It's my understanding that the coach wasn't fired so much for the game, but for writing an email to the local paper criticizing and insulting the school administrators. The school made a statement saying they felt it was not happy about the way the game went, the coach wrote that they were idiots, or along those lines.

Sportsmanlike/not sportsmanlike - not really the issue. Public insubordination will get you fired from *any* job. If I called the newspaper and told then my boss was a fool for decisions he made, I wouldn't expect to have a job the next day, and neither should this coach.

But, anyway, as I tell my kids, don't play games where someone wins if you don't like losing, cuz guess what?