Though I did not read the Sun Journal articles (Oct. 29) concerning the Telstar Rebels football team that declined a playoff game with Lisbon, I do have insight on the subject. To be clear, I am both a helper on the sideline and a parent of two young men implicated in the article. I think it better that I do not know exactly what was written. Thus, I am not responding to the words chosen but rather to the overall concept.
I have heard that the article asserts deficiency in the character of the Rebels. Obviously, I beg to differ.
The players, to a man, have not only risen above the emotion of the situation, but entered into the decision — not from a safety point of view — but rather to bring focus to the fact that they did not deserve to be in the playoffs.
Rules that allow a team with no real wins to be in a “playoff game” should be reassessed without doubt. But rules applied without common sense are just plain untenable and, in this case, would have made folly of the playoffs had these young men not stood up and taken the ridicule, which they knew was certain to come following their decision.
The conference should thank them and I believe it did, through comments in the Portland paper. It is a more enlightened and accurate article, in which Mr. Durost of the MPA clearly explains why this was not a forfeiture for Telstar’s program. The playoff games are invitational.
The seniors involved, facing this as a season-ending and, likely, a football career-ending decision, did so with grave understanding and reluctance from the start. Faced with negativity and even name-calling, they stayed the course and admitted to themselves, classmates and the entire community, that they did not deserve to be considered a playoff-ranked team.
And some think that constitutes a deficiency in character or conviction?
Football is changing, on and off the field. Young men are taught high-level thinking and values that are often applied esoterically. The teachers and coaches are some of the finest who ever walked onto a football field.
This is a case where, through loss and ridicule, this team has gained something much more valuable than a playoff game could ever be. They have, through their part in that decision, displayed leadership, integrity, a sense of fair play and how to be true to themselves.
Another shortcoming?
Everyone does not deserve a trophy. The trick is to accept that as reality. The Telstar Rebel football team will win no trophy nor participate in a playoff game this year, but they have garnered something of much greater value.
Dan Wheeler, Bethel
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