Turtleboy Investigates

MIAA Lawyer Told Judge That Kevin Mensah Can’t Play For Shepherd Hill Because He’s Too Good, Shrewsbury AD And Grafton Principal Are Threatened By Him

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The Kevin Mensah saga just got crazier today when it ended up in a Worcester courtroom:

The MIAA requires the football and track star’s former school (Holy Name) and his current school (Shepherd Hill) to sign a waiver (called Form 200) in order for him to be eligible to play. Both schools have done so, although it took a little public shaming for Holy Name to do the right thing. Problem solved, right?

Wrong.

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This is the MIAA we’re dealing with. They are a group of adults (almost exclusively white adults for what it’s worth) who exist for the sole purpose of stealing money from schools and ruining high school athletics for kids. They are truly evil, evil people. There’s no other way around it.

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Kevin Mensah is looking for a simple injunction allowing him to play in games while the MIAA drags their feet and looks for a reason to invalidate the completed Form 200. So what is their rationale for not granting this kid a simple waiver? Their reasoning made me spit out my coffee. It was just that ridiculous:

At a hearing for the injunction request in Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon, however, the MIAA’s lawyer, Geoffrey Bok, argued the association still opposes Mensah’s football eligibility in part on the grounds that his transfer to Shepherd Hill could open a loophole akin to free agency in high school sports in the state. There would be nothing to stop schools from recruiting top players like Mensah to create “super teams,” he said, which the MIAA believes would be an “unhealthy” exploitation of school choice.

“To put that player in the backfield (for Shepherd Hill) is an unfair competitive advantage,” said Bok, who added Mensah would also take playing time away from a lesser player or players on his own team.

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Wait…..what??? So let me get this straight. Even though he’s met all the requirements for transferring schools, the MIAA still won’t allow it because he’s TOO GOOD???!!! This is real life? So if he was a sucky no-name scrub they’d let him play because it wouldn’t create a “super team?” If he wanted to school choice to Leicester it would be cool because they’re not as good?

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And since when does the MIAA all of a sudden care about competitive balance in Central Mass sports? St. John’s has won the Division 1 basketball championship seven of the last nine years. Ya got that? Seven of nine. There are like 30 teams in CMass Division 1. Twenty nine of the teams have won two of the titles. One team won the other seven. St. John’s INVENTED recruiting. They exist for the sole purpose of uniting super teams for all sports. But please, tell me more about how the MIAA will go to any cost to preserve the “competitive balance” of their member schools.

Ya know why they’re doing this right? Do you think the MIAA pays attention to the day to day dealings of Central Massachusetts sports? Of course not. They’re an Eastern Mass organization. They’re doing this because parents, coaches, and administrators from Shrewsbury, Wachusett, Holy Name, Fitchburg, Grafton, Algonquin, and other Central MA schools got wind of it and put pressure on them. Here’s the white men who serve on the MIAA’s Central MA football committee:

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Of course a charter school principal is on the committee. I don’t trust anyone who works for a charter school. They have ulterior motives for everything.

Cosenza’s Fitchburg Red Raiders play Shepherd Hill later in the season. They gain something from Mensah not playing.

Pignatoro is the principal of Grafton High School, but he’s a former Shrewsbury guy. As a matter of fact he still runs the Shrewsbury High School Hall of FameHe also lives in Shrewsbury and will do favors for them if necessary.

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Costa is the AD of Shrewsbury. They played Shepherd Hill the first week of the year and got a DIRECT ADVANTAGE with Kevin Mensah out of the lineup. They won on a last minute touchdown, but they obviously would’ve lost if he was playing. That’s just a scientific fact. We have heard from multiple sources that Costa and Pignatoro have been the most outspoken against Kevin Mensah – a black kid from Worcester who they’re too chicken shit scared to play in football because they know he’ll smoke them.

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What a bunch of gutless cowards. And they call themselves adults? They should be embarrassed and ashamed. They are a joke.

