Posted on 01/22/2009 3:01:41 PM PST by devane617
A Texas high school girls basketball team on the winning end of a 100-0 blowout has apologized to the losing school, calling the game "shameful and an embarrassment."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbs11tv.com ...
Is it unsportsmanship? Is it unethical? Is it against the rules? The probable outcome was known beforehand that this was a lopsided game. By holding back or whatever, you have potentially psychologically damaged both teams with some sort of arbitrary rule that is not in the book and only yields confusion to the object of the game. The losing team did not ask anyone to take up their cause in their behalf, so let the lesson be learned but the sport not be damaged.
My comment, which you reference above, was directed to the person who posited that the winning team would somehow lose their "fitness", wouldn't be as sharp for the next game, if they didn't beat the losing team 100-zip. I pointed out that was a ludicrous concern.
This has nothing to do with FEELINGS at all. As has been pointed out repeatedly, the losing team handled the loss with equanimity and did not whine about it. What this does have to do with, is class and sportsmanship, and you either get those concepts or you don't. This thread has made manifest those who do and those who don't.
AMEN.
They're used to it. They should never play in a regular roster. Period.
this will build character for both of these teams. it is a lesson they will never forget and they will all be better people for it.
So what did you do with your daughter as far as schooling? How is she doing?
Because the spectrum of “learning disorders” does not only mean dsylexia or ADD - it could be autism, or any number of other problems that would account for a child not having the same abilities as other children. I just found it cruel that anyone would make fun of a child who has a learning disability.
Are you saying that ignorance is legion here? Or are you saying that the number of ignorant posters here is legion?
Sorry, but your sentence is freaking me out.
The winning team should have “backed off” is what stood out for me. So the winning team should not play to the best of their ability?
So what happens when the 2nd or 3rd string of one school plays the 1st string of another school and still blows them away? In our case, our school, our 2nd and 3rd string played the 1st string of another school. And we blew them away. The Coach of the losing team made a big “tado” claiming our team ran up the score even though we coached the kids to do jump serves (which are difficult) or pull back on their hits.
Are we supposed to tell them to throw the game to make the other team feel better?
Why did the other team, their coaches, etc. attempt to play a game against a team that was far superior?
Maybe the losing team shouldn’t have been playing in a league far past their abilities?
It’s really no wonder why we’re becoming such a wussified nation.
Exactly.
The team did "back off" when the score hit 100-0 with four minutes to play. Up until then, the winning team continued to run a full court press.
The score was 59-0 at halftime, and 88-0 at the end of the third quarter. The winning coach is a putz, exhibiting no sportsmanship whatsoever. Why you need to be running a full court press when you're leading 90-0 is a bit beyond the pale.
Ok. I can agree with that then. If the winning team played their best players/starters the entire time, when it wasn’t needed for a win, then they ran up the score needlessly. The article didn’t give all that info.
If the team that lost had players with a learning disability or any disablity, and the winning team had no such players, then maybe the losing team shouldn’t be playing in this league?
The article doesn’t give much info.
Again, I hate to have to keep explaining this to adults, but this is a school for learning disabled kids. They probably aren't ever going to have a great team but they are kids and they want to play.
I really hope none of you on this thread ever have to deal with someone who is learning disabled - you haven't shown any sort of compassion whatsoever.
Well said.
I’m curious to the teams/schools. It seems from reading the posts on this thread that the losing team had some disablities. I’ll have to reread the article again. Regardless, the losing team lost. Did the winning team play their starters the entire time?
IMO, this is sports. Not a self esteem exercise. Sportsmanship is paramount and a huge part of sports. I sit at so many games for my kids in so many sports, and as a former athlete, I sometimes don’t get what’s happening in sports today. We have mercy rules. Fine. We have rules to put in the 2nd or 3rd string. But we never tell our players to throw a game or not do their best. We tell them, pull back a bit or jump serve (in volleyball because it’s difficult) but never throw a game or not do your best. In soccer or LAX or basketball, we put in 2nd or 3rd string if we’re winning by that much.
Whoa right there. Don’t even think to tell me about LD kids. You know nothing about me or my family.
Also, I’m more than familiar with rec, club, public, Catholic, and private school ball. For instance, our Catholic basketball league doesn’t have enough schools, catholic and public, to not play the same team 8 times or more a season. More like playing the same teams every couple weeks. Sometimes, more often than not, we play other schools, catholic and public, that just suck and we play our 3rd string against their starters and still win by a huge margin. And, we have a mercy rule. Plus our coaches follow it. Not all the other coaches follow it. Actually, our biggest whiner was a coach that never followed the mercy rule but insisted the league follow it this year because his team sucked. So we put in our 2nd and 3rd string against his first string and still killed the team...he insisted we tell our players to throw the game. That’s not sportsmanlike behavior either. You can’t tell players to not play their best.
So this school, team, is a learning disabled team and playing a team that isn’t learning disabled? The article doesn’t give many details.
I’d like to know all the details, info. A score of 100-0 is shocking to me. I assume the coach of the winning team, played his 2nd or 3rd string once the score was high and the playing field was obviously not matched. Throwing a game doesn’t benefit the winning team players nor the losing team players.
I surely dont think they should throw a game but I know they could have slacked off on defense and let them score a few at least.
If youve ever been to a christian private school game you would find its much different than public schools. Sometimes those small little schools have to play much bigger schools just so they dont have to travel a whole state away to find one as small.
Ive seen our junior varsity play second string play a varsity of a much smaller school, though not in a district game.
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