State athletic association cancels seasons after on-court brawl

Goddamned English and needing to be purposefully specific. When I said "doesn't seem that bad" I meant it doesn't seem over the top or disproportionate to the crime. The ban is bad and it's meant to be bad. I guess that's what I meant.

And like I said, I am too lazy to really delve into how good Griffith is and how good its potential opponents are. I just know guessing how the playoffs are going to play out is impossible and a team that should advance to the quarter/semi/finals is one lucky shot away from bowing out in the first round.

 

I don't mind the correction. Glad someone remembers it better than I do. I'm going from nearly 20-year-old memories of what I read in The Star - not the Bloomington papers - about the incident. There was also a write-up in Sports Illustrated. Sounds like a case of when the legend becomes fact, print the fact.

I did remember that someone yelled out a particularly bad slur that many people heard. I assume that's what you're talking about with Duany getting hurt.

As my memory has been jogged a little more though, I think I was confusing the punishment of the Martinsville boys' team with the decision by BN's girls team not to play at the Martinsville sectional. I was thinking that the boys never played the follow-up game in the tournament that was expected - and that's why I was thinking they were suspended. But I realize now that game did happen and there were tons of cops and press coverage from the Indy media, etc. It was the girls game that never happened because BN decided not to take its team too Martinsville. I did remember that Martinsville wasn't allowed to host any games for a year.

 

It also got mentioned in that book Jon Wertheim wrote about Indiana HS basketball. All sorts of sources have mentioned it. Only problem is it Never. Fucking. Happened. Pure myth. Something those sources might've discovered if any sought to investigate the claim before reporting it. None did.

Yep. This is the one incident from that game that is undisputed. The claim about the alleged "darkies" chant is most likely bullshit (apparently resulting from mistaking the word with Arties), the KKK shoe claim is absolutely bullshit, but nobody disputes what the nasty old bitch screamed when Duany was lying on the floor. Nearly everybody in the building heard it, and it was an appalling moment.

 

We're all grown-ups here. What did she yell?

 

I'm not into repeating racial slurs, and don't remember the exact words anyways. But, suffice to say, it involved the N word yelled loudly enough for nearly the whole place to hear. And at a moment when Duany had just been knocked to the floor and appeared to be quite injured.

 

Curiosity got the better of me so I Googled it. This article tells all about it. He was vomiting after being elbowed in the stomach and the lady told him to stop spitting on the floor. But in worse language.

 

She must be from Indiana.

 

Both schools have their appeal hearing today:

Residents speak against Griffith basketball suspensions : Griffith Community News

 

Apparently a judge just held that the teams can play in the state tournament, which begins tomorrow.

 

When I was looking for a full-time job after graduating in the mid 90s, I interviewed at the Martinaville paper. They had an Honest-to-God hound dog in their office.

Martinsville is a weird place. It's a place with small town attitudes - with the best and worst that entails - but is also close enough to Indy where it gets some suburban growth.

The racism tag it's long had has been earned. Many schools that have minority students will not play there, including three I've covered. From what I've been told by minority coaches, the racism isn't overt, hut latent. A feeling of being uncomfortable and unwanted there.

Is there a bit of reputation creating this impression? Probably, but too many schools steer clear for it to be complete nonsense.

 

Griffith wins the regional.