Simeon Boys Basketball: Suspension for Postgame Celebration Entirely Undeserved

Congratulations, Simeon boys basketball players! You just won your third straight Class 4A Illinois state championship, now here is a suspension for next season. 

That is the scenario facing nine Simeon Career Academy high school players. For this to occur you would think that something serious must have occurred. Something along the lines of widespread academic fraud, or a team wide conspiracy to commit a felony. 

That is not the case here. These Chicago players were suspended for one game next season by coach Robert Smith because of their postgame celebration. 

"Well that must have been a celebration most foul," you are surely telling yourself. It wasn't. While it involved the players undressing, it was only their shoes that were removed. 

In fact, As Scott Powers, of ESPNChicago reported, the main picture on this article is the extent of their celebration.

And for that, coach Robert Smith suspended all but one of his underclassmen for a single game next season. The one player who was not suspended did not partake in the celebration, he was being interviewed at the time. 

Powers quoted coach Smith on his reasoning for the suspension. Smith:  

"

They were trying to make a statement saying this was our court. To take off the shoes was out of character. I don't think it was the time and place for that. We had already made our statement by winning three (state championships) in a row.

There's just a way of going about doing things. I don't think that was the appropriate way. We have to make sure we're representing the CPS (Chicago Public Schools) and Simeon as best as we can.

"

Smith obviously felt that this did not represent the school well. That is fine. He is the coach of the team, and has a right to make sure they present themselves in a way he sees fit. 

However, as a coach, he needs to make sure that is clear before an incident like this happens. This is the third straight time they have won the state title. Surely the subject of celebrating has come up before.

And if it hasn't, it should have. 

And in the grand scheme of things, this is a remarkably tame celebration for a group of teenagers. Perhaps the coach should go watch Project X to get an idea of how much more wildly this victory could have been celebrated. 

Or he could simply watch the aftermath of a city or campus after their team notches a big win, like the scene captured in the video to the side on the campus of Ohio State. 

In the grand scheme of things, this celebration is shockingly tame, and it was also well-earned. Those players do own that court.

Coach Smith would have been better off to have his team run a few extra lines at practice than to suspend them for a game. The fact that they didn't celebrate in a manner he saw fit was more of his failure than his players.