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Setting Things Straight
A high school quarterback completes a 37-yard pass, securing the conference's career passing record. You would think that's cause for celebration, right? Not if you're Nate Haasis. Shortly after he realized that both teams' coaches rigged plays to allow him the new record, Haasis requested his pass be wiped from the books.
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Haasis Shuns Easy Way Out
By JIM LITKE, The Associated Press
A lot of people went to a lot of trouble to get the kid the record. Three days later, Nate Haasis gave it back.
Next week, in what should be little more than a formality, some grown-ups will meet and strike it from the Central State Eight Conference record books. The story of why that vote was even necessary reminds us that sportsmanship isn't dead, it's just hiding.
Photo: TJ Salsman,
The State Journal-Register
"Nate's a thinker," Southeast coach Neal Taylor said about Haasis earlier in the season.
The Saturday before last, on the final play of a remarkable high school career at Springfield (Ill.) Southeast, the 17-year-old senior quarterback completed a 37-yard pass that made him the conference's career passing leader. Not long after he figured out how he got the record, Haasis wrote a letter to league officials.
"It is my belief that the directions given to us in the final seconds of this game were made in 'the heat of battle' and do not represent the values of the athletes of the Southeast football team," Haasis wrote. "In respect to my teammates, and past and present football players of the Central State Eight, it is my hope that this pass is omitted from any conference records."
The phrase "in the heat of battle," like so much else in sports these days, makes the games sound more important than they are.
What actually happened is that with less than a minute left in what would turn out to be a 42-20 loss, Southeast coach Neal Taylor called a timeout, walked onto the field and huddled with Cahokia coach Antwyne Golliday. They agreed to a deal that allowed Cahokia to score, uncontested, in exchange for allowing Haasis to do the same on the record-breaking pass.
"There'd always be a 'but' on his record, and he didn't want that."
-Andrew Redding,
friend and teammate
The principals have regretted that decision nearly every day since. Taylor, who works at a middle school in Springfield, might quit as Southeast's coach, or be forced out. After being hammered relentlessly, he won't discuss that decision anymore. But Taylor has known Haasis since the kid was in seventh grade and something the coach said at the end of the Cahokia game was as articulate a defense as he could offer.
"He was leaning toward going to a different school and he and his parents told me that he went to Southeast because of me," Taylor said then, wrestling back emotion. "And when someone does a nice gesture like that, it deserves a nice gesture back."
The world would no doubt be a better place if everybody followed the golden rule, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. And one place where it shouldn't have happened at this particular moment is in sports.
AP
In a pre-arranged deal, Nykesha Sales shoots an uncontested layup against Villanova to break UConn's scoring record.
We're already suspicious of more than a few records amid rumors and reports that performance-enhancing drugs are being used by athletes across the board. A few other records have been set after similar deals were struck. All of them have been cheapened in the bargain.
Five years ago, there was Connecticut women's basketball star Nykesha Sales, lost for the season with a torn Achilles' tendon, hobbling onto the court at the start of a game to make an uncontested layup that gave her the school scoring record. Two seasons ago, though both players continue to deny it, Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre took a dive so New York Giants defender Michael Strahan could set the single-season sack record. Just last March, Cleveland Cavalier Ricky Davis didn't bother arranging a deal with anyone else; in a rare moment of inspiration, he tried to finish off his first career triple-double by shooting at his own basket and missing, so he could get another rebound.
Athletes at the highest levels are taught, pushed and more than ever, praised for exploiting every advantage in the pursuit of excellence. We celebrate their cunning and guile at getting around the rules with the justification that they're grown men whose ability to feed a family could depend on their ability to gain any kind of edge. Then we pretend to be surprised when kids do it, too.
The thing about Haasis that caught us off guard was just the opposite. He wasn't trying to get around anything. He refused the easy way out.
"There'd always be a `but' on his record," said Andrew Redding, a pal and teammate since eighth grade, "and he didn't want that."
The strange thing is that the one guy who knew that about Haasis better than most simply forgot.
Earlier in the season, as the quarterback started rolling up the numbers that would give him a shot at the record, Taylor was asked what made his quarterback special. He replied that Haasis' success had more to do with a sharp mind than a strong arm.
"Nate's a thinker. If he doesn't have an answer for something," Taylor said, "he wants to know why."
