1/13/2009 - Covenant beats Dallas 100-0

(The Dallas Academy team. Photo by Tony Gutierrez, AP)

Sportsmanship was taken very seriously in American sports from the college level on down. High school games were almost never recapped nationally, except when one team violated the unwritten code of sportsmanship by obliterating the other team. This exception occurred in 2009, when in a girl's high school basketball game, the winning team won so extravagantly that their coach was terminated from his job because of it.

On January 13, 2009, a private Christian establishment called "The Covenant School" beat Dallas Academy, 100-0. Covenant led 59-0 at halftime and 88-0 through three quarters. Many eye witnesses said that Covenant made no attempt at easing back and continued to play full-court defense and attempt threes well into the fourth quarter. And at least one member of the Covenant coaching staff was seen loudly cheering them on, urging them to reach the century mark.

Winning a high school game by 100 points screamed poor sportsmanship, and no one knew it better than Kyle Queal, the head of the Covenant School, who requested that the team's win be forfeited. "It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened," he said in a statement. "This clearly does not reflect a Christ-like and honorable approach to competition." He added that he sought a forfeit from the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), of which Covenant and Dallas Academy were both in, because "a victory without honor is a great loss."

The story of the blowout and Covenant's remorse was a local hit within a few days of the contest, but it wasn't until a week later -- after the inauguration of Barack Obama -- that it caught on with the national media. The Dallas players became an overnight sensation. Only a couple days after the inauguration, the Dallas Academy roster was being interviewed by ABC's World News, Good Morning America and The Today Show, while also being invited to a Dallas Mavericks game as well as the NBA All-Star Game.

"I told the coach of the losing team how much I admire their girls for continuing to compete against all odds," said Edd Burleson, the director of TAPPS. "They showed much more character than the coach that allowed that score to get out of hand. It's up to the coach to control the outcome."

Calls for the head of Micah Grimes, Covenant's coach, came long before people knew his name. Grimes said of the final score, "It just happened, and we are not happy about that. Please know Covenant intended no harm against them. I see this as a real learning opportunity, so we can prevent this from happening in the future."

There were some who felt that the Covenant team was simply doing its job, and that because the team didn't score in the final four minutes, and because their starters were rested well before the fourth quarter, the team wasn't trying to run up the score. However, with eye witnesses saying that the team played full-court defense while holding a 98-0 lead, this opinion was a minority.

Plus, the eight Dallas Academy players weren't exactly primed for competition; there were only 20 girls in the entire school -- a school which was intended for students with learning disabilities. Adding in that Dallas Academy hadn't won a basketball game in four years and that the high school game length was only 32 minutes (16 shorter than a pro game), it seemed that the 100-0 total was not as incidental as Grimes made it seem.

"I respectfully disagree with the apology, especially the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel 'embarrassed' or 'ashamed,' " Grimes said of the school's forfeit request. "We played the game as it was meant to be played and would not intentionally run up the score on any opponent. Although a wide-margin victory is never evidence of compassion, my girls played with honor and integrity and showed respect to Dallas Academy."

Grimes added that if he lost his job over his comments, "I will walk away with my integrity." Shortly after making those statements, Grimes was fired by the school. While Grimes garnered little support after the team's monstrous victory, many felt that it was unfair for him to be fired simply for giving his opinion.

Dallas Academy was scheduled to replay Covenant on the 30th of January, which would have no doubt been a media festival; but after the team's 100-point massacre, the academy retired the girl's team for the rest of the season. "We just said, 'The hell with it,' " said Jim Richardson, Dallas Academy's headmaster.

Ultimately, Covenant got more than its share of criticism while the Dallas players got 15 minutes of fame. What's interesting is that in any other scenario, the coach on the losing end of a 100-0 contest would have calls for his head, not the winning coach. It's the only scenario I can think of where you can do something so well that people will actually hate you for it, at least in sports.