Here’s an abbreviated version of the story:

Assistant Football Coach: Player assaulted me on school bus.
School: We watched the videotape of the bus ride and nothing happened.
Assistant Football Coach: Videotape? Crap.
School: You’re fired.

A good rule of thumb there: if you’re going to make a false claim against a student, best to do it somewhere where they district DOESN’T have video cameras. Here’s more on the story from The Tampa Tribune:

A high school teacher lost his job today for falsely accusing a junior varsity football player of assaulting him on a school bus after a game. Pasco County school board members voted unanimously to fire Hudson High School teacher Deane DeLoach after watching a videotape of the Sept. 25 bus ride and hearing from witnesses.

“The evidence was overwhelming,” board member Allen Altman said. DeLoach, who had been on unpaid leave since Nov. 4, requested an employee appeal hearing before the school board, but he and his attorney walked out of that hearing Feb. 10, saying they didn’t think he could receive a fair shake.

DeLoach’s troubles began Sept. 25 when Hudson High’s junior varsity football team played at Ridgewood High. DeLoach, an assistant coach, told a freshman player who had been disruptive earlier to sit beside him on the ride back to Hudson High after the game. The next day, DeLoach told an assistant principal and the school resource officer that the student, wearing shoulder pads, had knocked him across the bus aisle.

Assistant Principal Scott Davey and Cpl. John Watson testified at the hearing that they had watched the videotape later that day and that it did not show any physical contact between DeLoach and the student. Watson testified that a few days later he told DeLoach that the video showed his allegations were unfounded. He said he told DeLoach he could be charged with filing a false report but that he was not going to pursue charges. “He seemed very surprised there was a videotape,” Watson said.

Megan Sainsbury, 31, the gym teacher at Prospect High School in Saratoga, CA became the third female physical education coach in as many weeks in to be arrested for an alleged relationship with an underage girl in the San Francisco bay area. The good news? The last two were arrested on felony charges, Sainsbury has only been hit with a misdemeanor . . . so far.

At right, Megan Sainsbury’s mug shot picture.

Here’s more from KCBS:

Megan Sainsbury was booked into county jail on three misdemeanor charges of child annoyance, but posted bail and is waiting for arraignment. Amy Cornell, a spokeswoman with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, says the alleged abuse took place from October 2007 through January 2009. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Sainsbury bought the teen gifts, including a cell phone, to encourage the girl to continue the relationship. This is the third time in two weeks that a female P.E. teacher has been arrested in the South Bay on suspicion of having an inappropriate relationship with a female student.

Thirty five years ago today, a young Australian started a trend that continues to amuse, and occasionally offend, sports fans around the world. For on March 16, 1974, the first sports streaker made his debut at the England-Wales rugby match. It also provided one of the iconic pictures in all of sports (at right) with the British policeman using his helmet to cover up the modesty of one Michael O’Brien, an Australian trainee accountant, who gave his performance at half-time to–you guessed it–win a bet.