They Have Points to Make After 102-24 Prep Game

My basketball team (9- and 10-year-old boys) recently had a game against an undermanned opponent. Five minutes into the game, when we led, 20-0, I benched our leading scorer, who had already scored 14 points. Before the end of the first quarter, we discontinued our half-court trap. As the score mounted, we pulled our top two players and sat them on the bench for much of the first half.

At halftime, the score was an abominable 45-3. We told the official scorer to keep track of the score but to turn off the scoreboard. He did so, and the other team, their parents and friends, happily never knew the final score.

The suspension of Gil Ramirez, the South Torrance High girls’ coach, who stopped a game when Morningside was leading at halftime, 102-24, demonstrates how perverse the thinking has become in athletics. What possible benefit could anyone have received from the continued public humiliation of the South Torrance team?

Punitive administrative actions were necessary as a result of that game. Unfortunately, they missed the mark.

TOM LALLAS

Los Angeles