04/20/24
November 21, 2002
I don't know about the sportsmanship....: ....but I'd sure like to know what defender allowed the single basket in a 115-2 basketball game! Seriously, though, should they have been allowed to call the whole thing off once it got to, say, 70-2?
I'm not a fan of calling games off because it's onesided, unless their are time contraints, like in baseball. I once attended a little leauge baseball game where the bottom of the second inning last over 2 hours because the other team couldn't get them out. They only played 2 innings that night. But if it's a timed sport, just take your beating and go home.
posted by corpse at 03:16 PM on November 21, 2002
Back in Junior High, our team was lapped on the score board, which could only handle 2 digits. Final score was (1)35-25. I will never forget getting dunked on as a 8th grader.
posted by emoeby at 03:21 PM on November 21, 2002
It's a sport. It was the playoffs. It sounds like the coach tried everything except to tell the players to let the other team score and to stop shooting the basketball. I think complaining about sportsmanship is not the point here. What I want to know is how these two teams met in the playoffs. The winning team was ranked and the losing team had not won a game during the season. Do all teams make the playoffs? Do they draw teams from a hat? How does a team that hasn't won a single game enter the post-season? It's an absolute mystery. The NBA should do the same. The Grizzlies might have a chance.
posted by jacknose at 03:28 PM on November 21, 2002
This had to have been so embarassing for the losing team. I can't imagine how they must of felt. But still, it's playoffs, they're supposed to be official. My call? I'd let the losing coach forfeit at halftime, if he wanted. If he wanted to play, then let them play on.
posted by Ufez Jones at 03:41 PM on November 21, 2002
I blame this on the losing coach more than the winning coach. When the score got really out of hand (or at half-time) he should have offerred to foreit the game and the play the remainder with mixed teams. It's high school basketball. It's supposed to be fun. I've been on both sides of blowouts. One time during soccer this year I let in 6 goals before the half way point and had already saved 5 others. Our team hadn't even taken a shot at the opposing team's net. Our captain requested a forfeit and we mixed them up and played a friendly (and fun) second half. I've also played hockey where we scored 7 goals in the first period. Our coach asked the opposing team if they wanted a forfeit. He said no because he didn't want his team to feel like quitters (we were all 9 years old, so I can understand the reasoning). So our coach made all the forwards and defence switch positions for the last two periods and spread the talent as thin as possible. We won 12-1 (you should have heard the cheers from ALL the parents when they scored the goal) and both teams felt good about it in the end. Everyone went out for McDonald's afterwards. :)
posted by grum@work at 04:41 PM on November 21, 2002
Corresponding MeFi thread here, for those interested. Way to beat them to the punch, Jaq.
posted by Ufez Jones at 04:52 PM on November 21, 2002
This had to have been so embarassing for the losing team.
I dunno...I've been on the wrong end of a lopsided score and if the other team's just obviously dramatically better, it can be funny, in a grim soul-crushing way.
posted by kirkaracha at 05:32 PM on November 21, 2002
I think kirkaracha's right. I work with high school kids at two high schools, one of which stomped the other in basketball by about 70 points last year. The losing team simply went on with life--they knew they were terrible, they took their beating, and they kind of turned it into an odd point of pride. You know who got all worked up? The parents, of course. I also think grum@work is right to point out that age makes a difference. High school seniors are at an age where they can take a lot, but do eight year olds need to learn from the rec league lessons in such out'n'out humiliation?
posted by jason streed at 06:12 PM on November 21, 2002
There's nothing classy or sportsmanlike for not playing your best for the entire game. In fact it's disrespectful if you don't score as many points as you possibly can. I never will understand this "don't run up the score" argument.
posted by salmacis at 05:22 AM on November 22, 2002
We don't need to understand or agree with it to accept that running up scores might be a bad idea. See, if enough people with a stake in a particular youth sports league don't like it, and if they get together and figure out a way to handle those situations, that ought to be good enough for the rest of us, no? Again, I'm talking about sports for little kids. Adults (or near-adults) should enter the lists with highly trained athletes at their own risk, with the knowledge that a immoderate pasting might be their lot.
posted by jason streed at 09:02 AM on November 22, 2002
I'm not sure about 70-2, but an intramural team I played on in college once got pasted 78-11. Yet another reason I play rec soccer instead of basketball--I just out and suck at basketball.