Once again a cloud has dimmed the luster of athletic programs at Grants High School. Although the details of an incident at the girls' basketball game at Volcano Vista High School are still a bit murky, it is clear that both a player and her parents behaved inappropriately following the GHS loss.

The repercussions of the incident have reached the office of district Superintendent Kilino Marquez and disciplinary options are being discussed by administrators at GHS and the district office.

The fact that the player's mother is an employee of the high school makes the situation even more complicated.

As the reporter who covers secondary education for the Beacon, it has been a week of contrasts. Last weekend I was delighted and amazed to see the disciplined work and inventive ideas of middle and high school science students at the Grants Local Science and Engineering Fair. Every student scientist I interviewed had college plans and many were hoping for post-graduate education in medicine, physics, botany, engineering and environmental science.

Although not all the participants won prizes, none of their parents accosted and verbally abused the judges.

Why do so many parents of athletes believe that it is acceptable to treat coaches and referees with disrespect and outright hostility?

Perhaps a more relevant question is: why are alleged adults so emotionally invested in the sports lives of their children? In the big scheme of things, the outcome of a girls' high school basketball game is very insignificant. Of course, nobody wants to lose a sports competition, but many professional athletes say that they learned more from losses than victories.

If parents want to prepare their teenagers for adulthood, they need to teach them that nobody always wins and that there will be disappointments and setbacks in life. Verbally abusing coaches and referees won't change that fact.

And yes, coaches and refs occasionally make errors in judgment, but that does not condone uncivilized behavior among the parents. Considering their modest salaries and the pressures put on them, it's a wonder anyone is willing to work as a coach or ref.

It is also blatantly unfair to the other athletes on the team, their parents, GHS in general and the sports department in particular for the misbehaving parents to give the team a black eye by their outrageous behavior. It is equally unfair to the science students, who played by the rules and now have a cloud over their school's name.

The district has guidelines relating to acceptable conduct at sporting events and the rules and consequences should be equally enforced in these cases.

If an athlete breaks the rules he or she should be suspended from the team, and if a loose-cannon parent misbehaves, he or she should be banned from attending GHS sports events. If a parent commits a battery on a coach or ref, he or she should be arrested.

As we've seen in the horrendous abuse that took place at a football camp for a Las Vegas, NM team, lack of discipline and respect for other human beings has led to arrests, firings and dim futures for all involved.

Perhaps, if some parents of GHS athletes stressed the importance of academics to their children, their futures would be more successful and fulfilling. To my knowledge, no GHS athlete has ever made it to the NFL or NBA, or even to any top-level college known for these sports. The kids' futures lie in education, not in games.