Vandals won’t deter Jonesport-Beals coach

This note is for the person or persons responsible for the vandalism and destruction of my husband’s truck as well as personal items of sentimental value on the night of Jan. 4th. This incident took place in the driveway of our home sometime after midnight while we were asleep after another disappointing loss of a boys basketball game at Jonesport-Beals High School.

Your vicious and vindictive behavior has been duly noted but you have not and will not succeed in making my husband stop doing something he’s done for the past two decades.

He has dedicated his life and a good portion of ours to coaching in Washington County where we were born, raised and continue to live. Your cowardly actions may have caused us great personal concern, terrible disappointment and utter outrage, but you will not be successful in forcing this dedicated and determined coach out of something he’s loved doing all his adult life.

You have failed to cause an outright mutiny on this team and your ignorance has only fueled a fire of determination in an otherwise dismal season so far. So to all those involved in this unfortunate incident, I say thank-you for bringing into focus the truly important aspects of a coach’s life.

My husband is not perfect and certainly does not always make the best decisions on or off the court or playing field, yet we can count on one hand the face-to-face, ugly confrontations he’s had in all these years of coaching at all levels from peewee to varsity sports. A person who coaches or teaches does not do so for fame, personal recognition or money. A good coach just loves to teach the game and work with kids.

A good coach tries to instill values of hard work, determination, dedication, teamwork, honesty, respect, integrity and pride not only in one’s self but the team, the school and the entire community. Since this has happened, we’ve had a tremendous outpouring of care and support from family, friends, team members and coaches, faculty, staff, administration and school board members as well as concerned members of the communities within our school district and beyond. We’d like to thank those of you who have called or come by our home and those who have generously offered to fix or replace items that have been damaged or destroyed completely.

A special thanks also goes out to our school superintendent/principal as well as to our JV coach and family for all your support and help during this difficult time. We are grateful to all for your kindness and consideration at this time.

It is a sad commentary on society today when playing on a team is considered a right not a privilege. Some may think that the discipline, standards or expectations set for the overall team somehow does not apply to them. Some may simply seem to feel a sense of entitlement to play over others who do come to every practice or who actually do show respect toward others.

Some may think that immaturity, irresponsibility, lack of respect and a total disregard for others is the norm for adolescent behavior, and should not only be expected but ignored or even excused altogether. This is not the case at this point in time nor will it ever be from our point of view.

I want you to know that no one person is to blame for a losing season, just as not one person cannot be totally responsible for a triumphant and successful one. It takes a total team effort from players to coaches to parents and fans.

Whether you’re from Jonesport or Beals or any other community here in Maine, you should always work hard and take pride in knowing you’ve tried your best at every given moment the whole season – true winners in the fame of life, win or lose. Winners do not blame others.

So in closing to the vandals I say this – it may have been your vain attempt to get back at my husband for some perceived grievance or this may have been just some random act of frustration in an already aggravating half of a losing basketball season. Yet you should know that we, as a family, will not let this type of behavior bother us or cause us to live our lives any differently. I’m still proud to be this coach’s wife and we’re still proud residents of the small community known as Jonesport-Beals. Your actions have simply made us truly more aware and appreciative of our lives here as a coach’s family in Down East Maine.

Sally L. MacLean

Jonesport

Referees shouldn’t decide games

I witnessed one of the most degrading examples of refereeing that I have ever seen. These two referees took what should have been a very good matchup and ending with a hard-won close game and turned it into a sham.

How the home team coach could stand by and let the game proceed and consider it a “good” win is beyond me.

At the start of every game the announcer requests “good sportsmanlike conduct from the players and fans,” perhaps they should also request fair refereeing? The referees involved called fouls, they called blocking, pushing, holding, they just seem to forget that there were two teams on the floor.

We are constantly reminded that we should be good role models for our children, well, I wouldn’t want those two referees to be role models for any child or even another adult. I sure some people will say “it’s sour grapes talking because my team lost,” but it isn’t. This is about allowing high school athletes the same rights, regardless of where they are from.

I think it’s time the referee licensing board took an interest in who they are allowing to referee and start rebuking some of those licenses.

Maybe then we would see a good game played by the teams and the outcome not decided by poor refereeing.

Deanna West

Cherryfield

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