[jammin' jamey]

The rest of the story:

During this same time period, Rev. Lewis Coleman, of Louisville, traveled to Floyd County to publicly criticize Allen Central's use of the Confederate flag. From reading his comments, he appeared to be given the incorrect impression that people within Floyd County were not conflicted by the use of the Confederate flag at Allen Central. Make no mistake about it, there are people within our county who strongly support the Confederate symbol, and plenty of folks like me within the county who find it to be offensive.

Also, during the same time period, we played a game in which we lost by a very large margin. While the players and school officials with the opposing team displayed great sportsmanship throughout this mismatch, I was concerned that a handful of fans may have taunted my players during the later stages of the game.

At our next practice, I discussed my concerns about the recent incident with the players. As the coach of a team that often loses games by large margins, I am especially sensitive to taunting. During the team discussion, I expressed my strong concerns to my team about the recent comments those at Allen Central had made over the flag controversy. We specifically discussed the fact that one of our former players had actually participated in displaying a large Confederate flag near the opponent's bench at a game at Allen Central last season.

As the conversation continued, I recommended to my team that we cancel the game against Allen Central. They all agreed. The conversation immediately turned to their desire to play a game against another Floyd County team. I then advised the team that I would try to contact South Floyd and schedule a game there. We agreed we would cancel the game against Allen Central due to my concerns about the atmosphere. I held up making the final decision to cancel the game until I had the opportunity to discuss it with the principal of the David School. I advised her of our tentative decision and I further advised her that I would attempt to contact officials at Allen Central about somehow avoiding the tentative decision to cancel the game. I left repeated messages with the Allen Central athletic director. To date, I have never had a single phone call returned from the Allen Central athletic director.

Instead, I have read various quotes from the Allen Central athletic director in which he defended the use of the Confederate flag, and went so far as to defend the use of the word "colored" in referring to black people. I personally view the use of the word "colored" to be reminiscent of the awful days of "separate but equal," when the word was used to designate separate but not equal bathrooms, water fountains and other public facilities.

After not hearing back from anyone from Allen Central, I simultaneously scheduled a game at the South Floyd gym and notified Allen Central that we were canceling the game based on my belief that their use of the Confederate flag violated the taunting rule. We eventually played Riverside Christian at South Floyd High School on Jan. 26.

A few days later, in an interview with the Associated Press, I allowed the use of the word "boycott" to become associated with the decision to cancel the game. In fact, when I discussed the matter with my players, I don't believe the word "boycott" was ever used. As a lawyer, I should have been more careful in choosing my words. I am still unsure if a decision by one team to cancel a game constitutes a boycott or not, but it is clear to me that the use of the word "boycott" contributed to the publicity. A "furor" did erupt.

What I have found most distressing about the publicity concerning the decision to cancel the game is the pattern of misinformation that has been engaged in by some, but not all, of the officials at Allen Central High School. The most misleading misinformation has to do with whether or not Confederate flags are in fact waved at Allen Central games. On several occasions, I have had to convince skeptical members of the media and others that such flag waving actually occurs. My response for anyone who has any doubts is to go to the WYMT news website and look at the video footage that WYMT captured at a past Allen Central game. The news footage in question aired on WYMT on the 6 o'clock edition of the Feb. 8 news. It confirms the fact that a very large Confederate flag is clearly visibly displayed at Allen Central High School basketball games.

Much of the misinformation can also be traced to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who have exploited this controversy to promote their obsession with the Confederate flag. They have been in continuous contact with the media. What has not been reported is their bizarre political agenda. This agenda includes not only their continuous promotion of the Confederate flag, but their curious view of history which includes portraying Abraham Lincoln as some type of war criminal. Recently, one of their leaders spoke in opposition to a commemoration of President Lincoln at a Virginia legislative hearing, by declaring that Lincoln had attempted to "lay waste" to the state of Virginia.

There was also an erroneous report on WSAZ television that either myself or my wife and assistant coach, Janet Stumbo, claimed that racial slurs caused the attempted cancellation of the game. We never heard any slurs, racial or otherwise. We did see the Confederate flag.

The reality of the David School basketball team is that we are not as big and fast as other teams. There are approximately 35 students who attend the David School, of which 25 percent are the basketball team. We have never won a varsity game. However, I don't believe there is a coach in Kentucky who is prouder of his team than I am. While my players are often on the wrong side of lopsided scores, I am proud of their dedication, and the fact that no team tries harder than the David School players.

The David School is a wonderful school and has helped countless students in this region. It is a tuition-free school. Many, but not all, of the students are from low-income families. One of the reasons I have dedicated my time, money and efforts to the David School is simply to repay them the invaluable education my middle daughter received at the David School, which in my opinion helped her to achieve the academic success she is currently experiencing at Hollins University. My other reason for coaching and funding the David School team is that I simply enjoy being with the players and I hope I can make a positive contribution to the future of these fine young men. The greatest threat to our basketball program at the David School is the presence of taunting, which can discourage players in a way losing games does not. The vast majority of teams we play do not engage in taunting and generally display outstanding sportsmanship. A shining example is our last regular season game against Pikeville High School, in which Pikeville defeated us by the score of 98-46. With approximately a minute to go, Pikeville had the opportunity to score 100 points. Instead, the Pikeville players merely held the ball. After the game, I congratulated Coach Bart Williams and their players for outstanding sportsmanship. As I left the game, I thought about what a valuable lesson in sportsmanship and discipline the Pikeville players had exhibited not only for themselves and their fans, but for our team as well.

There are countless other examples I can give of other high school teams engaging in similar sportsmanship. Returning to the Allen Central situation, I do not believe waving of a Confederate flag at a racially mixed team is good sportsmanship. I continue to believe it constitutes a form of taunting. In the recent words of the Dixie Chicks, I am "Still Not Ready to Make Nice" about their use of the Confederate flag.