A high school quarterback completes a 37-yard pass, securing the conference's career passing record. You would think that's cause for celebration, right? Not if you're Nate Haasis. Shortly after he realized that both teams' coaches rigged plays to allow him the new record, Haasis requested his pass be wiped from the books.
Talk About It
Post Thoughts | Chat
Haasis Shuns Easy Way Out
By JIM LITKE, The Associated Press
A lot of people went to a lot of trouble to get the kid the record. Three days later, Nate Haasis gave it back.
Next week, in what should be little more than a formality, some grown-ups will meet and strike it from the Central State Eight Conference record books. The story of why that vote was even necessary reminds us that sportsmanship isn't dead, it's just hiding.
Photo: TJ Salsman,
The State Journal-Register
"Nate's a thinker," Southeast coach Neal Taylor said about Haasis earlier in the season.
The Saturday before last, on the final play of a remarkable high school career at Springfield (Ill.) Southeast, the 17-year-old senior quarterback completed a 37-yard pass that made him the conference's career passing leader. Not long after he figured out how he got the record, Haasis wrote a letter to league officials.
"It is my belief that the directions given to us in the final seconds of this game were made in 'the heat of battle' and do not represent the values of the athletes of the Southeast football team," Haasis wrote. "In respect to my teammates, and past and present football players of the Central State Eight, it is my hope that this pass is omitted from any conference records."
The phrase "in the heat of battle," like so much else in sports these days, makes the games sound more important than they are.
What actually happened is that with less than a minute left in what would turn out to be a 42-20 loss, Southeast coach Neal Taylor called a timeout, walked onto the field and huddled with Cahokia coach Antwyne Golliday. They agreed to a deal that allowed Cahokia to score, uncontested, in exchange for allowing Haasis to do the same on the record-breaking pass.
"There'd always be a 'but' on his record, and he didn't want that."
-Andrew Redding,
friend and teammate
The principals have regretted that decision nearly every day since. Taylor, who works at a middle school in Springfield, might quit as Southeast's coach, or be forced out. After being hammered relentlessly, he won't discuss that decision anymore. But Taylor has known Haasis since the kid was in seventh grade and something the coach said at the end of the Cahokia game was as articulate a defense as he could offer.
"He was leaning toward going to a different school and he and his parents told me that he went to Southeast because of me," Taylor said then, wrestling back emotion. "And when someone does a nice gesture like that, it deserves a nice gesture back."
The world would no doubt be a better place if everybody followed the golden rule, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. And one place where it shouldn't have happened at this particular moment is in sports.
AP
In a pre-arranged deal, Nykesha Sales shoots an uncontested layup against Villanova to break UConn's scoring record.
We're already suspicious of more than a few records amid rumors and reports that performance-enhancing drugs are being used by athletes across the board. A few other records have been set after similar deals were struck. All of them have been cheapened in the bargain.
Five years ago, there was Connecticut women's basketball star Nykesha Sales, lost for the season with a torn Achilles' tendon, hobbling onto the court at the start of a game to make an uncontested layup that gave her the school scoring record. Two seasons ago, though both players continue to deny it, Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre took a dive so New York Giants defender Michael Strahan could set the single-season sack record. Just last March, Cleveland Cavalier Ricky Davis didn't bother arranging a deal with anyone else; in a rare moment of inspiration, he tried to finish off his first career triple-double by shooting at his own basket and missing, so he could get another rebound.
Athletes at the highest levels are taught, pushed and more than ever, praised for exploiting every advantage in the pursuit of excellence. We celebrate their cunning and guile at getting around the rules with the justification that they're grown men whose ability to feed a family could depend on their ability to gain any kind of edge. Then we pretend to be surprised when kids do it, too.
The thing about Haasis that caught us off guard was just the opposite. He wasn't trying to get around anything. He refused the easy way out.
"There'd always be a `but' on his record," said Andrew Redding, a pal and teammate since eighth grade, "and he didn't want that."
The strange thing is that the one guy who knew that about Haasis better than most simply forgot.
Earlier in the season, as the quarterback started rolling up the numbers that would give him a shot at the record, Taylor was asked what made his quarterback special. He replied that Haasis' success had more to do with a sharp mind than a strong arm.
"Nate's a thinker. If he doesn't have an answer for something," Taylor said, "he wants to know why."
