Too High a Cost

My fourteen year old son Joe just finished his basketball season with a tournament. I have struggled for years with how rough this game has become. Towards the end of a tight (and extremely rough and loosely called) game, Joe stole the ball and attempted a layup. The boy that had the ball stolen lowered his shoulder and rammed Joe with no apparent attempt to block the ball. Joe ended up in a heap against the wall with his neck bent grotesquely after his head had bounced off the wall and/or floor. A foul was called, but I was incensed and let the referee know that I thought it should have been called a flagrant foul. Later as Joe was attempting a layup he was hit hard again, but no foul was called. When I talked to Joe after the game, he said he had little memory of the final moments of the game. He did not know why he was at the foul line after the foul and had no idea if he made either or both shots. In the locker room after the game he had to ask a teammate what had happened and was told they had lost.

Later it was explained to me that the referees are expected to call a 'loose' game so that we can better compete with the rougher city schools. Thus the referees are faced with the impossible task of not only recognizing a violation but having, in the same split second, to judge the severity of said violation. It is said that today kids play better defense but their offense suffers. I had much rather see a cleaner, closer called game that rewards the beauty of truly athletic plays and punishes the less athletic physicality that reeks of bullying. How many Joe's will be hammered into the floor and wall, and then minutes later in the locker room will have to ask what happened, before we have the maturity to stop this senseless wallowing in brutality, all in the hopes of winning a couple more games?