We have this peculiar brand of pettiness and jealousy in Maine. We can’t stand to watch someone else succeed. And worse, we can’t keep it to ourselves.

The next time I see my legislator, I’m going to suggest changing the signs at the state lines from “Maine, the way life should be” to “No excelling beyond this point. You’ll make the rest of us look bad.”

I’ve seen Nik Caner-Medley and Ralph Mims have every epithet in the book hurled their way by envious mobs of people, many of them so-called adults, just because they had the audacity to stand head and shoulders above everyone else on a basketball court. I’ve heard so-called fans deride Mark Rogers, using words that, if a parent yelled them at their own child, would have DHHS knocking on their door within 10 seconds, just because he gave up a run and showed he’s human.

For every example I’ve witnessed, I’ve heard dozens of other accounts of jealousy and pettiness poisoning high school athletics in our fair state. I’ve heard about players who pulled some nasty tricks on a teammate because they were jealous about how much attention that person was receiving from the coach or the media. I’ve heard about parents lobbying school boards to fire a coach because they were jealous that someone else’s kid was getting more playing time than their own.

Much of what I’ve heard and seen has never really surprised me. There’s more than enough pettiness, selfishness and insecurity to go around in the human race for some of it to spill over into high school sports in little ol’ Maine, unfortunately.

Which is why I was quite happy to witness what I witnessed this past week at a game at Livermore Falls High School. It gave me hope that there are still some people who can rise above it all.

Livermore Falls was hosting the once-beaten Dirigo boys in a typical knock-down, drag-out Mountain Valley Conference slugfest. The crowd was about an even mix of Andies and Cougars supporters, but the Dirigo side had the upper hand on the scoreboard and the decibel meter on this night. The former was due to some outstanding teamwork by the Cougars and excellent coaching by Gavin Kane and his staff. The latter was due to the Dirigo girls basketball players showing up en masse to support their boys.

It wasn’t always like this. In recent years, there had been a rift developing between the boys and girls, due at least in part to the boys’ jealousy about all of the glory the girls have been able to bask in for their success during the last decade.

“There’s been tension,” acknowledged Dirigo senior Chris Richards. “But now, they support us. We support them. Coach has brought the teams together. In years past, it’s been terrible.”

“Coach” is Gavin Kane, who would be worthy of the MPA’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize, if there were such a thing.

When he discussed coaching both teams with Dirigo administrators last spring, he thought this would be one of the positive side effects. He even talked to parents on both teams about bringing an end to the brewing resentment.

Both teams have embraced this and have been very supportive of each other. The girls are leading the cheers during the boys’ games, and the boys are lending their voices to the girls, at home and on the road.

Kane and the players on both teams deserve credit for bridging this divide. But all is not peace, love and understanding in the western mountains. Pettiness and jealousy are still alive.

Predictably, both reared their heads when the girls finally lost their 124-game regular-season winning streak last month at Hall-Dale. That’s to be expected from Dirigo’s rivals, who couldn’t wait to vent years of built-up frustrations when their once invincible foes finally showed they were human.

But it seems there are those who supposedly bleed Cougar blue who are beginning to resent Kane for wanting to help the boys and the boys for taking some of Kane’s time and attention away from the girls. A second loss by the girls, even a tight two-point win over Telstar this week, have only emboldened those who think it was the coach’s sworn duty to protect and perpetuate the dynasty of all high school basketball dynasties into eternity.

To top it off, now there is a handful of very small, very insecure people who hardly follow Dirigo basketball who are labeling Kane a self-promoter for recent media attention, including a story in the Sun Journal, he has received chronicling how he has A) changed the climate within the boys’ program and B) dealt with the demands of doing both jobs.

Gavin Kane is many things. Self-promoter isn’t even close to being one of them.

He also isn’t robbing Peter (or in this case, Patty) to pay Paul.

Unfortunately, some people are too caught up in their own jealousy, their own pettiness, and their own inadequacies, to believe this.

Never mind that his boys credit Kane first with changing the negative attitude that overwhelmed whatever talent they may have had in the past.

Never mind how they say he’s put an end to the selfishness that was bogging the team down for far too long.

Forget how he has opened doors that seemed only to open for their sisters for the last decade. Never mind that he’s finally helping them develop a team identity.

And disregard the fence-mending he’s done between young men and women who have far too much to look forward to in their lives to carry on a senseless rift.

Apparently, it’s not good enough for some people.

Or maybe it’s just too good.

Randy Whitehouse is a staff writer. He can be reached [email protected]