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Middle School ‘hidden brains’ trick more like it

EDITORIAL: Who doesn’t love a good trick play at a football game? The other team, that’s who. And for every trick play like the one from a Texas MIDDLE SCHOOL that has gone mega-viral, there are at least a dozen other times a defense isn’t caught napping — and one we’ve found in which the quarterback paid a painful price for it. Might be a lesson in it for us all.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot
Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot
Photo Credit: YouTube
Photo Credit: YouTube

The gimmick this time: “Hey coach: Wrong ball,” the quarterback shouts to the sidelines.

And just like Driscoll Middle School quarterback Jason Garza, who became an over-the-weekend sensation, the signal caller in this video nonchalantly carries the ball away from the center as if the game has stopped.

Only there’s a distinctly different result in this case, one that Chicago Bear Hall of Fame middle linebacker Dick Butkus — or, better yet, Baltimore Colts MLB Mike Curtis — would have been proud of.

Before you watch, remember the one rule taught by every coach at every level: Don’t stop playing until the whistle blows.


There you have a kid with a brain who listened to his coaches, wasn’t about to be caught up in the moment and clearly remembered why he was there in the first place: to play defense.

It’s made me think.

Jerry DeMarco (Publisher/Editor)


After being dazzled, like nearly everyone else, by this weekend’s shenanigans, I’m rethinking whether it was wise to teach 8th graders “If you can’t beat ’em, trick ’em.”

I say: If you can’t line up and go toe-to-toe, forfeit. Seriously: It’s as if you told these impressionable youngsters to poke someone in the eye next time they get into a fight. Or, worse, to always remember you can probably slither out from under a math problem you can’t answer.

Has anyone asked: How DOES this weekend’s episode translate to the classroom? I’d be curious to hear what young Mr. Garza’s teachers thought of the manuever — not to mention the coaches of other sports at the school, coaches at other schools and the parents. As for the latter, I’m sure many are so blinded by the viral virus that they haven’t had time to consider it.

But is that what we want to teach our kids? Is “good sportsmanship” no longer atop the priority list?

What burns me is that the coach and the players admitted practicing their little hoodwink. They had to, in order for it to work. Which raises the question: EIGHTH GRADERS PRACTICING THAT KIND OF DECEPTION?

I hope like hell that none of the other team’s players has a friend or relative on Driscoll’s schedule. Mr. Garza might end up paying a price of his own. Would be nice, though, if the school’s district superintendent or Board of Education formally apologized to their competitors, given that the result was a 6-6 tie instead of a 6-0 win.

Better yet: Maybe they fire the coach, make an example, tell the world, “We don’t play like that around here. We teach our children well.”

Once again, coaches were so busy controlling their little war game pieces that they forgot their obligation to the kids.

Wasn’t the first time. And unless some district officials start doing something about it, you can be sure it won’t be the last.

Look no further than these knuckleheads from Long Island:

Since those of you who haven’t seen it already are probably going to go scavenging, anyway, here’s this weekend’s celebrated “trick” play — which, you should know, actually is illegal under the local athletic association’s rules. (Look it up: The ball must be delivered backward to the quarterback, not simply handed up or to the side.)

MIDDLE SCHOOL TRICK PLAY ONE FOR THE HIGHLIGHT REELS

 

 

 

 

 

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