Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Sports this 'n' that

A Texas high schooler, in the course of transitioning from female to male, took treatments of testosterone to accelerate the process, if you will, while competing in a sectional wrestling tournament. Unfortunately, the fact that Mack (short for Mackenzie) Beggs won the tournament in his/her weight class only brings up controversy.

Texas high school rules state that you have to compete against athletes of the same gender that you were born with. Translated, Beggs had to compete against women, which was sure to generate controversy no matter what happened. Beggs, 17, attends Trinity High in Euless, and was set to face Madeline Rocha of Coppell High. However, Rocha forfeited the match due to a predictable lawsuit filed by an ambulance chaser representing Coppell and a parent of another Coppell wrestler. Said parent, Jim Baudhuin, admitted he respects what Beggs wants to do. His problem is the testosterone, which gives Beggs an unfair advantage. He also said that his daughter wasn't in the same weight class as Beggs, and the two wouldn't have met in the tournament. Baudhuin was looking out for the other athletes.

The simplest solution, from where I sit, would've been for Beggs to withdraw, due to the transitional phase. Assuming he/she's a senior, this would've been Beggs' last chance for a sectional championship.

Oh, what a tangled web.........
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On the home front, Troy High's boys basketball team is one-and-done in the Class AA sectionals, as Albany avenged a loss on their home court two weeks ago, upsetting the 6th seeded Flying Horses, 49-44, last night. Daniel Buie was held to 11 points. Elijah Davis had a game high 13 points. The bad news for the Falcons, however, is that their next opponent will be Bethlehem on Saturday at Hudson Valley Community College. I don't think Cinderella will stay with them much longer.

Something tells me that the Troy women won't be around long, either, headed into a match tonight against Shaker. The Lady Bison & Lady Horses split two regular season games. As the boys had won 6 of 7 before losing last night at home, the girls have a modest three game winning streak on the line tonight.
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In the home district, there is some sadness this morning with news that Harry Gully, long synonymous with the Lansingburgh Pop Warner Football program, passed away Monday at 82. While I don't think I've ever met the man, I have read of the yeoman's work he put in for many years working with kids in the North end of town. He will be missed.

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