What happened to sport?

Derek Maffett · 01-23-2009, 06:59 AM

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

I mean really, I understand the reasoning behind not beating a helpless opponent into the ground, but it's a basketball game. You're supposed to try and win, and if you fail, you try harder. You improve your skills. It sounds like the players may have been the only ones who actually understood that.

But listen to the officials talking. The head of the winning school even dared to suggest that the other team was the winner. Why? Because they kept playing and losing horribly, of course. Which somehow makes the winning team "out of hand" and the losing team "winners." Never mind the fact that it would have been practically insulting for the winning team to go easy. Never mind the fact that a point unearned is a point not worth having.

I mean seriously, how can you have a competition while not expecting both teams to do their best?

Allen Yeh · 01-23-2009, 07:23 AM

Ugh....

It sounds to me they should have stopped the game at halftime and declared the leading team the winners. They shouldn't forfeit...This just bothers me and makes me think of the whole giving awards to everyone type mentality.

Gant Grimes · 01-23-2009, 08:16 AM

It doesn't surprise me that this happened in Dallas. Normally you don't schedule games like this (play the team's JV instead), but this looks like it was a league game. If you're in a conference, district, etc. you don't get to pick your opponent. Sometimes you go in knowing you're going to take a beating. But shooting 3s and full court presses? Poor form.

Quote:

Victory without honor is a great loss.

I understand this completely.

Mike ODonnell · 01-23-2009, 09:56 AM

That's why we always had the "mercy" rule in pickup games as kids....no one likes a blowout on either side.

Derek Maffett · 01-23-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gant Grimes

It doesn't surprise me that this happened in Dallas. Normally you don't schedule games like this (play the team's JV instead), but this looks like it was a league game. If you're in a conference, district, etc. you don't get to pick your opponent. Sometimes you go in knowing you're going to take a beating. But shooting 3s and full court presses? Poor form.

Perhaps I don't understand the sport well enough. I don't know what 3s and full court presses are, but I assume that they are effective, though perfectly legal and, I'm sure, not invincible tactics.

Obviously, there is little to be proud of in a victory like that (like beating a five-year-old at chess), but the forfeit and all this talk about misconduct by the winning team just sounds silly. I agree that a mercy rule of some sort would have been helpful (awarding the win early just so that the clearly non-competitive game would stop), but it would be unacceptable for the winning team to purposefully go easy on them - it would be like throwing a fight, or actually more like taunting in this situation.

Mike ODonnell · 01-23-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Derek Maffett

there is little to be proud of in a victory like that (like beating a five-year-old at chess)

This is the only time I can see it is appropriate....and pretty damn funny.

http://video.aol.ca/video-detail/bil...all/2873142037

Garrett Smith · 01-23-2009, 03:59 PM

If I were a coach or player on a team that was winning 50-0, I sure would NOT be doing a full court press and still launching three pointers--much less 100-0.

The losing school had what, 20 people in it, with 8 of them on the basketball team, specializing in teaching kids with learning difficulties? If the opposing coach knew anything beforehand about the other school (or the parents did), then he (and they) should be very ashamed of themselves.

Mike ODonnell · 01-23-2009, 04:55 PM

I remember reading a story a while back about a football team in TX beating a school something like 100-3......and the coach had put in the 3rd string at halftime....he said he got emails from 1st stringers parents pissed that their kids weren't in there to get more stats....and emails from the other team about running up the score....even though he put in his 3rd string. Sometimes you can't win.

Chris Forbis · 01-23-2009, 04:57 PM

Once the lead was 20, the full court press should have been taken off. Once it hit 30, starters should have been on the bench and no more threes. Once it hit 40, it should have been a packed in zone defense for the rest of the game.

Scott Clark · 01-24-2009, 10:20 AM

Back when Steve Spurrier was an aggressive coach (UF days) he was one to play the game until the game was over. Sure, he would put in some 2nd stringers, but he was still throwing the ball late in the 4th quarter while being up 50 points. I saw an interview back in the day where he said he followed Sun Zsu's The Art of War mentality. I understand that this mindset isn't best for lower levels of athletics (little league, high school) but I honestly don't have a problem with it on the collegiate and professional levels.

This 100-0 massacre was in poor taste and I agree that a mercy rule should have been enacted.