Burnt Hills Apologizes for Chant

Over the weekend, Burnt Hills High beat Amsterdam High in a 49-0 blowout at Burnt Hills’ homecoming game. It’s the ‘Amster-Rico’ chants from the Burnt Hills student section that have since taken over the headlines.

Many are applauding Burnt Hills head coach Matt Shell for climbing into the PA booth during the game and threatening to forfeit if the students did not quit. If you’re a 16-year-old kid and causing mischief, are your actions not fully justified by having the game come to a halt?

I had mentioned on my show Monday that if Burnt Hills really wanted to make a difference then the way to handle the situation was to personally discipline the leaders of this racially-motivated chant.

YNN reported Monday evening that Burnt Hills is investigating which students were involved with the chant and disciplinary actions are possible. Now, you have their attention.

Burnt Hills Superintendent Patrick McGrath also said the following to YNN:

“First of all, our apologies to the Amsterdam community. Burnt Hills and Amsterdam have competed in a lot of areas. We think highly of them. We are really sorry this happened. We don't want people to feel coming to our place we are not welcoming. These are athletic competitions. They are supposed to be fun and a growing experience for kids and not suppose to have this type of thing.”

So what should be the punishment? Detention? Suspension? Glad I’m not a decision-maker in this situation. I’m just the dork behind a microphone that will soon-after analyze the decision.