High School Sports

Last Saturday evening, my boyfriend and I were driving down Fairfax, heading to a party at a friend's house, when we noticed a large number of policemen converging from every direction.

As we drove by Fairfax high school we passed what looked like about 50 cop cars pulled up to the school, and other police were closing down main intersections on Fairfax Blvd. with crime tape. Obviously, something serious was going down.

My boyfriend guessed that someone had been shot, and I thought that it must be something even bigger, like a hostage situation, or multiple shootings.

Turns out--it was just an oversold high school basketball game.

A high school principal defended his decision to call police to rein in fans at a weekend basketball game.

Fairfax High Principal Edward Zubiate said Monday that school district police were called after a ticket seller was hit with a bottle during a semifinal match Saturday between Fairfax and Pasadena High.

Fans were apparently upset because they were forced to wait outside as the game started. Zubiate said he saw several people throw things and curse as they stood in line to get into the gymnasium.

School police requested assistance from the Los Angeles Police Department. Once those officers arrived, they called for backup and some 70 officers in riot gear showed up.

Read more about it here and here.

I suppose going to a high school when its football players were the victims of the sharpened buckle incident, I shouldn't be surprised.

From the Albuquerque Sports Hall of Shame, 2004:

Eight years ago on a high school football field, Albuquerque Academy defeated St. Pius X 22-16 in double overtime.

Great game. Then the circus began.

Turns out Mike Cito, then a 17-year-old St. Pius X junior, had a razor-sharp buckle on his helmet. Five Academy players and a ref suffered cuts, and one of the Chargers required 10 stitches to close a gash in his arm.

Cito's father, Stephen, soon admitted to St. Pius X officials that he had sharpened the buckle because he felt his son had been pushed around unfairly in a previous game.

National media outlets, including USA Today and Sports Illustrated, covered the story. St. Pius X expelled Cito. St. Pius X students threw rocks at reporters who came to campus.

Good times.

The district attorney charged both Citos. Stephen pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit aggravated battery and served two days in jail. Mike entered an admission of guilt plea and was sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service.

After the incident, St. Pius students (and their parents) brought mini swiss army blades to the Academy v. Pius basketball game as a "joke." Let's hope Pasadena High can rise above.