High school football player writes poem, gets kicked off team.

Of course, it's not that cut-and-dry.

According to Cleveland television station WJW, Nick Andre of Rittmam High School, a defensive end for the hometown varsity football team, was in his junior composition class and assigned the task of writing a poem about something he felt passionate toward.

Once he channeled his inner Walt Whitman, Andre created the following:

Stupid
Losing season,
Favoritism,
Non stop passes from best friend to best friend.
Continuously doing what doesn't work,
The inability to separate being a father and a coach.
Dropped passes,
But yet still the "super star",
Yeah right.
Where's my scholarship?
I can drop passes,
Run backwards,
Miss tackles,
And be afraid to take a hit.
That's top line div. 1 material right there.
If that's what they wanted,
They definitely got it.
This whole town will be glad when he is gone.
For anyone who doesn't understand what I am saying?
AKRON'S SCREWED!

So he's like T.S. Eliot is what we're saying.

Those vague references in the poem allude to Andre's head coach, Bill Dennis, and the coach's son, Blake (who has committed to attending Akron University)--which is where the problem arises. According to the school district, the real crime here isn't the concerning inability to write free verse, but a harassment and bullying issue. Andre was suspended from school for four days and banned from the football team as a result, and his mom isn't pleased with the school's decision.

"Why would the teacher entertain this assignment because you know, you don’t know what you may get from teenage kids, so to me, I couldn’t understand bullying," she told WJW.

Damn straight. You never know what creativity might emerge if you let people read and write--so that's why the only logical conclusion is to make sure everyone is illiterate until they're 40-years old.






Did WJW make the Andre family put a shrine up to Nick in the living room for the cameras, or does the family usually pray to their football playing son's image over the fireplace?



photo: WJW screengrab