OT: Arkansas mother sues HS after son is cut from basketball team.

...for the future of this country.



Now get off my lawn.

or was offered a spot on the JV team, it doesn't sound like he has a case at all.

I'd say more, but I couldn't think of anything that was MGoAppropriate.

I would agree that I don't think he has a 'right' to play on the team. The thing that struck me as strange was how the tryouts worked at the school.

Her dialect is quite condescending,to say the least.

This might be the type of law suit that doesn't result in any sort of victory in court, but the attention it has drawn could result in the school district taking another look at its try-out process.

Her son may not benefit from the suit, but it could result in the school district revisiting its policies.

Anyone could be on the team (there were no cuts) but you had to be good to play. That did lead to a football team of over 80 kids, so I can see why some schools might not have the funding for something like that. My school's response was to run us until about half the kids quit. Parents can't get mad at you for cutting their kid when he quit on his own because he couldn't hack it.

I am a firm believer of the importance of sports in education and growth, but I doubt she has any sort of legal leg to stand on, though I could be wrong.

Seriously people will sue over any ridiculous thing these days.  Because schools really have enough money that they can afford to flush a bunch of it away on a ridiculous lawsuit.

I hope this kid is completely embarassed by his mom's behavior.

This story is just coming out a month and nine days late, right? This woman cannot be serious. People have a constitutional right to not be cut from a sports team?? Even the excerpt from the suit ("...a full and complete education which includes competition in sports...") refers to competition. Hey lady, just in case you didn't know: in competitions, there's always a winner and a loser. It's an important character trait to learn how to deal with losing in life.

I have 3 trains of thought on this situation:

1. The kid and his mom need to grow up.  He's not the first person to ever be cut, and if he's not one of the best players who tried out, that's the end of the story.  And as cliche as it is, MJ got cut (even though I believe it was as a sophomore trying out for varsity...).  Either way though, he got over it and this kid (or his mom maybe)needs to as well.  This could be a hell of a learning experience for both of them, and probably one that would be more effective than one basketball season could provide.
2. It is really shady that the cut was during an impromptu 3rd tryout during the middle of the season because some football players were now available to play on the team.  Those guys deserved a chance to play as well, but man, that's just not right.
3. Lastly, who sues for something like this?  Whatever happened to the overzealous parent going the coach or the school's AD and pitching a fit?  What an odd world the life of kids has become since my own younger years.

This seems like a case of an overbearing parent being unable to accept that their child isn't special. Thank goodness my parents weren't like that. I was cut from football, and my dad explained it wasn't my thing and helped me redirect my efforts into academics and a new sport (cycling). 

I hope this suit gets shot down.  Sports are one of the few things left in society today that are merit-based.  Sports is very simple: if you earn a place on the team, you get it.  If you don't earn it or simply aren't good enough, you don't play.  

This woman is enabling her son by making excuses for his lack of talent.  It doesn't bode well for his future.  When he gets a job and doesn't perform, his boss isn't going to say that it is his constitutional right to work there.  

This has nothing to do with politics and all to do with production.  The idea is to be better than the other guy.  That is why they have a scoreboard.

The whole tryout deal sounds dumb and all but the claim made in the lawsuit is nuts. Unfortunately I can see the case being made that public tax money is spent on facilities and whatnot and given the budgetary pressure put on public districts blah blah blah... end game: no more HS sports and everything goes to AAU type club organizations.

I can't blame a parent for being so angry and protective of his/her child that they take things so far as consulting with a lawyer.  However, the lawyers that take these kinds of cases and lose should be publicly reprimanded.  These kind of lawsuits are what give lawyers a bad name.

The suit alleges that the right to an education is a "property right guaranteed under both the U.S. and State Constitutions."  I have never seen any cases that apply the Constitution's right to property to something as ethereal as an education.  I would hope that the attorney has some case to back this up, but hopefully he is stretching pretty far.

He also says that "the sheer lack of an orderly appeals process for students who were cut is also a violation of due process."  In order to satisfy due process, an appeal is only required where a RIGHT is being taken from you.  It does not apply when a PRIVILEGE is being taken away from you.  In my opinion, the ability to play on a high-school sanctioned basketball team is a privilege, and not a right, and is therefore not entitled to an appeal.  This can also be supported by the vast number of alternatives available to the student, including non-school-sanctioned basketball teams, public basketball games, chess club, track and field, etc., many of which do not require a tryout, accept all participants, and provide a substantially similar experience (competition, teamwork, etc.) as the basketball team.

My hope is that this case dies quickly.  This is one of those cases with the potential to really screw everything up in schools, public leagues, etc.  Please go away.

EDIT: I definitely agree that the preferential treatment was pretty messed up.  Makes me wonder if there's a way for the judge to outlaw that type of activity, but not sure if s/he can.  It probably depends on the way the complaint was drafted.

My high school basketball team also enjoyed some silly politics when it came to football players. Our varsity bball coach was also the JV football coach and treated the 8th-13th spots on the team as off-season conditioning opportunities for stud football players.
I was cut from varsity while our starting tailback made the team, despite having never playing basketball before, with the sole intention of rehabbing him from a football related injury.
I'm still bitter, always will be, and I fully understand any and all sentiments behind the lawsuit.

