This Political Football Was Dropped by Mayor

Remember when the only time mayors entered the realm of sports was when they made those friendly wagers with other mayors?

Each city’s leader would offer to ship something associated with that city to his counterpart if his team lost. For instance, if the New England Patriots played the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl, the mayor of Boston might bet some clam chowder and the mayor of Chicago could counter with deep-dish pizza. Buffalo wings vs. Tex-Mex if the Bills played the Cowboys. Hot air vs. smog if the Redskins played the L.A. Raiders. Just some good-natured fun.

These days it seems whenever our civic leaders try to talk sports, they make fools of themselves. You’d think they’d learn their lesson from San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, but even Willie Brown can’t learn from Willie Brown.

Last year, Brown called 49ers quarterback Elvis Grbac “an embarrassment to humankind” after Grbac had a bad game.

In the aftermath of the Latrell Sprewell-P.J. Carlesimo incident this month, Brown said Carlesimo “may have needed choking.”

Now it’s Laguna Hills Mayor Craig Scott stepping into an area he shouldn’t have. And coaches thought it couldn’t get worse than an over-involved Little League Dad with a bullhorn. How about an angry parent with a bully pulpit?

Scott was upset that his son, Tyson, and many other backups didn’t get a chance to play when Laguna Hills High School blew out La Mirada, 56-14, in the Southern Section Division VIII championship game on Dec. 12.

Scott sent a letter on City of Laguna Hills stationery to the Times Orange County. It read in part: “This game is only the most recent example of a problem that is endemic in high school sports. Winning big is the objective I expect in professional competition. It is disappointing to see it, repeatedly, as the dominate objective in High School team sports. Why is the pursuit of not just victory, but crushing victory, more important than participation? Why do parents and school administrators allow coaches to be so heartless?”

Those are some legitimate questions, although “heartless” is too harsh a way to put it. But there’s no reason those questions had to be typed on city stationery, then faxed to the Times. If Scott had issues with Bresnahan, let him resolve them with a private phone call.

Don’t try to get self-righteous by putting the words below the city seal. Don’t show it off to other city council members for approval before sending it.

Scott said that 90% of the faxes and letters he received after the issue became public were supportive. There were some faxes sent to The Times also, and although Scott received some support, other folks were “outraged” that he used his office to complain about a personal matter. (Let the record show that none of these faxes was on city stationery. Only one had so much as an office letterhead; it was from a lawyer who agreed with Scott).

Bresnahan was so upset by the situation that he contemplated resigning. Bresnahan didn’t exactly have the moral high ground here.

After star running back Michael Jones broke the Orange County career rushing yardage record earlier this season, Bresnahan said he was most proud of the fact that the record came in the course of winning games, that Jones had sat out when the outcome was assured rather than stay in to rack up meaningless yards.

All of a sudden Bresnahan switched modes. In the last game of the season, with Laguna Hills winning big, he left Jones and the starters in to get a crack at the all-time section rushing record.

Monday, Bresnahan said he did it because he heard Jones needed only 40 more yards for the record. If that’s the case the coaching staff was guilty of bad arithmetic in addition to bad judgment; Jones finished 67 yards shy of the record 7,257.

It shouldn’t have mattered if Jones needed only one yard. He already had one record, the county rushing mark, to his name. Like everyone else, he has said that records aren’t as important as championships. He already was assured of that, too.

So it was time to let the backups play, time to reward the guys who made every practice but rarely saw time in the actual games. They deserved to be on the field and be a part of the championship game.

Bresnahan, who in retrospect admits he was wrong, said things got chaotic amid all the sideline jubilation in the final minute and he forget to send in the subs. He shouldn’t have waited that long in the first place.

Hopefully the second-stringers will be properly honored when the team visits city Hall on Jan. 27. I can’t wait to see Bresnahan and Scott at the podium together. It will be like watching Pete Rozelle give the Lombardi Trophy to Al Davis after Davis had given Rozelle all of those subpoenas.

Hopefully, Scott will just use the one and only word a mayor should ever say when it comes to sports: “Congratulations.”