You know, there really is a bit of a sick culture in the high school athletic world – especially high school football. With that culture comes the equally sickening idea of what makes a man a man.
The way the high school athletic culture perceives what makes a man masculine… it’s nigh impossible for a sneaky little man like Sheldon Berman not to defend what his coaches do.
The culture seems to welcome things like telling players that they play like they’ve got vaginas. It supports phrases like ‘split the line open like a whore.’ It’s commonplace to motivate with homophobia and sexism. Coaches and principals just laugh behavior like that off, saying it’s just the way you have to coach young males.
It’s sick that Jefferson County Public Schools is officially pointing the finger at Max Gilpin and his parents. It’s possible that Gilpin could have been under the weather that day. Who knows, maybe he did take over the counter medication and was also on physician-prescribed medication at the same time? Maybe he didn’t tell his coach because of that ‘win at all costs’ philosophy and the notion of what makes a man a man.
But Gilpin wasn’t a man. He was still a child. A child who was supposed to be under the protective watch of adults. We hire these people (coaches) who are supposed to act as responsible adults. Adults who keep the best interests of our children at heart.
Guess we’ll never know what kind of man Max Gilpin would have become. But we know what kind of men Sheldon Berman and his cohorts have. They deflect blame at all costs and point fingers at the defenseless. Responsibility is not a value they embody.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Jul 2, 2009 at 4:50 pm
What is more sad is there has to be blame on somebody – somebody has to be sued and has to pay. Why is the possibility that this was all just a tragedy, a horrible incident that just happened to happen during football practice? It has been repeated that dehydration was not the cause of death. Was it medication side affects? Personal illness? Are coaches supposed to read a person’s mind and know they are not feeling well? Why was no autopsy performed to get a clear indication of the cause of death? What is sad is the blame game that always take place.
2 jtt // Jul 2, 2009 at 6:18 pm
You do not have to be dehydrated to have heatstroke – but heatstroke is 100 percent preventable. It’s not a freak situation, it’s absolutely 100 percent preventable.
ONE MORE TIME – there was no autopsy because the deputy coroner (Weakley, I think) and the attending physician explained to his parents that there was no need to have one, they knew what killed him – heatstroke. Why would parents question this?
3 Bruce Maples // Jul 2, 2009 at 6:18 pm
The young man’s internal body temperature was 107 degrees when he got to the hospital, and the official cause of death was listed as heat stroke, IIRC. There has been no indication so far that any combination of existing conditions and medications can cause your body temperature to spontaneously shoot to that level. So, I’m not ready yet to chalk this death up to random tragedy. SOMETHING caused that temperature spike, and so far I haven’t seen a good explanation. But shrugging it off as luck of the draw for one unfortunate teenager doesn’t cut it.
4 Steve // Jul 2, 2009 at 7:46 pm
When I finished reading of the discrepancies between the findings of JCPS “investigation” and the criminal probe in the C-J, I was even more outraged and disgusted than I was yesterday.
Even if Max wasn’t denied water and didn’t die of dehydration, for Stinson to order his players to keep running until someone quit the team — in late August in the Ohio Valley — showed a reckless disregard for their well being. This was an unconscionable invitation to disaster.
Teachers and coaches get fired for much lesser offenses than endangering the health and safety of students.
If Supt. Berman truly wanted to send a loud & clear message districtwide that redneck, lunkheaded coaching is unacceptable, he would have delivered a letter of termination instead of a slap on the wrist.
This “report” has the grubby pawprints of lawyers all over it. It infuriates me that it was paid for with taxpayers’ money, and it enrages me that Berman seems more interested in covering the district’s butt legally than seeking or finding the truth and providing “solace and healing” to Max’s family and friends.
This is the crock of the century. It’s not even a convincing whitewash — and WE paid for it!!
This may serve to improve Berman’s deficient relations with personnel, but not with those of us taxpayers who are paying close attention.
5 slim // Jul 2, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Amen, Amen, Amen. Fuck that phony, bible toting prick, “coach” Stinson.
6 Robert Kahne // Jul 2, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Look at you, going and opinionizing on your web-site. It’s like its 2007 on here or something.
7 Bob // Jul 3, 2009 at 9:38 am
Yep, the culture of what is means to be a man is at the base of a lot of this. Ignore pain and real danger to please the so-called MAN in charge. Never be the one to complain for your own sake. We have to wonder if the coaches (and there was more than one on the field that day) really are men in a meaningful sense and frankly what role real Christian principles play in their lives (they are the ones who have played the Christian card). As for the school district supt and his staff—what did we expect from that bunch? CYA all the way. The supt. is outraged? Doesn’t he have an odd way of dealing with his outrage?
8 Just me // Jul 3, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I have no idea what, precisely, caused this young man’s death. However, from what I’ve read (various sources), not only did Max collapse at PRP’s practice that day, another player did, too. And, if I remember correctly, *another* player puked while doing the ‘gassers’. As Berman, himself, pointed out there was a PRP soccer game being played at the same time. And, I feel certain, there were multiple athletic practices/events going on in the Louisville area…*at the same time*. Were any other athletes from the other practices/events taken to the hospital that day? Could it possibly be that Stinson & Co did *not* take necessary precautions? Perhaps, pushed *too* hard?
9 Always Amazed // Jul 5, 2009 at 2:36 pm
What a surprise, Business First editorial agrees Berman’s performance grade should be an A+.
http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2009/07/06/editorial1.html?jst=pn_pn_lk
Jake, can you get the whole article for us?
10 jake // Jul 5, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Not worth it.
B1st only writes fluff.
11 Judy // Jul 5, 2009 at 2:59 pm
The C-J article listed the JCPS “investigators,” who prepared the findings for the JCPS report. One of them is Jim Hearn.
Surely this is not the Jim Hearn who once served at Chairman of the Jeff. Co. School Board. Hearn used his influence, along with his wife Patti Hearn, a JCPS Deputy Superintendent, to pull a bogus encyclopedia scam in the early 1990s. The Hearns cheated the system, students, and parents out of more than $322,000 in overpriced encyclopedias, many of them never delivered. These two crooks were charged, convicted, and sentenced. They left Louisville in disgrace.
Is the JCPS “investigator” in the Max Gilpin case the same Jim Hearn?
12 Always Amazed // Jul 5, 2009 at 10:34 pm
He looks to be Jim Hearn, Jr……so is he son of the infamous theft?
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