But let’s suppose just for a moment that the MIAA gives a shit about star players school choicing to schools with better football teams. Well, Leominster High School is year in and year out a Central MA powerhouse in football. Their star quarterback, Noah Gray, is playing at Duke next year. He’s filthy good and was a Telegram and Gazette All-Star last year. Here’s his bio. Check out the last sentence:

Since taking over under center as a sophomore for Leominster and coach Dave Palazzi, Gray has proved to be one of the most electric talents around Central Mass. The junior gunslinger completed a staggering 101 of 179 of his passes for 1,707 yards and 21 touchdowns as the Blue Devils finished 8-3 and reached the Central Mass. Division 2 semifinals. Gray also rushed 62 times for 447 yards and even caught two touchdown passes for Leominster. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Gray continued to keep the Blue Devils’ offense on track after Leominster’s talented wide receiver Derek Franks was injured in the third game of the season. Gray, who captained Leominster this season and will again as a senior, constantly came up big in big games for the Blue Devils. He tossed four touchdown passes to beat St. John’s in the regular season, and rushed for two and passed for two in a close loss to Nashoba. He is the son of Meagan and Jason Gray of Gardner.

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He’s a school choice student from Gardner!!! Ya got that? He doesn’t actually live in Leominster, but he goes there because their football team is better than Gardner’s!! Here he is stiff arming a Shepherd Hill player last year:

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Where is the MIAA’s outrage about this rare Division 1 talent going to the superpower football school? Funny how they care about the runaway black kid, but they don’t make a peep about the white kid going to Duke.

Athletes using school choice to go to better sports schools is so routine. It’s been done for years and no one cares until now. Funny seeing Ray Cosenza on that list too. One of his assistant coaches is former Fitchburg High and UMass star Frank McDonald. Guess where he’s from?

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Lunenburg!! But they’re not good at football and Fitchburg was the powerhouse team everyone was running to in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Then there’s former Wachusett and Bentley College star basketball player Jackie Brugliera. Guess where she’s from? Fitchburg!! As a matter of fact four of Wachusett’s starting five players on their 2010 powerhouse team didn’t live in the Wachusett School District. And no one cared, including the MIAA. But they do now. Here she is posting up against Shepherd Hill:

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It’s OK when Shepherd Hill has to play students who are playing out of district. But they just can’t play with school choice students on their team.

Oh yea, and Fitchburg recently petitioned the MIAA to move OUT of the highest division because they don’t get school choice kids anymore and thus they’re not as good as they used to be. Here’s the enrollment data for each football school:

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Notice the difference in enrollment between Shepherd Hill and Fitchburg. Fitchburg has almost 100 more boys to choose from than Shepherd Hill, and they get to play in a crappier division. Shepherd Hill is forced to play up, and Fitchburg gets to play down. But please, tell me more about the competitive advantage that Shepherd Hill gets from playing in a conference where two schools are twice their size and the rest are significantly larger.

Oh yea, and the fact that they’re paying a lawyer for this is disgusting. The MIAA is shelling over cash to litigate a case for the sole purpose of keeping a kid from playing football at the school he attends. And where does the MIAA get their money from? The member schools who are forced to join. The same schools they steal gate revenue from.

A decision on this injunction will be decided by noon tomorrow. Luckily it looks like the judge has a pretty good head on his shoulders:

In the roughly 90-minute hearing, Judge Daniel Wrenn repeatedly challenged the MIAA’s rationale.. Based on the information provided to the court by both sides in the case, he said, it would appear as though Mensah, who left Holy Name because his family could no longer afford the private school, satisfied the MIAA’s requirement to prove a hardship in order to get a transfer waiver to avoid sitting out a year, and had secured a form signed by both schools.

“Why shouldn’t this young man play football?” he asked, adding Mensah, a Worcester resident, also was within his rights to use school choice to transfer to the Dudley-Charlton school system.

Wrenn esepcially prodded Bok on the latter’s explanation that the MIAA was worried about talented players abusing school choice to switch teams.

“If (Mensah) were a third-string running back, the MIAA would say that’s fine,” he said. “But because he’s really good, you say he can’t play … how is that not arbitrary and capricious?”

