Survey Says: Stupid.

For those who don't know, I am from a small town in Baltimore County, Maryland called Perry Hall.  I am proud to be from this town, which boasts not only an Ikea down the road and an awesome 24-hour grocery store (where I had my first job), but also my alma mater, Perry Hall High School.  With 2,300 students, PHHS was almost as big as my undergraduate university, and is the biggest high school in Baltimore County.  I loved it there (although mostly in retrospect because, let's face it, high school is miserable).  I was in theater, I played on the marching band's drum line, I took all AP classes and left with some of my best friends still today.



So this morning I was particularly disheartened to hear about a controversy that overtook Perry Hall.  The principal, George Roberts, cancelled the boy's soccer season after upsetting Dulaney High School in the regional semi-finals.

Why, you ask, would a principal do such a thing?  Because of this...

The soccer team, after their victory, engaged in a short victory dance (a matter of seconds) of The Bernie.  They've done it almost every game, parents say.

Perhaps Dulaney parents didn't understand what was going on.  Maybe they're just sore losers.  Either way, the complaints started coming in about a "sexually suggestive" dance that the boy's soccer team was doing.  By the way, this is the least sexually explicit dance I've seen in my life.  It's mimicking a dead person.

One thing leads to the next and the boys' season is over.  The story was picked up nationally by MSNBC and, my personal favorite, by Forbes with an article entitled "Stupid Principal Cancels Soccer Season Because Stupid Parents Upset Over Team's Stupid Dance."  True fact.

I was blown away by the outpouring of support that followed.  Facebook blew up with updates about the injustice that was done to a bunch of high school boys who made a bad decision.  A Facebook group was created to support the players.  Students, parents, alumni, and community members showed up outside the school to protest this "stupid" decision.

Ultimately, this story has a happy ending.  As of this afternoon, the decision to cancel the season was overturned and the boys will be playing James Hubert Blake High School tomorrow at 2 p.m. for the regional title.

So why does this matter?  To me, this is a measure of our society today.  Perhaps it's just living in a liberal hub of the country, but things seem to be pretty shaky at the moment.  People are really enjoying their protests - the ones at the Wisconsin Capitol in February and March, the Occupy Together protests, and surely more.  We've gotten to the point where we are protesting high school athletics.

I absolutely believe in the democratic process and that we have the right to, and should, protest anything and everything that we want.  In truth, the decision made at Perry Hall was probably a bit hasty and disproportionate to the offense.  And, in full disclosure, I myself wrote a strongly worded e-mail to Principal Roberts.  But the outpouring of support on local and national television, local radio stations (WIYY and WWMX each covered this story very well), and social media were so much more than I ever would have expected for a story about a high school soccer team.

Look at our world today.  Tensions are high.  We have a huge presidential election coming up in a year.  We have wars abroad and are in massive amounts of debt.  Students can't find jobs.  We need to release some of this tension.  If releasing this tension towards a rinky-dink town in Baltimore, MD and its boy's soccer team helps, then I say go for it.  Protest away.  This is something we can stand behind.  I mean heck, even Ray Rice does The Bernie.

All I can say is...hang in there.  Keep speaking up.  Never say die.  The relentless e-mails and phone calls to Principal Roberts show that your voice DOES count.

And, of course....LET'S GO GATORS.