Another Misguided Lawsuit

I read earlier this week where parents of a high school basketball player in Indiana had sued the local school district because the coach has a policy against his players having long hair.

The school district to its great credit has refused to cave to the demand. They rightly point out that playing high school sports is not a right and as long as the policy is uniformly enforced, the kid doesn't have a cause of action.

But what bothers me more than the frivolous nature of the lawsuit and the resources it will undoubtedly waste is the message that these parents are sending to their kid. They are basically saying to the kid go ahead and disregard authority. You don't have to play by the rules that every other player on the team has to accept.

I'm sure these parents think they are doing right by their son, but they aren't. Life is full of arbitrary rules that many times we won't agree with. You can't go around challenging all of them with a lawsuit, especially if you want to get and keep a job. A better message to send their kid would have been to say, "Well son, it might be a silly rule, but it's the Coach's rule and it applies to all the players. You'll just have to decide which is more important to you, long hair or playing basketball."

I believe that the real key to success in life is learning to make good decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources. There's only so much time, money, and talent to go around. You've got to learn to make disciplined decisions on how you are going to apply them.

The story reminds me of a story I heard about Coach John Wooden of UCLA. Coach Wooden won more NCAA championships than any other coach in history. Back in the 70's he had an All-America center named Bill Walton who fashioned himself a hippie. As the time neared for the beginning of practice for his senior season Walton informed Coach Wooden that he was the returning MVP and National Player of the Year and that a coach didn't have the right to make him cut his hair and shave. (Coach Wooden had a similar policy to the one these parents are suing about.) Wooden didn't hesitate. He told Walton that he was right. He didn't have the right to make him do anything, but that he did have the right to determine who was going to play basketball at UCLA and that if he wasn't back in 15 minutes with his hair taken care of that he would not be one of those playing that season.

Walton cut his hair. UCLA went on to win yet another championship.

Consider what the rebellious star Walton had to say about Wooden last year upon the Coach's passing:

John Wooden represents the conquest of substance over hype, the triumph of achievement over erratic flailing, the conquest of discipline over gambling, and the triumph of executing an organized plan over hoping that you’ll be lucky, hot or in the zone.

John Wooden also represents the conquest of sacrifice, hard work and commitment to achievement over the pipe dream that someone will just give you something, or that you can take a pill or turn a key to get what you want.

I guess these parents don't believe their son would have benefited from playing under a coach like John Wooden. What a shame.