sportsjabber.net

Forfeiting is an athletic form of punishment for a team or individual wrongdoing. It’s a method of disallowing victories earned by breaking rules or not fulfilling requirements. If you use ineligible players, you forfeit. If you fail to attend the game, match, etc, you forfeit. If a team is short the required amount of players to compete in a particular sport, yes, you forfeit. In all cases, the opponent on that day receives a victory, regardless of the final score or having no posted scores at all. But in the case of Dallas’ Covenant High School, they are looking to forfeit a game, having done nothing outside the rules, and add a digit to the loss column instead.

Last Week, the Covenant girls defeated Dallas Christian Academy by a score of 100-0. No, that isn’t a typo. They managed to shutout their opponent, while also hitting the century mark. They led 59-0 at the half, and according to some parents, continued to let 3-point attempts rain in the fourth. Apparently, their unsportsmanlike conduct has weighed heavy on their hearts, as they are now asking to be disqualified and the victory given to their scoreless opponents.

What does forfeiting accomplish? The damage is done, and there’s no repair. If anything, it drives the stake deeper into their hearts, as a constant reminder that they “won” a game by scoring “zero” points and allowing 100. It took Covenant and their coach a week to realize what they had done? Showing remorse is taking your foot off the throttle in the third. Showing remorse is dribbling out the clock and looking to only convert 2’s. Showing remorse is looking up at the scoreboard, then looking at your scrapping opponents, and realizing the game had reached a point where it was only fun for one group of girls.  Showing remorse is not approaching an athletic board a week later, and hoping they’ll help you pretend a game and victory never occurred.

There is no mercy rule in basketball. Instead, they expect coaches to use good judgment. Give credit to DCA, because they could have easily left the floor at halftime and never returned. They could have forfeited the second half and not extended the humiliation. But they kept playing and fighting, though the deficit continued to increase.

Forfeiting may ease the conscience of the winning squad for a dirty deed done, but it changes nothing on the other end. Victories can be erased, but memories can’t. The experience isn’t something you can simply repair with a charitable donation. The scoreboard reflects one winner, but the courage and determination of Dallas Christian showed another.  On that day, Covenant had more skills, but their opponent had more heart.