chmurray: In my mind crying foul about people who run the score up is more offensive to notions of honor and sportsmanship than someone who refuses to play at anything other than 100%, even if the situation warrants it.
I so agree- I've never understood the "beating your opponents like a red-headed step child is bad form". What the fuck? There's 4 quarters to be played, and if you can run up 658 yards then the other team is the one with bad sportsmanship... or just bad skills. I'll never understand why, in a rout, the winning team should
let up. That, more than anything, is a sign of extreme disrespect. Imagine if the Bulls during their 72-10 season had started playing the 4th quarter of blowouts with one arm tied behind their backs. Would that be "good sportsmanship"? No, it would be incredibly insulting. I recall watching on live TV a game where Mike Cameron, when he was with the Mariners in I want to say 2002. It started off with he and Bret Boone going back to back homeruns in the 1st inning... TWICE. The game was a complete blowout early on, but Cameron had his 4th freakin' homerun by the 6th inning- 4 HR in 4 PAs. He comes up in the 7th or 8th, has a chance for history with an unheard of 5th homerun. Count is 3-0, next pitch is grooved down the middle... and Cameron
takes the pitch!!! The announcers rave on and on about the 'good sportsmanship' because he didn't cream it for a 5th homerun in the middle of a blowout- Rob Neyer even wrote an article praising Cameron. Me, though, I'm screaming at the TV "
You fucktard! Some idiot 3rd rate pitcher throws you a chocolate covered gift fastball on a silver platter in a 3-0 count, you murder that sumbitch!". Seriously- you want to show respect and good sportsmanship? You play your ass off for all 9 innings/4 quarters. You get up there in a 10-run laugher, and start phoning it in,
that is disrespectful. If you take a full swing from the hills in the 9th inning with the game completely over, that to me shows that you respect the game and the other team. It wasn't Cameron's fault that the pitcher sucked, or threw a batting practice fastball- if anyone was showing poor sportsmanship or was giving up on the game, it was the guy who was intentionally unintentionally walking Cameron, then threw him a 3-0 gift. Kill that ball over the left field fence and collect your lone spot in history as a 5HR in one 9-inning game guy. Mike Cameron's lost his luster from his prime when he looked like he was going to be a 40/40 all-star, and I suspect years from now Mike won't be thinking "Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't swing at that 3-0 meatball and take my place in the hall of immortals".
If I was on the losing side of this game I think I might have had to go "Albert Haynesworth" on the running back. Or at least "Romanowski" like bust his finger backwards. Hell, I'd even think about hitting him with a chair. I guess in Southern California we just have more evenly matched teams. I've never heard of anything like this before. Why would you even waste the time of driving to the game?
If your definition of sportsmanship includes this coach's actions, I'd love to know what you would consider bad sportsmanship (aside from not running up the score, of course). I think a lot of the grind-them-into-the-ground talk in this discussion belongs to the same deteriorating sports culture that encourages trash talking, parents getting violent at games and in-your-face showboating that isn't about celebrating your success as much as noting somebody else's failure. This is a high school football game we're talking about, not the pros. There ought to be some room here for teaching winning athletes how to show respect for their opponents. That life lesson will end up mattering a lot more to the players in that game than how to help a star player inflate his stats.
(Almost) totally off-topic: luther70, man, I don't count myself among the grammar police, but 109 comments without a single punctuation mark has got to be some kind of record. And I say that with all respect... hey, it worked for Joyce (though I had a little easier time following "Ulysses").
Imagine if the Bulls during their 72-10 season had started playing the 4th quarter of blowouts with one arm tied behind their backs. Would that be "good sportsmanship"? No, it would be incredibly insulting. professional athletes - high school athletes games purpose to entertain fans - games purpose to teach children about comraderie, leadership, and value of self apples - oranges never-the-less, Jordan sat on the bench in the 4th on a lot of blowout wins that season.
I think its sort of lame, and the excuse the coaches used rings hollow to me. I don't know that much about football recruiting, but in baseball, coaches and scouts couldn't care less than about stats that you rack up. The are looking to project natural tools and ability, but realize that the competition is meaningless for the most part. Its probably similar for football. If this kid was really any good I expect that he would have already been recruited during his Junior year. Maybe the coach is a neophyte. Its not something that signals the end of Western Civilization as we know it though.
