Close, but yes, cigar: Massachusetts lacrosse team's tea-filled cigar cover story falls apart after forfeiting state semifinal
· Yahoo Sports
A pair of victory cigars has reportedly led to a defeat for a Massachusetts high school lacrosse team.
A surprisingly drama-filled saga saw its latest twist on Friday, when the superintendent and principal of Ipswich High School released a lengthy statement explaining what led to the school's boys lacrosse team forfeiting its state semifinal game. It all revolved around a pair of cigars and a receipt, each alleged to have been faked by different sides.
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The backstory here is the lacrosse team saying it was forced to forfeit its playoff run this weekend after a pair of players were photographed holding cigars in their mouths, violating their league's anti-tobacco policy. The exact policy, via WHDH's Samantha York:
"From the earliest fall practice date, to the conclusion of the academic year or final athletic event (whichever is latest), a student shall not, regardless of the quantity, use, consume, possess, buy/sell, or give away any beverage containing alcohol; any tobacco product."
Here’s the fateful photograph, posted on social media by one of the players' parents:
The first twist came when the players told the media that those cigars were actually filled with chamomile and English breakfast tea, which is not forbidden by the league. Here's how senior Christian Gianakakis put it to WHDH:
"Graduation, it's tradition you smoke a cigar, but we were still in lacrosse so we couldn't with the tobacco law. We knew that, so my dad made up with tea grinds, fake cigars so we could still get the pictures," Gianakakis said. "Monday morning we got a call that it was either seven or eight of our seniors might be getting suspended for the game."
The players also claimed they presented both the dummy cigar and a receipt for its materials to the principal, who allegedly accepted the story and said they could play. They were then shocked to learn their game had been canceled after boarding the bus to the playoff game.
That alone was a preposterous story, and then the school officials explained their side, claiming "the information that apparently has been provided to the media and has been circulated is fundamentally misleading."
The first issue was that there was apparently a second photo sent to the district, which showed the supposedly tea-filled cigars having been smoked:
The first photograph - and the only one of the two which apparently was provided to the media - showed the boys holding full length cigars with the cigar bands visible. The second photograph - which apparently was not provided to the media - showed the cigars smoked down significantly; a cloud of smoke surrounding one of the students; and a torch-type lighter visible in the hand of another of the students. Shortly after reviewing the photographs, the District learned that the photographs were posted on the Facebook page of one of the players' parents.
The administrators continued to, for lack of a better term, spill the tea when they revealed that the grocery store receipt presented to vindicate the players "had the date and time smudged out."
The administrators met Tuesday to review the evidence and concluded that the players had in fact smoked real cigars. They then informed the families of the six members of the team in the photo that they had been suspended for the semifinal. A subsequent team walkout left only 11 players available to play. Once polled, those remaining players "overwhelmingly" voted in favor of forfeiting the game.
The media firestorm began later that week, leading to Ipswich principal Jonathan Mitchell actually going to the grocery store in question and confirming that the receipt was indeed faked.
The tea allegedly used in the cigars was reportedly purchased 20 minutes after the families were notified that the players were in trouble:
On Thursday morning, June 11, and in light of the uproar generated in the media, Mr. Mitchell went to Shaw's Supermarket to see if they could reproduce the receipt that had been presented as evidence in order to determine the actual date of the purchase of the ingredients that allegedly comprised the content of the "fake cigars."
The manager at Shaw's was able to print out a receipt that matched the details of the purchased tea bags with a date of June 8th at 1:03 pm, Mr. Mitchell had alerted the six families about the potential violation and the impending investigation by email at 12:41 pm on June 8th. The receipt indicates that the "tea" allegedly used in the "fake" cigars was actually purchased 20 minutes after the families were notified of the potential violation.
Cohasset High School and Nantucket High School are set to play the state championship game on Saturday. We'll see if their celebrations are above board.