on Valentine's Day.  We know that four of the protesting teams, Wayzata, Eden Prairie, Eastview and Chaska, all wanted to boycott the finals completely, but the fifth school, Lakeville South, wanted to compete because they had never been before.  The coaches and parents of those five teams planned ahead of time to shame Faribault for not being disqualified for cheating, something the Minnesota State High School League had investigated and found to not be true.  I've heard reports from multiple people of boos and cat calls aimed towards Faribault during the actual competition, and the other teams intentionally blackballed Faribault at state.  The five other teams refused to take the floor when Faribault was announced as the winner, ran Faribault off the Target Center floor before they could even snap a photo, apparently bullied and taunted Faribault throughout the arena, bragged about their unbelievably, atrocious behavior on social media, and then frantically hit delete keys like cowards when they realized their actions were disgusting.

The first point I want to make:  the coach for Wayzata, and numerous people at Lakeville South, including coaches and an athletic director, received letters of reprimand from the school districts, and the Wayzata coach was suspended for two matches.  One of the punishing schools said it best; the crime here is adults using children as weapons against other children because they were upset by the actions of other adults.  Amen to that, but I personally feel the coaches should all be fired and not allowed to compete in high school dance team competition again.  This was a violation of everything these coaches are supposed to teach and represent.  When I brought this up on-air and a caller said you shouldn't call for anyone's job, as that's going too far, I stood firm saying you don't allow someone to hold a position they so clearly failed to fulfill.  My position was reaffirmed when I remembered these are the same coaches and parents who took to social media to call for the firing of the Faribault coaches and all of the MSHSL people who didn't disqualify Faribault, the same social media posts they desperately deleted when they realized public opinion was not on their side.  They opened the door to this level of "call to action," so once again, I reiterate, "Fire Them All!"

The second point is a lesson:  kids, by nature, are good hearted.  My son made an excellent comment to me after I explained the whole fiasco.  "Dad, maybe instead of spending all of their time before the finals plotting to get Faribault, they could've practiced and worked really hard to try to win the title.  Maybe the reason those teams lost was because they weren't really trying to win."  He's exactly right.  These five coaches were not trying to win; they quit, and pretty much told their teams to quit, setting an even more horrible example for the students they're responsible for. This as well validates my call for firings.  The first job of any coach is to try to win, something these coaches didn't seem too concerned about, as they were focused on their primary objective, shaming a bunch of teen age girls from Faribault.

*** There is a significant point about the Indiana gay discrimination law that's being missed.  The law supporters insist it was only there to prevent people from being forced to provide a product or service, for an event they don't agree with, due to their religious faith, and tried to validate it by insisting, "shouldn't a gay printer be able to deny having to print anti-gay literature?"  First, the Indiana law didn't defend GLBT people from refusing service in that scenario, as the new law specifically talked about religious misgivings being the validation for denying service.  Indiana law, if I understand it correctly, wouldn't allow a gay printer from using 'being offended' as an excuse to not print the anti-gay materials, forcing them to keep their personal objections private.  But since they could say, "I'm sorry, we're booked.  We can't help you," they still have the ability to refuse service.

Which brings up the real purpose of the Indiana gay discrimination law.  I'm against discrimination, period.  If a gay couple went into a florist, or baker, or pizza shop (???), I would hope the businesses, seeing clients and money come through the door, would be good little capitalists and embrace their own popularity, instead of wallowing in their own bigotry.  But in truth, the business could easily say, "A wedding?  Great!  Who's the groom?  And the bride's name?  Oh, no bride, a second groom?  Okay.  What day would you like that for?  Oh, I'm sorry, we are completely booked that day.  I do have some other florists I recommend who might be able to help you out."  This real word example is not something I endorse, but in the end, this is the option, whether truthful or not, which allows these businesses to opt out of providing a service they couldn't, or wouldn't, want to deliver.  The Indiana gay discrimination law validates screaming homophobia, legally, directly into the face of the GLBT community.  "A wedding?  Great!  Who's the groom?  And the bride's name?  Oh, no bride, a second groom?  Well you are a sinner, you're going to burn in hell and get out because I won't serve gay people because my interpretation of Jesus says I don't have to!"  At the end of the day, that is all this law did.

Racism, bigotry, antisemitism, homophobia, and discrimination are horrible.  Trying to validate it behind a thin layer of religion in unconscionable.  Having a state write laws which make it legal is the worst kind of evil.

*** The Twins are not going to be good this year.  I listened to the opening day game.  We lost 4-0 at Detroit.  It's the earliest I have ever said this...damn Twins...

On the plus side, my son reminded me we have a lot of talent coming up in the minor leagues...(sigh)...