Hal Incandenza would be the very last guy on earth I would let my kid play for. rcade and weedy nailed this one. It's not much of a record when it's run up against so weak an opponent. There's no pride in that accomplishment, and it may become an actual detriment to the kid, his coach, and the school.
That life lesson will end up mattering a lot more to the players in that game than how to help a star player inflate his stats. I think the same is true for the losing team. Teaching them that life is unfair, people are sometimes mean, and that the true test of character is how you behave in the face of this are all lessons that would be more beneficial than whining and making a stink about it and throwing around all this humilation talk.
To me, Coach Kinder is an idiot! It sounds like this game was over early, and he really didn't have to keep pounding away. If he's truly trying to get this kid McCoy a scholarship, all he has to do is take the game film from the first few long runs, and package it into a highlight tape. What he might have accomplished, had fortune taken a nasty turn, was to end McCoy's career. Suppose McCoy had slipped or accidently taken a hit on exactly the wrong spot. Now you have wasted a promising young talent, with hopes of getting a free college education, for the sake of a few lines of agate type in an obscure almanac. Injuries in meaningless situations happen every year, and too many of them result in real damage to players and their hopes.
Fucktard???
If I was the opposing coach I would have repeatedly gone for it on 4th down even in his own team's territory. Besides, if they were down by that much they shouldn't bother punting anyway. This kid gained more than 300 yards AFTER the defense knew that nobody else was going to get the ball under any circumstances. When a defense can play 11 men in the box, and the back still goes over 300 yards in a half, there's something special there. Just agreeing with these comments. I have real trouble fathoming how big the gap in ability must have been if having your entire team focusing on just one guy to the exclusion of all else cannot stop him. unless they were not focusing on the one guy. in which case their coach is being willfully stupid.
(though I had a little easier time following "Ulysses"). You mean you actually finished it? Totally off topic.
Hey, I don't care how you get a record. You got it. This kid still had to run, his line still had to block, and you know what, with all the other kids in the nation at running back, a record breaking performance might just be what he needed to be pushed over the top and get recognized by that one school that he wants to go to. I say good for him and good luck.
wah, wah, wah... Why don't they just quit like that other team that was 0-4 and constantly getting their brains stomped in.
I loved Bonnie Prince Billy in Matewan.
You mean you actually finished it? Plenty of people have looked at all the words. It's the understadning that's the hard part.
Do you REALLY think that his teamates are going to think it sucked? I have an extremely hard time believing that his teamates won't be able to brag about being a part of that record. I'm betting that the backup/3rd string running back had fantastic time sitting on the bench and handing out little cups of Gatorade to the rest of the team, and then got laid by the debating team assistant captain by telling her about his amazing bartending skills during that historic game.
bperk, do you really think it's likely that the kid is slow? He racked up 1100-1200 yards over his two best games (so far) this season. I can't imagine that a plodder is likely to make multiple 50, 60, and 70 yard runs in a single game, let alone two. I don't care how good his blocking was, if he didn't have some wheels, somebody would have caught him on most of those long runs (and since we know he had 10 TDs in the last game, I'd say they didn't catch him often).
luther70, man, I don't count myself among the grammar police, but 109 comments without a single punctuation mark has got to be some kind of record. For your sanity, I really hope you didn't read every single one.
They should have taken a page from Super Tecmo Bowl... He could have run out of bounds at the other team's one yard line, then his QB could run all the back to his own one yard line. I bet he could have gone over 1,000 yards and they may not have run up the score. Single funniest comment I've read here in a long time, although grum's debate team groupie comment comes close.
Lets see him enjoy that record with an ACL/MCL tear...he can tell his kids that was how he got his limp. Thank goodness you're joking, otherwise, you're advocating intentionally injuring a teenage boy under the auspices of a high school football game, which would make you an unconscionable asshole.
TBH, that was incredibly well said.
Why would you even think of something like that. It is just not right. It is like saying "I hope they hit the QB so hard he ruins his shoulder!" It is bad juju. Ususally after someone says something like that it seems to happen. Like talking about a no hitter. You just don't say something about ti.
