A "silly" lawsuit

A kid wears pink cleats to football practice. His coach tells him not to wear them. The kid ignores the coach and wears them again. The coach says if you won't follow instructions, you're off the team. The kid sues. Former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz is his attorney.

Because students in the Simpson County School District earn academic credit for participating in sports, Diaz said the dismissal has put Sheppard's future at the school in question. "His graduation may be in jeopardy for something as silly as not being allowed to wear pink cleats," he said.

How silly for the kid to put his own graduation in jeopardy by not listening to his coach at practice. He must value his pink cleats more than football, even more than his education. Good for him. One day he can point to those pink cleats on the wall and tell his grandchildren that pink cleats are worth fighting for, even sacrificing your education for.

Another word for "silly" is of course "frivolous."

But wait. It appears pink cleats are not worth fighting for.

Diaz said Coy Sheppard has apologized and promised to leave the pink shoes at home, but so far school officials have not budged.

"All Coy wants to do is play football," JoAnne Sheppard said "If they told him he could play football this weekend, he would go play."

Kid doesn't listen to his coach. Kid gets kicked off the team. Kid still wants to play. Kid now says he will listen to his coach. I bet he will listen to his coach now and more than that the other team members will listen to their coach. That is important to a team.

Should the coach let the kid who learned his lesson to get back on the team? That's up to the coach, but while the kid still wants to play football, it isn't clear he learned his lesson.

Sheppard's suit, filed last week in Simpson County Chancery Court, asks the court to reinstate Sheppard to the football team and clear his disciplinary record. The suit also asks for any monetary damages to be awarded to the American Cancer Society.

So, the kid wants the judge to run football, not his coach. The kid wants a judge to erase the fact that he ignored his coach's instructions. And the kid wants to take money from his school and give it to a charity he supports. It appears the kid doesn't just want to play football, he wants to play football on his own terms, which is what started this whole mess to begin with.

We agree with his attorney. This is silly.