It Just Never Ends

    Remember when you could open the sports pages of your local and/or national newspaper and read about...SPORTS! Those were the days, weren't they? I mean, you'd have the occasional piece about a fight breaking out in the stands, or ice and snowballs being thrown at Santa Claus, or even a court and a judge being placed in the bowels of a football stadium because the fans were degenerates! You grew up in the Philly area, didn't you Boss? Yes I did, my young friend. The point is, there was a time when sports news dominated the sports pages...for the most part. Not so, anymore. Nowadays, the sports section has its own police blotter. Athletes are punching out girlfriends in elevators (who then turn around and marry the aforementioned abuser, but that's another essay), or worse yet, being arrested for multiple homicides. It seems like you can't go a week without a drug incident, or at the very least a DUI/DWI incident. The list is endless.

    Which brings us to a place called Brooklyn, Ohio. Brooklyn is a suburb of Cleveland, and by all accounts is your typical midwestern town with a population of around 12,000. Well, last week the local high school football team (nicknamed the Hurricanes) hosted a game against Beachwood High School. Beachwood is also a Cleveland suburb that is 90% Jewish. This, according to the latest survey published in 2011 by the Jewish Federation Council. Welcome to High School Football Night in Ohio! What could go wrong...

    Well, plenty. It seems that during the first half of the game, Brooklyn players, starting with the quarterback, were using racist and antisemitic language as they were calling out their plays. Let's think about this for a second, and allow me to give you an example. In a former life I actually played quarterback. I was young and stupid and agreed to this before giving it any thought...whatsoever. It never occurred to me that guys on the other team would try to rip my head off! I've seen movies that your folks took, Boss! You sucked! Yes, I did, Sancho. I have this basic human instinct to stay alive, and at the time, basketball seemed like a much safer and smarter option. But let's move on. 

    Anyway, one of the things that you are taught to do when you're a quarterback, especially a young one, is when you get to the line of scrimmage you say one word that triggers your linemen to get set. In my case it was saying our team mascot, as in, "Falcon." And then hut-one, hut-two...whatever. Think of that dope Peyton Manning yelling "OMAHA" all those years and then turning it into a cottage industry because he'll sell anything, including, I assume, his mother...for a dollar and a half. But again, I digress. In a nutshell, that's what most junior and senior high-school quarterbacks do.

    What the quarterback for the Brooklyn High School team was yelling (and others on the offensive line and then on the defensive side of the ball when yelling out their defensive-scheme plays), instead of something like "Hurricane" or "OMAHA" was "NAZI" or "HITLER" and then whatever numbers came after it. Really!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? According to reports the slurs went beyond just the quarterback and the defensive captain calling those plays. It was player to player; up and down the line...or field...as it were. At some point the Beachwood High School coaches threatened to pull their players off the field and it was reported that the Brooklyn team stopped using the terms in the second half. This, according to the Beachwood Schools Superintendent Robert Hardis. However, individual players for Brooklyn continued to direct racial slurs at Beachwood players for the rest of the game. The head coach of the Brooklyn High School football team, Ted McFarland, gave his notice of resignation Monday morning. This makes sense for a number of reasons, including but not limited to, the accusation that he too, used the word "NAZI" as a play call during the game. Well, now. 

    So, here we are...again. The same...but different. It's been reported that the two school districts are keeping in close contact and that Brooklyn has been "appropriately concerned and apologetic." Well, hooray for the school district. I'd like to know how the players feel. If they feel anything at all. The Anti-Defamation League of Ohio has gotten involved and hopes to be a resource going forward. Whatever...

    Beachwood School Superintendent Robert Hardis said "This is not the first time Beachwood student-athletes have been subjected to antisemitic and racist speech. We always hope it will be the last." That quote breaks my heart. It seems that the Jews have been saying words to that effect for 3,000 years.  But wouldn't you think that in the 21st century we would be a little farther along...especially among our youth?  I know that more and more, social studies departments in high schools are being decimated, as are the humanities/history in colleges and universities. And without writing a 30-page paper on how that's a bad thing for both high school and college students...trust me, it's a very bad thing. It might not be a direct correlation to the above stupidity, but it doesn't help.

    So where do we go from here? It's clear anti-semitism is on the rise not only in the United States, but around the world. Synagogues are being bombed; people of a certain political persuasion are becoming braver and braver when it comes to their so-called anti-Zionism, which is closet anti-semitism no matter how they want to rationalize it. Casual anti-Semitic conversation is not only comfortable in many circles, but encouraged. We now have members of Congress who have absolutely no fear of giving voice to their ugly, anti-intellectual diatribes directed at Jews and/or the state of Israel. The snide remarks about Jews and money, Jews running the world from behind closed doors, etc., are part of everyday conversation again. To be honest, I'm surprised one of the phrases the quarterback for Brooklyn didn't use was Christ-killer...Moron. 

    What we as a culture are faced with (and what the Jews have ALWAYS been faced with)...again...is a political philosophy of the eradication of a people, as if they were vermin. That was the defining motif of the Holocaust: The eradication of a people. And the lack of a historical frame of reference for the young when it comes to education can only exacerbate the problem. For reasons that may or may not have to do with a lack of education on the topic, we now have more and more idiots who deny that the Holocaust even took place. In a different universe I might say that these people aren't worth my time because I refuse to deal with morons. However, these idiots are being listened to...and that's a problem. And sadly, maybe some of these young men have been listening. Either way, as with the Holocaust deniers, I have no problem calling these football players "piece of shit human beings." If you think I'm being too hard...have at me. I'm right here. But I can't think of a better phrase. Do they get it from their parents? Maybe. We all take something from our parents. The trick is to sift the good from the bad. Are they looking for a scapegoat for their failures? Could be. 

    After a little digging, I found that Beachwood High School is a college prep school that is very successful in getting their students a classical education and, if they want, into college. These kids are bright, and their football team, for lack of a better word...sucks. And I say that with all due respect. And they're okay with that. They know there is a future for them. On the other hand, the Brooklyn football team doesn't get much of a mention on social media connected to their school. Now, that could be because of the above story. On the other hand, maybe...and I'm just guessing here...it's because that these young men don't have a lot of options, and beating up and verbally abusing a less talented team is the highlight of their high school lives. Either way, the question is; can they change?

    As of this writing there was no report on any punishment/sanctions against these young men. Well, I have an idea. Why not schedule a field trip for the football team to Washington, DC and have them spend 5 or 6 hours at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. I've done that (and if you haven't, you should, too). I've spent 45-minutes just staring at a 30-foot high pile of shoes that belonged to Jews of all ages who didn't make it. I've stared at a boxcar that carried men, women, and children to their deaths. I've spent 5 hours walking through that building and in all that time...I didn't hear a sound. Make sure they look at every exhibit and read every story that their stomachs will allow without throwing up; and then listen to whoever might be speaking in a separate conference room that day. Last, but not least...make them watch Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. Hopefully, they will do two things: 1) They will go find those players for Beachwood, shake their hands, and apologize; and 2) They will never...EVER, think of using the words NAZI, and HITLER, as go-to phrases again.

write to Peter: magtour@icloud.com