When the women of Zeta Tau Alpha won the Sprite Step Off national competition last week, they raised eye brows. People were not only intrigued because of their amazing abilities on the floor; people's necks were also turning because of the skin color of the champions. The white women of Zeta Tau Alpha have learned from the best and came with the best, dominating the competition and winning the national prize. My girl and protege at Bossip, Lady Drama, says that the women brought it, and I believe her. Black people can be incredibly tough critics - so I am sure they earned their prize.

What was most interesting about the ladies' win in the competition is that after the uproar on the Internet about their victory, someone at Sprite "suddenly" realized that there was a scoring discrepancy in the competition. What? They don't know how to add and subtract? Well, either way, after the dust settled, the women were then told that they are expected to share the title with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

In their official statement, Sprite had this to say:

"After the National Finals Competition this past weekend in Atlanta wrapped, we got together to do our post-competition review and found a scoring discrepancy in the sorority results. After looking at it and looking at it AGAIN, we determined there isn't a definitive resolution."

"Sprite is all about preserving the honesty and integrity of this competition. Because the scoring discrepancy can't be resolved and due to the really tight margin between the first and second place sorors, we feel that the only right thing to do is to name both Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter & Zeta Tau Alpha, Epsilon Chapter, co-first place winners of the Sprite Step Off."

"With these revised results, we're gonna increase Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter's scholarship prize to $100K, consistent with what Zeta Tau Alpha also got for their first prize winnings."

I don't have much to say about the sudden revelation of a "scoring discrepancy," but I am going to assume that the pressure on the Internet didn't have an impact on the final outcome. There is something about intense competition, which leads us to feel that the issue should be "settled on the field." If you watch the Super Bowl and lose the game on a bad call, you don't expect the NFL commissioner to come out the next day and revise the call. If you see a player get fouled on the final shot of a college basketball game, you know that when the last whistle is blown, the game is over. I can't help but wonder if Sprite should have left their "scoring discrepancy" on the field, since I would certainly hope that the computer and judges adding up the numbers would know how to double-check their math.

To some extent, to receive a victory in a step competition the day after the competition is over is like getting an honorary bachelors degree or receiving a postmortem Grammy Award. It just doesn't have the same effect as winning the event on the stage, in your competitor's faces, in front of the audience. This competition should have been settled on the stage. In fact, while Sprite representatives are arguing that the decision was made to protect the integrity of the competition, it may have had the opposite effect.

If you want to judge for yourself, here is the video of their performance. Congrats to both the ladies of Zeta Tau Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha.



Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.