He sounds like Judge Berman when he was cross examining the NFL’s lacky lawyers. It’s like this guy read my mind. This is what happens when a group of fascists like the MIAA, who live in their own little bubble, face a judge in an actual courtroom. Their world crumbles. First of all, the kid left HN for financial reasons. So I guess the MIAA just doesn’t want poor kids to play sports. Secondly, he MET THE MIAA’s REQUIREMENTS!! That’s all there is to know. There were rules and he played by them. Now the MIAA is literally making up rules as they go along to keep him out because he’s too good. This is insane!!

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And look at this dolt from the Boston Herald:

Don’t give me that “rules are rules” bullshit. Clearly rules are not rules. If they were then Noah Gray would be the quarterback at Gardner High School, Fitchburg football would’ve sucked in the 90’s, St. John’s wouldn’t be allowed to compete in MIAA tournaments, and Wachusett girls basketball in 2010 would’ve had a losing record. Rules are only rules when a Worcester kid wants to play for Shepherd Hill.

This is why you can’t trust the mainstream media. Because they ignore facts. Newsflash moron – he satisfied all the stupid rules. The waiver is signed by both schools. The MIAA is freaking out and making up it’s own rules now because Jay Costa and James Pignatoro don’t want the fast black kid to beat them.

Here’s my question – where is black lives matter at? Their silence speaks volume to their usefulness and agenda. They don’t care about black kids like Kevin Mensah who show respect for authority, play by the rules, and still get boned by entrenched white guys on the MIAA. Because they’re too busy protesting for Michael Oppong and a bunch of other dumb kids who aren’t having any of their rights violated.

The bottom line is this kid should and we believe will be freed Friday at noon by this judge. If he doesn’t then Shepherd Hill and Wachusett’s coaches should both refuse to play this game. Anything less would be classless on Wachusett’s part. It’s the only way to send a message to the MIAA that their bullshit isn’t going to be tolerated any longer. They work for the kids and need to start acting in their best interest, not in the interests of a bunch of loser AD’s like Jay Costa and James Pignatoro.

 

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17 Comment(s)
  • Fran
    September 25, 2016 at 8:41 pm

    Ehhh. If half what TB cites as multiple examples of recruiting and stacking school powerhouses I’m with him. This smells bad and I think the MIAA is foolish to play this to the obvious end.

  • Uncle Buck
    September 23, 2016 at 9:04 pm

    Mirror mirror

    I know for a fact that NH has been waiving tuition for over 30 years for kids. Assuming this is the situation with this kid but taking a somewhat educated leap here. Could care less just calling it what it is, Turtleboy making the kid out to be some poor orphan with no options I find it a bit of a joke. Kid is a diva who is chasing a scholarship and looking for max exposure. Turtleboy doing SH bidding here nothing more.

  • I am luv Basetball
    September 23, 2016 at 10:53 am

  • Woodiculous
    September 23, 2016 at 10:42 am

    He’s a kid. It’s a game.

    A freaking game played by children. Let the kid play. What are the world consequences of the outcome of any childrens’ game?

  • Publius
    September 23, 2016 at 10:28 am

    Let him play and suspend SH coach. No place in hgh school sports for blatant recruiting. And what type of character has someone practicing with one team and abandon teamates with weeks to go. The MIAA might be white but thats what happens in a white dominated society or white and mixed. For what its worth.

  • Phantom
    September 23, 2016 at 10:14 am

    This is the best write up on this issue so far. However, it is still not addressing the difference between recruiting per se and a transfer. Even in the NCAA where recruiting is allowed the same penalty(transaction cost) for a transfer exists. That being one year of ineligibility. Transfers especially in senior year effect more than just one kid. And no one wants coaches actively pursuing kids on other teams, especially with all the contact that happens in AAU events. This is just not the same as a kid choosing a different school than the town they live in early on or prior to starting high school. (I will say the pervasiveness of using school choice for athletics that TB has pointed out is a little disturbing. Wachusett doesn’t have enough to choose from with 2000 kids?)
    That being said, this kid got terrible advice and has already missed games. That could be deterrent enough. MIAA needs to let this kid play BEFORE judge rules…… Or they risk have their transfer rules basically nullified. It’s the right thing to do now as well. Everyone kind of lost here, move on.

