Every day brings 24 new hours to be explored. They can be useful, or not.

Last weekend, at a Fort Hill vs. Dunbar, D.C., football game in Cumberland, the Dunbar coach pulled his team in the third quarter, alleging racial taunts including the use of the "N" word. While leading 14-8, but in the middle of a Fort Hill drive that was being helped along by unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on Dunbar’s players and coach, Dunbar coach Craig Jefferies made the decision to discontinue play.

"They were trying to upset us, calling my guys the N-word," Jefferies told The Washington Post. "I had one guy in tears. I had to take him off the field."

The incident is being investigated by the Maryland attorney general’s Office of Civil Rights and by Fort Hill officials.

One of those officials, Fort Hill principal Steve Lewis, took the opportunity to tell The Cumberland Times-News, this:

"I’ve harped on this before, but we need to play local football," Lewis said. "When you play teams from out of the area that you don’t really know, it’s good in some situations and bad in others. ... When we stay local, we all know each other, our programs and our personalities. We know what we’re getting. We get along with each other and like each other, and we play great football. We need to play local football."

An unfortunate action by a coach and an incredible statement from an educator.

Football is supposed to help teach young players how to deal with adversity. An educator is supposed to teach young people about the world and those in it beyond their immediate, comfortable environment. Both coach and teacher are charged with building character and enlightening the students they serve.

Last Friday, whether the Fort Hill players actually used racial slurs or not, opportunity knocked for Jefferies, as one reader of the WUSA9 Web site pointed out: "This incident (if found to be true) would have been a great learning lesson for the young men of Dunbar by not walking away but standing strong and defeating FH and the bigotry attached to it. That thrill of victory is what legends are made of, i.e. Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Author Ashe [sic], Wilma Rudolph, Jim Brown etc., who ultimately gave each of those men the RIGHT to be on the field with FH."

Even if the incident was simply one of pure frustration for Jefferies and his players at the way the game was going, standing strong while facing adversity was still a lesson there for the learning.

Instead, the Dunbar coach had his players quit.

And, on Monday, Lewis’ answer was that the door to the rest of the high school football world – who may not look, act or think like the folks at Fort Hill – should be closed.

Here in Baltimore, City College coach George Petrides admitted being shock by all of it.

His team had played at Fort Hill in the opening game of the season because Petrides wanted to give his players a new experience.

"I wanted our team to feel a football atmosphere," said Petrides. "The whole city closes down there and comes out to the football games. It was a little road trip to a place with a different atmosphere. Except for the loss everyone enjoyed the trip."

It had been a tight football game, 6-6 at the half, and 14-6 Fort Hill with less than four minutes to play.

"We scored a touchdown with two and a half minutes to play that was called back," Petrides said.

Through it all, there were no racial incidents he was aware of.

After Friday’s incident, Petrides said he got a call from Fort Hill’s athletic director asking him to ask his players if there had been any racial slurs used during their game. Petrides asked.

"I don’t know what happened in the Dunbar game and I have no comment on that," he said. "But our fans and their fans got along great in the stands and there was nothing controversial in our game. It was a real good football environment."

Petrides said he would use the Fort Hill-Dunbar situation as a teaching tool.

"We’ll talk about it," he said. "On the field, there is always trash talk. That’s in every game. I tell my kids all the time to ignore it. To let their blocking and tackling do their talking."

Each day brings opportunity. It’s up to each to us to decide how to use it.

- Sandra McKee