He said, she said, he said: Bell City in the thick of MSHSAA's mess
If you're not yet lost in the fog that hangs over the sports programs at Bell City, Naylor and Scott County Central, you're one of the lucky ones. Or maybe it's better not to know the sordid details, since the whole series of accusations is so ridiculously complex, ego-driven and routinely distorted, it's best left to the message boards and small-town coffee shops where the whole mess has sprouted like a fungus.
You probably at least know all the major players: Bell City despises Scott County Central, Scott Central doesn't like Bell City, Naylor doesn't like Bell City but does like Scott Central in part because of family and attorney ties, and in part because Scott Central doesn't like Bell City.
On the sidelines is a state sanctioning body whose rules enforcement ability changes with the weather, a newspaper with a list of ethical problems that would fill a Sunday edition, and gaggles of fans, coaches and administrators with an inability to set aside ego and pride.
The count, for those with scorecards: three investigations (Bell City, Naylor and Scott Central), two civil suits (one by Heeb, one by Naylor) one suspended coach (Heeb), one district basketball title wiped out(Naylor), two Cooksons (the Scott Central coach and Naylor superintendent) and one attorney (who represents both Heeb and the Naylor schools).
The only potential winners in any of this are the graduating seniors who, in a few months, will grab their diploma, walk out the door and get the hell out before more walls come tumbling down. Pity the juniors who have to stick around another year. With a little luck they'll learn from their peers' mistakes and in a few years find a better way to run our high schools and the groups responsible for their oversight. The losers: Naylor, for looking like a snitch; Scott Central, for appearing vindictive; and Bell City, for the uncanny ability to piss off so many people.
It's reality television played out on a Southeast Missouri stage, full of the same potentially divisive outcomes and legions of viewers that come and go with the storylines.
At least with reality TV, we can turn it off once it gets impossible to watch.
4 comments:
I agree with your article with the exception of your criticism of MSHSAA. It seems to me all was right with the world until the sky fell. Now everyone wants to cry "foul".
MSHSAA needs to learn how to keep some things on the DL so that stuff doesn't blow up like this and people start degrading others for things they didn't do. I have no problem with any investigation, but I do have a problem with stuff being printed that isn't true.
I don't know much about things that are going on in bell city, But i do know that bogan doesn't stay in charleston. They are just helping a kid get off the streets of Charleston. If he would have stayed here in charleston, we would have never heard of him. Nobody but the people in charleston.So leave bell city alone on that tip.
Bogan has been given a second chance in the journey of life. Too bad all kids don't get this chance. Leave the kid alone. Too bad the media won't realize this.
Post a Comment