  • DMcT
    September 23, 2016 at 10:13 am

    I heard about this before it became news and know for a fact he wanted out of HN for Lindstrom help recruiting. A family member was telling me how his close friend (Sean McKeons grandfather who graduated from SH last yr and is freshman @ Michigan about some kid who went to Michigan for visit with McKeons was trying to leave HN for SH because for Lindstroms connections). So whichever story they decide on whether they couldn’t afford it or was going to prep then changed his mind is not main reason for the tranfer. It was because HN was down this yr and Lindstrom and SH would help recruiting. Now Saying that if everything was done correctly by family then kid shouldn’t have to sit for yr. I think the only question is did SH follow the same school choice guidelines for him as they do for everyone else. I know for most towns with school choice you have to sign up by a certain date which is to get on list. Then if more kids sign up than spots they have a lottery. So only way there should be issue is if he got any special treatment regarding school choice. Lastly whatever turtleboy wrote this blog is obviously a jealous St John’s hater. Saying theyare good cuz they recruit sounds like a COLTS fan saying Pat’s win cuz they cheat. Sound like whiny losers you’re always shittin on

  • I spell gude
    September 23, 2016 at 8:54 am

    Hey listen, I believe sports are important and a great extra curricular activity for the kids who are interested but shouldn’t we be putting the kids education first and foremost?

    • KimberlyS
      KJDS
      September 23, 2016 at 9:14 am

      He may get a college scholarship because of his skill on the field. That kind of IS putting his education first.

      Not everyone who plays college ball does it in hopes of getting to the NFL. Some of them actually do want to get a degree that would otherwise be out of their reach financially.

      I don’t know if that’s the case with this kid, but it may be.

  • Emily
    September 23, 2016 at 8:48 am

    Just let the boy play. If he’s that good then it’s obvious he loves the game. Why punish him because Adults can’t behave like Adults.
    Best of luck to him

  • Sped
    September 23, 2016 at 7:58 am

    The people saying that the kids who don’t get waivers can’t play sports is not accurate. They can play to their hearts content for the school in the town they live in…..let’s not inaccurately overdramatasize this by saying that “Johnny can’t play sports.”

    Either everyone gets to transfer or no one gets to transfer….. It has to be one or the other…. And once it’s decided, there can be no exceptions. I too loath the MIAA, and the only issue here is that they only let some kids transfer and not others, and that’s what creates all these problems.

  • Diva
    September 23, 2016 at 6:56 am

    Could not pay the HN tuition ? He didn’t pay the tuition the last 3 years he has been there. HN made accommodations for him since day one. Everyone knows that. Let’s call this what it is.. A recruitment ! Period! Mike Pucko and Chris Lindstrom orchestrated this trade, it became big news (because at every level it’s wrong) and now it’s a big debacle. Who’s fault is that? Try looking at the 2 that started this…

    I have no love for the MIAA, but when you get caught, you get caught. And, you need to pay the consequences. Maybe if there wasn’t a ton of noise about this, he would be playing now.!

    • True Reality Speaks
      Mirror Mirror
      September 23, 2016 at 7:33 am

      So you know for a fact Mensah never paid to go to HN?

      What? You don’t know this for a fact? You’re just making this up, kinda like the MIAA?

      All right, then. STFU moron.

  • Karma
    September 23, 2016 at 4:53 am

    Wish we could of had media support when Leicester HS principle refused to sign off on 200 form blocking a 15 yr old from sports eligibility. Thank god the baseball coach resigned and now on the right track

  • Uncle Buck
    September 23, 2016 at 12:55 am

    Please don’t comment, he had to leave NH because he could no longer afford the tuition.
    Can we call this what it is, NH sucks now that Pucko is gone, the kid wants to play for a winner and Manzello is blocking him with all his power.
    That kid never paid a dime at NH and anyone involved there knows that and would/should admit that. That’s been going on there since the dawn of time.

  • GoneWest
    September 22, 2016 at 11:27 pm

    (almost exclusively white adults for what it’s worth) It’s worth nothing TB. Now you’re one of them that cries racism for everything.

    • GoneRetarded
      September 22, 2016 at 11:38 pm

      Shut the fuck up you crying hippy bitch.

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