In basketball game, both teams try to lose

The governing body of high school sports in Tennessee has provided a guide for how to crack down on creeping unsportsmanlike behavior.

It’s disciplined two high school girls’ basketball teams because they both tried to lose on Saturday night. The team that won would’ve had to face a national powerhouse school in the opening round of the regional playoffs.

Everything that’s wrong with youth sports is right here.

Smyrna trying to hand Riverdale the ball back. Then intentionally getting called for a backcourt violation. @tssaa pic.twitter.com/hkBPJIpEY7

— Trevor Goodson™ (@CousinTrevvv) February 21, 2015

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association kicked both teams out of the postseason this week.

Related: Minnesota high school hockey fighting is learned behavior (Minnesota Hockey Magazine).

About the blogger

Bob Collins

bcollins@mpr.org • @newscut

Bob Collins retired from Minnesota Public Radio in 2019 after 12 years of writing NewsCut and pointing out to complainants that posts weren’t news stories. A son of Massachusetts, he was a news editor 1992-1998, created the MPR News regional website in 1999, invented the popular Select A Candidate, started several blogs, and every day lamented that his Minnesota Fantasy Legislature project never caught on.