Hazing

Sports Journalists Forum – Media, Newsroom & Reporting Talk

Help Support Sports Journalists Forum:

jr/shotglass

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
22,389
One of our local schools just scrapped their season after hazing incidents. Another HS in western PA is putting its season on hold for the same reason.

Any time frame for when the Neanderthals finally grasp that this isn't going to be tolerated anymore?

 
Maybe one day someone can do a study on why so much of this hazing with mucho macho masculine alpha dog teenage boys much of the time involves the underage booty hole of younger boys. I'm sure the findings would be enlightening.
 
Maybe one day someone can do a study on why so much of this hazing with mucho macho masculine alpha dog teenage boys much of the time involves the underage booty hole of younger boys. I'm sure the findings would be enlightening.
Because above almost all else, teenage boys are insanely horny?
 
Maybe one day someone can do a study on why so much of this hazing with mucho macho masculine alpha dog teenage boys much of the time involves the underage booty hole of younger boys. I'm sure the findings would be enlightening.

 
Look at most any crime or anti social act, it’s all about one side/person exercising it’s power/dominance over the other. Sucks.

Full disclosure, I admit I was part of some hazing from college and HS and not proud of my behavior then.
 
I wrote four or five really serious news/sports intersection stories in my time in Flagstaff, and one was dealing with a huge hazing scandal at Winslow High School involving a bunch of track and field athletes. Among them was the star basketball player who was a Division I prospect. Aside from standing on a corner, Winslow is a good 55 miles east of Flag so it was sort of in our coverage area but not a school we covered heavily. They were not thrilled with the interloper from Flag coming over to report the thing. But it ended with several kids getting in serious trouble and exposing it basically killed a hazing culture that had been ongoing in their athletics department. The basketball player eventually rehabilitated and played DI ball.
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change.
I wrote four or five really serious news/sports intersection stories in my time in Flagstaff, and one was dealing with a huge hazing scandal at Winslow High School involving a bunch of track and field athletes. Among them was the star basketball player who was a Division I prospect. Aside from standing on a corner, Winslow is a good 55 miles east of Flag so it was sort of in our coverage area but not a school we covered heavily. They were not thrilled with the interloper from Flag coming over to report the thing. But it ended with several kids getting in serious trouble and exposing it basically killed a hazing culture that had been ongoing in their athletics department. The basketball player eventually rehabilitated and played DI ball.
Glenn Frey of Eagles says “Take it Easy”
 
Over/under on when complaints this will cost little Johnny a scholarship begin? Because he was one if the good kids not involved.
 
Over/under on when complaints this will cost little Johnny a scholarship begin? Because he was one if the good kids not involved.
It's already happened on the social-media threads with Middletown. At least some people have the sense to point out the fallacy in that.

------------------

This has been a bit of an epidemic in this area. My alma mater had a 6-8, 260-pound defensive lineman last year who was a Big Ten recruit. During basketball season, he reportedly pantsed a kid in the locker room. The kid's mom not only wanted his basketball season to end, she wanted his college scholarship revoked.

The Big Ten school never gave it lip service. The high school, which eventually reached the state semifinals in no small part due to this young man, sat him out six games and brought him back the week before playoffs.
 
Our Guys, book about the Glen Ridge New Jersey incident in 1989 offered clues as to how those involving sports participants starts at the youngest levels.
 
Look at most any crime or anti social act, it’s all about one side/person exercising it’s power/dominance over the other. Sucks.

Full disclosure, I admit I was part of some hazing from college and HS and not proud of my behavior then.

And qtlaw hits it out of the park. This isn't just being male or being athletic. There are plenty of instances that involve males, females, both sexes and areas well inside and outside of the sports arena that could be classified as hazing.

Think of all the fraternities (and sororities) that have been responsible for deaths and injuries because of this issue. Middle school girl cliques would definitely make the list. Cheerleading. Gymnastics. Swim teams. Marine Corps boot camp.

I remember "initiations" to get into everything from the neighborhood treehouse to the prestigious Order of the Arrow as a Boy Scout. Gwen told me about the hazing all first-years underwent to join the UC Davis Marching Band-uh, which resulted in suspension and reorganization under the university several decades later.

UC Davis Marching Band Suspended After Sexual Misconduct, Hazing Allegations - CBS Sacramento (cbsnews.com)

It's not new. But it is stupid. And getting it out into the open and under scrutiny may save somebody's life or keep them from permanent injury.
 
Heh ... the Middletown QB has already resurfaced in the neighboring school district. A statewide small-school power.

Everyone involved with the transfer argues he wasn't part of the hazing, so he shouldn't have to pay with his senior season. Spirited discourse ensues.
 
I often wonder about the person who chooses to record video, but not intervene. Are they complicit? And @maumann, Gwen is correct. Marching bands across the U.S. certainly weren't immune from the hazing culture.
 
