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Bounty Scandals: They’re For Youth Football Now, Too (Ugh)

You know all about the Saints’ bounty scandal. You heard about the allegations, the Dog the Bounty Hunter pictures, the Gregg Williams speech, the suspensions, the overturning of said suspensions. Odds are, you’re all bounty’d out. And if so… well, do we have some news you don’t want to hear:

The league president and head coach of a children’s football team in Orange County have been suspended amid allegations that players were offered bounties to knock opponents out of games.

The executives presided over last year’s Tustin Junior Pee Wee Red Cobras, a team of mainly 10- and 11-year-olds.

That’s right: 10- and 11-year-olds. Bounties. For what it’s worth, both the suspended president (Pat Galentine) and coach (Darren Crawford), as well as Crawford’s former assistant, Richard Bowman, say the allegations aren’t true. For both the kids’ sake and their own, we hope they’re right. Because if they’re not right, this is one of the worst youth-sports-related stories we’ve heard of since that t-ball coach was accused of paying a kid to throw at his autistic teammate. (We can’t imagine that one will ever be topped.)

Because as much as our brains are filled with absurdist visions of kids brutally hit-sticking opponents like Terry Tate for the reward of a juice box (and how bad we then feel for drumming up that image), if kids were actually being offered rewards to knock other kids out of games (again… kids), obviously: not funny, and it’ll lead to some hefty punishments down the line if the allegations hold up.

[Orange County Register]

Photo by Amy Myers, via Shutterstock

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