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is involved in the accident and who is giving the ticket. There are many questions left unanswered.Sincerely yours, /s/Richard NesomDear Sir:I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Shorthorns on their victory over Gint this past week. There has been discussion that the Shorthorns have been looking good only because their opponents have been from smaller schools. I feel they proved last week that they can play against anybody. The defense once again came through shutting out Gint’s offense (the only points coming against the specialty team). The team, along with Coach Berger and his assistants, should really be proud of the Shorthorn performance. There was an incident at the game that disturbed me, though, and it is about this incident of which I am writing.During the third quarter of the game, I was standing near the Gint Coach taking pictures when I overheard that coach say something which 1 felt portrayed poor sportsmanship and leadership in a coach. The Shorthorns were on defense and at the end of a play, Billy Lister was a little slow getting up. The Gint Coach saw this and excitedly yelled to another coach thatNo. 62 had been hurt on that play and now was a good time to go at him again to try to finish him. He remarked that they should call a trap play and have one of their players trap him while another takes a shot at him. It was evident from their conversation that the Gint Coach would like to have seen Lister leave the game due to an injury. To me this showed the respect and fear the coach had for Lister. It is unfortunate that this was his way of expressing this respect.It is a shame that instead of truly respecting a player’s ability and doing the best he can against him, a coach feels that the only way to handle such a player is by intentionally attempting to remove him through injury. I feel it is the coach’s responsibility to instill sportsmanship in his players and not set the example ofI Iplacing “contracts” on players and assigning “hit men” to carry out these orders. This depicts poor leadership in acoach.High School Football should be a time when young men learn the code of sportsmanship. This is not to say that players can’t go out and hit hard, but intentionally and maliciously setting a person up for “cheap shots” is turning a sport into a dangerous game that can cause possible serious injury to a player. These young men work hard to get where they are and if one really shmes and stands out, a coach and his team should respect this dedication and not so fear him that the recourse is to go out and injure him. It takes hard work and dedication to reach the goal some of these young men have set for themselves and it is a pity that some coaches and players can’t respect that and are willing to ruin that player’s future with premediated cheap shots”. When some players hit the field they give 100% of themselves to win, something a coach should admire in any player. Is it therefore right to punish a player for only wanting to do his best?I certainly hope that the coaches and players of Marfa do not have such a malevolent attitude. The Shorthorns prov- c ed themselves to be a good strong team and I feel they can t win on their own ability and do v not have to resort to “elimination of players” to earn a victory. Gint’s running back Tony Burton was proof of this. This young man is a very talented runner and Marfa didn’t have to injure him to ] stop him, they just played good, strong defense against lt;him. I hope the Shorthorns will (continue this way. They are ione victory away from re- \presenting vthe district as fchampions and I hope they will represent Marfa and the 1district as a well disciplined, vsportsmanlike team and not a rband of malefactors. f/s/Terry Norman nDear Editor:Thank you for your excellent coverage of the Tri-centennial celebration and its activities. We appreciate your hard work.
Newspaper Details
Marfa Big Bend Sentinel
Marfa, Texas, US
Thu, Nov 03, 1983
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Terry N.
USA 31 May 2019
Other Publications Near Marfa, Texas
Marfa Independent and Big Bend Sentinel
Marfa Big Bend Sentinel
