As I have mentioned over the last 48 hours, the Darien administration and football program have demonstrated tremendous compassion and dignity in the way they have handled the aftermath of five players vandalizing the New Canaan High School campus prior to yesterday’s game.
And as I reported in my game story, a letter of apology was read before the game, signed by Darien coach Rob Trifone and his captains, to New Canaan coach Lou Marinelli as he stood at the center of the field. It was a public display of great class.
One mistake I made yesterday with everything being so hectic was getting a copy of the letter. It was emailed to me tonight by someone on the Darien side and it is worth sharing.
People unfortunately are going to associate the Darien program with this horrible incident. I believe these words are a more accurate representation of Trifone and his players:
To Coach Marinelli and the New Canaan Rams,
On behalf of the entire Blue Wave football team, we would like to apologize for the thoughtless and immature actions of our ex-teammates on Tuesday night at your high school. We recognize the gravity of what happened and have taken appropriate disciplinary measures to address the problem. We are ashamed by the disrespect that they showed. As a team and school, we do not condone this type of behavior, nor are we proud of it.
In the future, we hope that despite the historic rivalry between our two schools, we can continue to hold the utmost respect for one another. Once again, we are deeply sorry for what happened.
Sincerely,
Peter McDonough, Will Weinstock, Graham Maybell, Charlie Kunze, Jake Weil, and Coach Trifone
A few bad apples shouldn’t make the whole orchard go bad !!!
John, Super Job. Thanks for reassuring me and everyone else. I do appreciate your concern. Take care, D.E.
DE, you won’t be seeing any of those 5 kids on wall street or becoming hedge fund managers. As soon as I heard about what had been done, I immediately was able to name 4 of the 5 kids without knowing who did it. They are clowns. Their parents are clueless. Unless these kids learn from this experience and change their outlook on life drastically, they won’t be going anywhere.
Dave, The bell has rung, it cannot be undone! Unfortunately, too many of the blog responses to the inane silliness of a few immature teenagers represents that old adage: “Boys will be Boys,” so let’s move on. The inherent problem with those believers of such an old fashion excuse is that we cannot and should not tolerate “boys being boys” as they must take responsibility for their actions. The real victims here are: (1) the damage done to the healthy tradition between these two towns and schools, (2) the damage done to N.C. property, (3) the damage done to the Darien football teammates, (4) the damage done to the parents’ credibility of these individuals, and finally, the damage done to the social-emotional morality of not doing the right thing. No doubt, being from a Gold Coast town, some of these same individuals, with financial and contact assistance from their parents, will become hedge fund managers, Wall Street traders and CEO of banks. Now you can appreciate why accepting the notion that “Boys will be Boys” cannot help but add to our already demoralized and de-evolving society. Take stock, Boys- D. E.