OT - sports related - bullying

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I see a report on CNN that parents of a student at the losing school are accusing the opposing team of bullying in a 90 something to nothing football loss.

I didn't do the whole piece to get the details, but in my own experience in NJ sometimes there were matchups between schools that were forced to play each other by geography or whatever that never should have due to disparity - not only team quality but sheer quantity of students to build your team out of.

In the NCAA, have seen scores upwards into the 70's to nothing or very little, in one case the scrubs played the entire second half and - to be honest - the drubbed school was looking for a payday, not a competitive game.

So - does this qualify as "bullying"? I think that, if one takes that approach, the students are going to be sadly unprepared for the real world.

That is not to justify running up the score just to run up a score (I repeat I don't know the specifics), but bullying??? Or am I horribly out of the times?

 

[vtcwbuff]

LINK

It amazes me how dumba** parents like this can be given a national platform to embarrass themselves. I read a couple of reports and saw an interview on TV. The coach of the winning team pulled his starting lineup very early in the game, played all his subs and limited his offense to running. The opposing coach did not consider the game an instance of bullying. The winning coach stated that he could not tell his guys to not play hard or to allow the other team to score.

If 91-0 qualifies as bullying, how about 80-6 or perhaps 62-3?

 

[meyers7]

Those poor kid who's parents are doing this. Can you imagine the schtick he'll take from the next team that plays them? Or from his own teammates?

 

[pinotbear]

I don't know if it's still in effect, or been modified, but a few years back, CT high school football initiated a policy about "managing the score" - if a game became too lopsided, certain guidelines were in place, and, if a coach failed to follow them, they could be suspended.

 

[trisailin]

I don't know if it's still in effect, or been modified, but a few years back, CT high school football initiated a policy about "managing the score" - if a game became too lopsided, certain guidelines were in place, and, if a coach failed to follow them, they could be suspended.

And what "life lesson" could possibly be learned from "managing the score"? What "Life Lesson" is inadvertently taught?
Are you teaching that there never are "catastrophic" consequences to putting yourself or others in outgunned positions? (Think military - "sure it's ok to go there even though we don't have the firepower - they will manage the score")
Are you teaching "it's good/desirable" to give less than 100% in some instances? Are you teaching that we really ought not keep score? And beyond "life lessons", it would seem to me (at least in football) that when one side is playing to 100% and the other to something less, doesn't that make it much more likely to have an injury?
It's my opinion that all that "managing the score" really accomplishes is to mollify some ?adults? failings in scheduling games.

 

[vtcwbuff]

And what "life lesson" could possibly be learned from "managing the score"? What "Life Lesson" is inadvertently taught?
Are you teaching that there never are "catastrophic" consequences to putting yourself or others in outgunned positions? (Think military - "sure it's ok to go there even though we don't have the firepower - they will manage the score")
Are you teaching "it's good/desirable" to give less than 100% in some instances? Are you teaching that we really ought not keep score? And beyond "life lessons", it would seem to me (at least in football) that when one side is playing to 100% and the other to something less, doesn't that make it much more likely to have an injury?
It's my opinion that all that "managing the score" really accomplishes is to mollify some ?adults? failings in scheduling games.

I have no problem with a "mercy rule" but managing the score is a PC effort to make sure that every kid is a winner. That may be OK for T ball but it has no place in competitive athletics.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

And playing the back-ups, doing only fair catches, only using running plays - that isn't trying to manage the score from the winning team's side? Are they supposed to kneel down every play?

Like vtcwbuff, I agree with a mercy rule. Maybe 50 points in FB? They have it in softball, 8 runs after 5 innings of a 7 inning game. Some sports (Volleyball, for example) don't lend themselves to a mercy rule, but I have no problem with one where it is practical.

 

[John Glass]

It is poor sportsmanship. I have been a coach on both sides of this. I lost a basketball game 54-2, and the team was pressing the entire game. We scored our only basket with 2 minutes left in the game.

I have also had big leads by pressing, and called it off, then played subs early in the game. This football coach could have had the second and third string in early in the first half.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

It is poor sportsmanship. I have been a coach on both sides of this. I lost a basketball game 54-2, and the team was pressing the entire game. We scored our only basket with 2 minutes left in the game.

I have also had big leads by pressing, and called it off, then played subs early in the game. This football coach could have had the second and third string in early in the first half.

According to the article, he did. Supposedly, at least.

 

[John Glass]

According to the article, he did. Supposedly, at least.

I read another article that said the starters played the entire first half.

 

[meyers7]

It is poor sportsmanship.

Sounded like good sportsmanship to me. He pulled his starters early and played his 2nd and 3rd string. Ran mostly running plays (they only ran 32 plays). Coach requested a continuous clock in the second half.

Sounds more like a mess up by the state football leaders/committee, putting this school in the conference they are in (a new one). They are avg. 69 points a game.

 

[John Glass]

Sounded like good sportsmanship to me. He pulled his starters early and played his 2nd and 3rd string. Ran mostly running plays (they only ran 32 plays). Coach requested a continuous clock in the second half.

Sounds more like a mess up by the state football leaders/committee, putting this school in the conference they are in (a new one). They are avg. 69 points a game.

As I said there are reports the starters played the first half, if the coach had played the 2nd and 3rd string early in the game you are correct.

 

[pinotbear]

http://blog.ctnews.com/hssports/2011/10/26/the-day-ciac-planning-to-revisit-score-management/

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/9P1gGypm2ku6zCOTVMJbyA/connecticut--ciac-reviewing-50-point-rule.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook...no-blowout-rule-was-wrong-but-so-is-the-rule/

just a few stories about the rule, over the past few years. I don't have "a dog in this fight" - I coached high school softball for many years, and am comfortable with the "mercy" rule as it applies there, but, I don't have a strong opinion when it comes to high school football. Obviously, it's a big enough issue that the CIAC felt there was a need for regulation. Even in WCBB, we seem to have an issue or two, yearly, about what constitutes "running up the score", and what doesn't.

 

[meyers7]

Looks like the school officials rejected the bullying charge.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162...-bullying-charge-over-91-0-football-beatdown/

 

[lynn b]

It is poor sportsmanship. I have been a coach on both sides of this. I lost a basketball game 54-2, and the team was pressing the entire game. We scored our only basket with 2 minutes left in the game.

I have also had big leads by pressing, and called it off, then played subs early in the game. This football coach could have had the second and third string in early in the first half.