(no subject)
http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=989089
I saw this article today, and it started me thinking.
This, to me, is an extremely hard issue to have a position on.
On the one hand, the score and the loss is demoralizing to the kids.
Especially the ones who were on the team the year before that won.
But, the winning coach had taken out all their starters for the second half. He played his second team, he wasn't keeping his first string in to see how high they could run up the score.
Not only that, but most of the points in the first half came from mistakes made by the losing team. A blocked punt, allowing a kickoff return of 99 yards, two interceptions with short yardage. Two of these scoring opportunities came from special teams, which is fairly rare in High School football. You can't put out your special teams unit and tell them, "don't try and block the punt." You may as well not put them out at all. Same with the return team. "Okay, get the ball, but don't try and run with it."
Not only are both of these things wrong for the young players trying to learn the game, it is just as insulting to the other team as beating them.
Maybe, MAY-be, you could tell your defense, "if the opposing quarterback throws the ball at you, try batting it down instead of catching it."
But still, that's almost the same as taunting. "I could have caught the ball but I didn't." Is that any better for the moral of the other team?
The fans of the losing team talked about how the fans of the winnng team weren't cheering any more because even they were embarassed. Or maybe they were sensitive to the fact that other team was alreasy upset, and felt bad for them so they had the sportsmanship not to rub it in.
You can't put all of this on the shoulders of the winning coach, saying that he should have done more to prevent the score from being so high. The losing coach didn't want to talk about it. Why? Was he embarassed by his team's performance? Did he not prepare his team enough because he figured, "we beat this team last year, we'll have no problems with them this year?" At least some questions have to be asked of the losing coach as to why his team lost so incredibly to a team they defeated a year ago.
On the one hand, I am pleased that more people are aware of the idea of sportsmanship. It is something that has been missing in this day and age of Little League parents beating each other up in the parking lot. However, I don't feel the winning coach should be accused of showing a lack of it. He did what was within his power, short of actually throwing the game, to give the other team a shot.
Hopefully, painful though it may be, the losing coach will go home and watch the tape to prevent a repeat. Why did the Quarterback throw two interceptions? Was the receiver on the wrong route? Did the QB not read the defense properly? Was the QB under too much pressure because the front line wasn't holding their gaps? Why did a kick-off return make it through his special teams for 99 yards? Who picked up the wrong rusher to allow someone through to block the punt? These are things that every team has to take a look at when they happen to keep them from happening again, win or lose.
This also puts the rest of the teams on notice. This winning team has depth. Even their non-starters put out a pretty good game.