With the conclusion of the Fall term of Bluewater Sports, I want to take a second and look at an incident that really upset a lot of people.
In a nutshell, the St Mary’s Lady Mustangs were prevented from competing for the Bluewater Senior Girls Basketball Championship.
The reason given was outstanding or unpaid fees to game officials owed by the Lady Mustangs to the Officials Association.
The decision to banish the Lady Mustangs touched off a storm of letters, e-mails & phone calls, many of which contained nasty allegations ranging from nepotism to religious intolerance. The tone was vicious.
To their credit, the leaders of the Mustangs, while not accepting the situation, at no time chose to escalate the hard feelings, saying simply they did not agree with the scenario presented.
To the credit of the Bluewater Athletic Association they too elected to say little and gave the impression the matter would be attended to internally.
From my standpoint, it sounded like a minor issue that could have been solved with a quick trip to an ATM, but with both sides saying little, I certainly don’t have all the facts, and truthfully, I’m much better at reporting scores than issues.
At the end of it, one participant in the dispute reflected accurately that everybody lost sight of the goal, that is, simply to provide an excellent athletic outlet for high school students.
I’m Fred Wallace