Good Sports?

In Tampa, Florida the Florida High School Athletic Association fined Jefferson and Alonso High Schools for a fight that broke out after a junior varsity football game on October 4, 2007.

The FHSAA sent letters to the schools last week.
Jefferson was fined $1,500:
• 4 counts of gross unsporting conduct ($250 each)
• failure to comply with FHSAA sportsmanship policies ($500)

Alonso was fined $1,100:
• 2 counts of gross unsporting conduct ($250 each)
• 1 count of regular unsporting conduct ($100)
• failure to comply with FHSAA sportsmanship policies ($500)

The fight started when both teams lined up for their post game handshakes. The item that I like about this decision is that the students have to pay. According to Jefferson athletic director Bob Morgan, Hillsborough County School District policy dictates:
“If a student athlete is fined from FHSAA for general or gross unsportsmanlike conduct, then the student is responsible for the fines.” Lets make it hurt. You throw a punch, it is $500 per punch and it goes to a designated charity. The athletic director should be forced to sign an affidavit that the money came from the student and not their parents or others. This way, if you throw a punch and do not have the money to pay the fine, then you have to leave the team, bet a job, and work it off. Such a system would punish the offenders where it hurts and discourage others from doing the same in the future.
Gil-