One of our local schools just scrapped their season after hazing incidents. Another HS in western PA is putting its season on hold for the same reason.

Any time frame for when the Neanderthals finally grasp that this isn't going to be tolerated anymore?


What are the odds the season gets nixed if there is no video and the authorities are only working off statements?
 
And qtlaw hits it out of the park. This isn't just being male or being athletic. There are plenty of instances that involve males, females, both sexes and areas well inside and outside of the sports arena that could be classified as hazing.

Think of all the fraternities (and sororities) that have been responsible for deaths and injuries because of this issue. Middle school girl cliques would definitely make the list. Cheerleading. Gymnastics. Swim teams. Marine Corps boot camp.

I remember "initiations" to get into everything from the neighborhood treehouse to the prestigious Order of the Arrow as a Boy Scout. Gwen told me about the hazing all first-years underwent to join the UC Davis Marching Band-uh, which resulted in suspension and reorganization under the university several decades later.

UC Davis Marching Band Suspended After Sexual Misconduct, Hazing Allegations - CBS Sacramento (cbsnews.com)

It's not new. But it is stupid. And getting it out into the open and under scrutiny may save somebody's life or keep them from permanent injury.

It's age-old and still as stupid as ever. Too many Greek organizations have glorified this crap, and I'm not convinced that all of them have been shamed, embarrassed or shut down enough to stop.

In college, I was welcomed into the music department and marching band. No hazing, no rite of passage and certainly no sexual incidents (OK, an audition but I didn't have to play the last chorus of "Stars and Stripes Forever" while walking on water). Lots of older members, a few grad students and a welcoming atmosphere by a bunch of people in a non-music school who really enjoyed it. Two years later, after the head of the music department foolishly forced out the marching band director, we get this fool who thinks we needed to work over freshmen on the field during pre-semester drills and rehearsals. Uses the word "heifer" ... I'll leave that for you to figure out. Thinks the veterans should make the new people suffer a lot. Small wonder most of the older sorts who hadn't yet graduated and moved on didn't bother with it anymore. I wasn't brought in that way, but some of my peers took entirely too much joy in this. I made clear that I wasn't doing it, so no "staff" position for me. Fine. Guess who they were listening to during rehearsal and especially during halftime? (Hint to the military brats and those with a military background ... it's not always the sorts with the most brass on their shoulders or stripes on their sleeves.)

This power/dominance issue was an issue long before the last administration decided to take it to the extreme and glorify it for the millions who felt grossly empowered by it. It needed to stop a long time ago. But how many people will need to end up dead (Man gets 4 years for hazing death of FAMU drum major)? Imprisoned? Banned from the activities for which they yearn? ... before it stops?
 
Last edited:
What are the odds the season gets nixed if there is no video and the authorities are only working off statements?

Well, you have a test case right here, with a third Pennsylvania school reporting an incident or incidents. And in this one, the school says they aren't canceling anything.

 
The Orange County Register has done a very nice job tracking the horrifying level of hazing at Mater Dei's football program. At least one student was beaten so badly he suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury when a much larger teammate beat the living **** out of him in a hazing "game" in the locker room. The coach insisted that he's too busy a man to do anything about his players savagely beating each other.

The school's response has been to fire anyone who tries to do anything about the hazing.

Here's the thing I just can't get past: why on earth are grown adults going so far to protect a ******* high school football program? I get that Mater Dei is a top football program. I don't care. A major Catholic school in Orange County will survive just fine without having a nationally ranked football team.

This is probably a post for another thread... but the number of adults who care about high school sports remains mystifying to me. I see stuff like this and the "concern" over transgender students competing and I just shake my head. I didn't place that much importance in high school sports back when I was playing high school sports.
 
The Orange County Register has done a very nice job tracking the horrifying level of hazing at Mater Dei's football program. At least one student was beaten so badly he suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury when a much larger teammate beat the living **** out of him in a hazing "game" in the locker room. The coach insisted that he's too busy a man to do anything about his players savagely beating each other.

The school's response has been to fire anyone who tries to do anything about the hazing.

Here's the thing I just can't get past: why on earth are grown adults going so far to protect a ******* high school football program? I get that Mater Dei is a top football program. I don't care. A major Catholic school in Orange County will survive just fine without having a nationally ranked football team.

This is probably a post for another thread... but the number of adults who care about high school sports remains mystifying to me. I see stuff like this and the "concern" over transgender students competing and I just shake my head. I didn't place that much importance in high school sports back when I was playing high school sports.

Because it's Mater frickin' Dei and we've got to beat St. John Bosco, and damn those Braves for their NIL ahead of us. Oh, and we can't get rid of our dinosaur coach who has brought us so much success and $$$$$$$ even though he covered all of this up.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top