My crystal ball produced the following excerpt from an online newspaper in 2023 ... well, that's redundant, ALL newspapers in 2023 are online, there is no paper in the world anymore -- which makes cleaning up after going potty a REAL trick, well, you can't have progress if you don't take a couple steps back... ANYway, I digress..:

DATELINE:  LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS, OCTOBER 22, 2023

Today, a judge granted judgment for a distraught father, Mr. Matthew Smith, who filed an emergency lawsuit when the coach of the high school's sophomore football team was going to call an end-run around the weak side.  The court held that the coach should have called a pitchout to the father's kid, Billy Smith, who was the team's second-string running back.

Based on prior precedent of the last few years, the Court held that the Coach was not acting in Billy's best interest by refusing to call the first-down play for him.  Judge Smiley Williams acknowledged previous ruling from his court, as well as other states in the Southeatern Conference including Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and Idaho, where courts have enjoined or imposed damages on college, high school, amateur, peewee league, and family backyard sporting events where decisions were made contrary to a particular player's best interest.

"I gots me what I wants," Mr. Smith gleefully addressed to waiting e-reporters, "proof that that thar coach was just an outright maroon.  Billy's got a college education to be worryin' about, he needs the damn ball in his hands."

The attorney for the Broadwater High School District, Ms. Anna Jones, declined to comment beyond saying, "I fear where this country is heading."

At the risk of preaching to the choir and/or stating the obvious:

1.  The mother says that the coaches aren't qualified:  Then who is?  How does the court determine this?  What qualifies one to be a h.s. basketball coach? 

2.  The third tryout was unfair b/c the girls team doesn' t have one:  Does the girls team have most of its best players busy with the equivalent of football during their tryouts?  Even if they do, is this really a material difference in the way the teams are treated?  Wouldn't it be unfair to football players if they didn't get to try out because they were playing football? 

3.  There should be an appeals process:  Who would hear the appeal?  A court?  The board of education?  How would/could they make a determination about who belonged on the team?  Are they going to take expert testimony about players' jump shots, etc.? 

The plaintiff is asking the court to seriously consider these questions, which strikes me as something that won't end well for her...but this is only my opinion and certainly not legal advice or any other type of advice.  Chances are good, in fact, that you are not reading this post and that you are instead imagining it because you've been taking peyote for the past three days.   

is if the school has some sort of participation requirement -- sports teams, community service, other extracurricular activities --  in which case the you're-on-the-team-until-football-is-over could have some negative impact beyond disappointment.  But that's not the case here, or certainly hasn't been alleged if so, and the complaint is completely over the top (and I'm someone who tends to give leeway on these sorts of issues.)

How about a "loser pays" scenario here?  When the court clears the school, the mother gets to pay for all the expenses the lawsuit caused.   That oughta do it.

Doesn't she know there are plenty of sports at any high school where there are no cuts?   Basketball is rarely one of them.

Do Beautiful Women Really Come to Life When You Drink Bud Light? 1991, Richard Overton sued Anheuser-Busch for false and misleading advertising under Michigan State law. The complaint specifically referenced ads involving, among other things, fantasies of beautiful women in tropical settings that came to life for two men driving a Bud Light truck. In addition to two claims of false advertising, Mr. Overton included a third claim in his complaint in which he claimed to have suffered emotional distress, mental injury, and financial loss in excess of $10,0000 due to the misleading Bud Light ads. The court dismissed all claims.

If you can’t sue the system, sue yourself. 1995, Robert Lee Brock sued himself for $5 million. He claimed that he had violated his own civil rights and religious beliefs by allowing himself to get drunk and commit crimes which landed him in the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Virginia, serving a 23 year sentence for grand larceny and breaking and entering. What could he possibly have to gain by suing himself? Since being in prison prevented him from having an income, he expected the state to pay. This case was thrown out.

Since when were haunted houses frightening? 2000, Cleanthi Peters sued Universal Studios for $15,000. She claimed to have suffered extreme fear, mental anguish, and emotional distress due to visiting Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights haunted house, which she said was too scary.

http://www.the-injury-lawyer-directory.com/ridiculous_lawsuits.html 

My high school had 1 sport every season that was 100% no cut. It didn't mean  you got to play, but you would be on the team, get to go to practice, have that "ability for a full education with sports" or whatever.

I know for both boys and girls Track and Cross Country were 2 seasons. I think it was football was one, can't remember the 3rd girls sport, but we had a no-cut sport so that there were options for everyone to participate.

In general, I agere with the above posters that everyone loses and gets cut. Trophies for all is bull. My kids (when I have them someday) will compete and lose. They will learn to lose and accept it, and how to win with sportsmanship.

Get off my (I live in an apartment and therefore dont have a) lawn.

Your kid sucks and was cut. Teach your kid to deal with adversity. He could work his ass off and get better, wait that would take character. Why weaken our country over stupid lawsuits. Kids need to win and lose to learn about life. New people on the workforce are terrible and with a global economy we will get our asses kicked. Toughen up kids, because life isn't fair and a greasy lawyer can't always bail you out. I am not saying all lawyers are bad, because many are amazing people. There are few that really hurt the profession, because of greediness. I hope the school can countersue her, and ruins her future as a lesson to all.

The constitution does not guarantee the right to an education, least of all a "full education." Maybe their state constitution does, but how does being cut from the bball team deprive him of that? I'm sure the school library has a book on basketball. Tell the kid to read the book, and have his goofy mother read it too.