By Whitney Butler, Sportswriter
On Thursday, January 5th Calhoun Middle School Lady Red Devils hosted Ravenswood Middle. I do not know the scores. I don’t have any stats, nor did I take a single picture. And that simply comes down to the facts of the evening. From the start of the B team (junior varsity) it was clear that it was going to be a rowdy evening. And it did not get any better as the evening went on.
Calhoun’s fans are well known for their rowdy behavior, and often times it’s justified, but on Tuesday the game went from bad to worse when the A team (varsity) took the floor. For whatever reason, when Calhoun plays Ravenswood that old rivalry seeps back in, and things can get a little wild. And these games were no exception. From unnecessary and often blatant fouls on both sides, to the extreme fouls from Ravenswood, this game got out of hand quickly. Calhoun had their fair share of careless mistakes, but in their defense it’s hard to play a game of skill when you have an opponent throwing punches. And it’s very hard to watch this style of play, because our ladies have some amazing talent. It’s just hidden behind often horrible officiating and the reactions and retaliations that come it.
This game however came to an abrupt halt halfway through the 4thquarter when 7th grader Josie Richards attempted a rebound or missed but quickly switched gears and attempted to get a jump ball called, only to essentially be flipped over by a Ravenswood player landing hard on the floor, resulting in Calhoun’s Principal David Gaul calling an end to the game immediately for the safety of our athletes and to prevent any risk of the crowd getting out of hand. I went back and rewatched the film and the actions of this Ravenswood player, in my personal opinion, should’ve been called a technical if not even and intentional, but wasn’t. And the crowd made sure the officials knew it too. But hey! If we are living in a glass half full kind of world, she did get the jump ball call!
I’ll be honest, writing this objectively is hard. For one thing, the injured player is like my own child, just one I don’t have to actually raise. But I have spent a lot of time choosing my words wisely, or at least giving it my best effort. I am proud to cheer on and support all Calhoun athletes, and have been known to do my fair share of heckling, I mean I at least try to keep it classy. But, even though my heart is always going to side with Calhoun, I can see it from an outsiders perspective as well. We as parents, friends or even just long time fans do need to strive to be better, do better. Unfortunately we can often get in our kids way, and yes I said we, myself included. A lot of times when we see an official call something or more often than not, NOT call something, some of the things Calhoun’s fans have said are honestly appalling. Hear me out. I’ll be the first to tell you the WVSSAC has a horrible reputation for sending Calhoun the bottom of the barrel officials and no matter the reason behind it, it’s not ok. But yelling often lewd, and vile things at someone just trying to do their job, no matter how poorly they execute, isn’t ok either. And I’ll be honest, Ravenswood parents and fans weren’t any better.
I have seen it first hand and been guilty of questioning an official’s motives only to have said official take the repercussions out on our athletes. And I’m not saying they have the right to do that, just simply that it happens almost every time our fans get out of hand. And now our kids are paying for it even more because officials do not want to come to Calhoun and be harassed, screamed and cursed at. We could pay them more than any other school and they still wouldn’t come. Because our fans make them feel unsafe. And that is a horrible fact. We MUST DO BETTER! When the officials are horrible we have to cheer even louder for athletes. When a foul goes uncalled or called wrong, we have to remind our athletes that they can’t leave a game up to the officiating (Thanks Brian Ritchie for that piece of wisdom) and we must teach them that they can’t retaliate every time something doesn’t go our way. It only serves to put us at higher risk of injury or injuring another person. If the WVSSAC officials are afraid to come to us, let’s change that narrative. Give our athletes the fair shake they deserve by training them to be the bigger person, and just play ball. Sports are a huge asset to building strong, well-rounded, hard-working adults that understand life isn’t fair but you can’t beat someone if you have to stoop to their level.
I apologize for not having a more detailed account of what happened, who scored what or even what the final score was. Unfortunately the antics of these officials, the players and fans kind of stole the show. Congratulations ladies! You’ve been to war and survived to play another day. Take this game, build off what you did right and call yourself out on what you did wrong, then go back out there and show the WVSSAC and their officials that you’re better than they ever give you credit for.
