Posted on 02/29/2012 3:16:30 PM PST by nickcarraway
The boys basketball team at an Orthodox Jewish school in Texas is hoping for a "miracle" after a state agency turned down the 23-5 squad's request to reschedule a tournament semifinal game that falls on the Sabbath.
The Houston-based Beren Academy Stars stormed into the semifinals of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools' 2A tournament and was set to tip off against Dallas Covenant at 9 p.m. Friday. Beren players, however, observe the Sabbath between Friday evening and Saturday evening and will not play basketball during those hours, coach Chris Cole told FoxNews.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
It would be a class act if the other teams declined to play on Saturday as well.
+1 Good idea.
Complete asshattery to do this. I expect more from Texas.
Bet they will say no. But, if they were muzzies?
My thoughts exactly. I coached CYO basketball for years and it would be the route I'd take. No team wants to win by default. It would be a hollow victory for the team who skipped to the next round.
I applaud them, there’s more to life than going along to get along. shalom kids!
On the other hand, school is still going on. I don’t think student-athletes should get out of school unnecessarily.
It is a long drive (about 4 hrs. according to Mapquest) from Houston to Dallas. The other teams in the semi-finals were from Sugar Land (near Houston, also a 4 hr drive) and Abilene (3 hr drive).
The other semi-final game was scheduled for 7:30 PM, also unacceptable to Beren. Sunset this time of year in Mansfield TX is 6:26 PM.
The final is scheduled for 2 PM Saturday.
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tmenu.cfm?tid=402851&tclass=Basketball%202A%20Boys
does say that the date of the game can be changed by mutual agreement of the teams involved. I suppose all 4 teams could have agreed to postpone the final to Sunday and then
had a semi-final on Saturday after sundown? That didn’t happen though, and it appears that Kerrville was declared the winner over Beren for the game of the 24th (not played?)
That doesn’t seem quite right either.
They knew the rules of the state tournament. Play on.
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