Curie Stripped of City Title
Written by DJ Special Blend from Chicago on March 1, 2014
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced that Curie will have to forfeit all of the games their squad played this season. Seven players from its varsity team were declared academically ineligible. Curie played to a 24-1 record this season. They defeated Whitney Young Magnet High in what proved to be one of the most thrilling championship games in Public League history.
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) governs the state tournament that starts Monday. No decision has been made regarding Curie’s eligibility for the state tournament. IHSA executive director Marty Hickman released a statement.
“We are unable to make an official comment until reviewing the final report from the CPS Athletic Administration on the investigation. We hope to be in a position to do so by Monday.”
Curie is seeded No. 1 in the Class 4A Marist Sectional and Whitney Young is seed No. 2. If either of the two are to win a state championship, as it stands they will most likely have to go through one another.
I played high school basketball at Whitney Young, and I’m a Dolphin for life. But I think the kids that play for Curie are getting a bum-rap in this situation. Academics are very important, in fact it is the first priority. However, I think that it was wrong to let these kids play all season, then come out of nowhere and strip their title after they leave their hearts and souls on the court.
Why would they investigate this now? Shouldn’t there be check points before the playoffs start? Shouldn’t there be check points before the seasons starts? Do they only look at the academic standings of the team that wins the championship? Since it took so long for CPS to pay attention to the academics of the number one team in the country, how many other teams out there have ineligible players?
The entity at fault here is CPS. The situation gets worse, because they are taking out their failure on the kids. The coach should indeed be reprimanded, but CPS is wrong for crushing the spirits of those young men. CPS got national coverage on the back of these players, and now they’re ripping the rug out from under the team because CPS failed to educate them properly. If CPS really cared so much, they would’ve made sure that those kids got the academic attention they deserved before the season began.
