The Belleville High School football team will be trying to defend their Division 1 state championship this week. As they have done since the start of the tournament, they will be doing it without their head coach Jermain Crowell, who has been banned by the MHSAA from coaching any sport for the remainder of this high school year and the next two years for committing undue influence in the potential recruitment of a student athlete. Immediately upon the announcement of the MHSAA, Crowell was fired by the Belleville athletic director.
Crowell was found to have committed undue influence in recruiting players to play for Belleville. He allegedly provided transportation to a middle school student from Detroit to attend camps and practices at Belleville in hopes the player would choose to play at Belleville. Ultimately the student decided to stay in Detroit. The MHSAA became aware of the violation when the student mentioned to a reporter that Crowell was picking him up and taking him to Belleville for workouts and training. Crowell and Belleville were notified of the potential violation and the investigation prior to the first round of this year’s playoffs. Crowell was immediately suspended by the district pending the outcome of the investigation.
This is not the last you will hear of violations such as this. In this day and age of school of choice, high school recruiting and moving of players from one district to another throughout the four years of high school are becoming more common. The districts where the student is transferring to is happy to accept them because 100% of their state funding transfers with them. There is no incentive for the school district to monitor how and why the student decided to transfer. They take the word of those involved. Cases such as the Belleville case usually only come to light when a whistleblower, a disgruntled parent, student athlete or coach decides to make accusations to the MHSAA.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Per the NY Times, as nighttime shoppers browsed for household items or Thanksgiving necessities, an employee of a Walmart in Chesapeake, Va., took out a pistol and, without a word, a witness said, opened fire, killing five of his co-workers and a 16-year-old boy, and wounding several others before turning the weapon on himself. The bodies of the gunman and two victims were found in an employee break room, the authorities said, and another near the front of the store. Three died after being taken to nearby hospitals. See my Onion of the Day
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
How many more people are going to die before we take action to do something about it?
Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner said it best in their editorial following the night club shooting earlier this week in Colorado Springs. Their words express my frustration perfectly.
Guns and hatred collide once more.
Peace is broken; lives are shattered.
Again we see the pictures and learn the names of those who have been slaughtered.
“Authorities are trying to determine a motive.” But the broader narrative is already known.
Those who feed the hate, stoke the vitriol, and profit off of our divisions hide behind meaningless expressions of thoughts and prayers. For them, there is no pause for reflection, no sense that we can do better.
Anger, waves of anger, sweep over a deep trench of hopelessness.
We have mourned before, and we surely will again.
A cycle repeats. The words we uttered for the last tragedy could be reprised for this one, and likely the one to come
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now that the Supreme Court has cleared the way for the release of the former presidents tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, I cannot wait for them to become available for public viewing. I am looking forward to learning some new tricks to reduce my tax bill. I am hoping I will be able to get my tax bill down to the same percentage of income the former president pays.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Much to my surprise, the Washtenaw County prosecutor on Wednesday announced in a relative timely manner charges, including a felony, against seven Michigan State players involved in the tunnel incident following the game on last month. One was charged with felonious assault and six others were charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault Don’t be surprised if none of these cases ever go to trial as the county prosecutor is known for working out plea deals for lessor charges. Think Emoni Bates.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Big college hoops news for the area as former Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein will be inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame and Detroit was chosen as the host of the 2027 men’s basketball NCAA Final Four tournament. They both get my Orchid of the Day.
Please feel free to share my blog.
Elections Matter. Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence?
Quote of the Day: His panel would “now conduct the oversight that we’ve sought for the last three and a half years.” Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, who requested the former president’s tax returns.
Orchid of the Day: See above.
Onion of the Day: The disgruntled former Walmart store manager who took out his anger in a shooting spree that left 5 employees and a 16 year old boy dead.
Questions of the Day: In what sane world do we accept a national impotence in the face of unending bloodshed? Why do we demonize people for how they express their love for others? Or for what they look like? Or for how they pray?
Why is celebrating our common humanity not enough? What do we tell our children? How do we teach them? Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner.
Video/Image of the Day: Bill Bonds as only Bill Bonds could do talking about college football. Thank you Mike Snyder for sharing this with me today.
Question of the day is very powerful
Wanda,
Thank you. When I read the article, it really hit home for me.