Routs Fuel School Sports Debate (self esteem alert)

Lakeshore Public Academy in Hart, Mich., has only 50 students and just a handful of sports teams. Academics, not athletics, are supreme. So it is a complete surprise that Lakeshore has become the subject of a debate on sportsmanship and fair play in high school sports.

It began when the Lakeshore girls' basketball team lost to Walkerville High School early this season. Lost badly, in fact, 115-2.

The blowout was perhaps the most troubling of what many coaches and educators say has been an increasing number of lopsided games across the country this season, particularly in girls basketball.

In Indiana, the Bluffton High School girls' team defeated Blackhawk Christian, 77-17. In Washington D.C., the Anacostia High School girls beat Cardozo, 90-2.

And in an event that could make the mismatches hall of fame, the girls' team at Dunbar, another high school in Washington, played two consecutive games in a tournament two weeks ago; Dunbar beat Idea Charter School, 89-12, in the first game, and it defeated Cardozo, 98-7, in the second game.

In the wake of these lopsided outcomes, a national high school sports federation is considering rules that might curtail such demoralizing losses.

"I am very concerned about these blowout games, because I think they are increasing in number and getting worse," said John Johnson, communications director for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. "The purpose of school sports is to educate kids. That's what makes us different from colleges and the pros. There is nothing to be learned in these blowout games. No one should be embarrassed in high school."

Youth leagues in baseball, soccer and other sports have for years tried to restrain coaches from demoralizing opponents. In some baseball leagues, a "mercy rule" calls for games to end an inning or two early if one team is ahead by 10 or more runs. In some soccer leagues, coaches are fined if their teams win too many games by a margin of more than six goals.

But many high school coaches and state sports officials say that blowouts have become a significant problem in high school girls' basketball. Paradoxically, the reason appears to be that many more girls are playing the sport than ever before. More girls are lacing up their Air Jordans, but as new teams arise throughout the country, they often end up facing accomplished teams with experienced and talented players.

It was the overwhelming loss to Walkerville that turned Lakeshore Public Academy into a reluctant national symbol for mismatches. The school's rise to sports notoriety began on a cool November night, when it took on Walkerville, which has been playing girls' basketball for years and won several state titles in the 1980's.

The baskets kept coming, like snowballs in a neighborhood fray. Walkerville Coach Steve Kirwin played all of his substitutes, and told his team not to use a full-court press, but the scoreboard stayed busy. The result was one of the most lopsided girls' basketball games in Michigan's history. Melissa Hawley, 15, who scored the only basket for Lakeshore on a 10-foot jumper — nothing but net — said, "We never gave up, but they were just a lot better than we were."

High school basketball coaches across the country expressed outrage at the final score, and some parents and teachers pointed to the game as yet another example of the decline of sportsmanship.

Walkerville followed its blowout of Lakeshore by beating Pentwater High School, 75-25, just a few days later. In Washington, several of the area's top high school girls' teams — including Dunbar, Bishop McNamara, Riverdale Baptist and Anacostia — each had a blowout victory early in the season, with the four games producing an average margin of victory of 81 points.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that nearly 20 percent of more than 500 girls' basketball games in Cincinnati this season have been blowouts, with the victors scoring at least 30 points more than the losers. High school officials there believe there are more lopsided girls' games than ever.

Part of the problem is Title IX. The women's basketball team at my college alma mater hasn't won a single game in over two years (0-60) at the NAIA level. This season their average margin of defeat was almost 50 points. The men's team went a whopping 1-24 this year (WOW). They are just plain overmatched in basketball and if a school is that un-competitive in a given sport, either drop down a level in that sport or drop it completely.

When I went to college 20 years ago, I don't think we have five women on campus that made grade point average to even have a team.

I played football through college. One year this guy absolutely manhandled me for four quarters. He pancake blocked me on just about every play and then talked trash while I was lying on the ground blowing out snot bubbles, looking up at the sky, and trying to remember my name.

Make a long story short, I knew we were playing them again the following season and I trained my butt off ALL YEAR. Unfortunately so did he. But I was able to battle him to a stand still and walked off that field proud.

There's a simple solution for this, which is used in intramural leagues everywhere. Have an A league, a B league, and a C league, each with more-or-less evenly matched teams. Yes, there will be disparity between the top and bottom of each division, but it won't be as silly as these games, which sound about as lopsided as Major League Baseball vs. Little League.

Teams and coaches shouldn't generally be put into such hopeless and demoralizing positions. There will always be winners and losers, but there doesn't need to be such premeditated embarrassment.

When I was in high school, 40 years ago, in California, teams were in leagues based on the size of the school. Sure, some schools were stronger than others, at different times, but the disparities were usually not too great. If they were, you got move into a different league. In my three years in high school, our football team won the league all three years, my senior year it was undefeated with several blowout games (70-6, 64-0, 44-3, etc.). So, they moved the school up to the next league, where the schools were all almost twice our size (but we had been beating them).

Our coach didn't like blow-outs, but had the 2nd and 3rd string in as soon as we'd scored three touchdowns. When someone complained about a blow-out, he said: "What do you want me to do? The 3rd stringers in there are getting to play against their first string. Do you want me to tell these kid not to pla their hearts out? YOU go tell my players who're giving me, the team and the school the best they have that they should lay-off. I won't do it. I'll put my younger players in, and I'll make sure every player has game time, but I won't tell them not to try their best. Giving your best, and then some, is the only way I know how to play football."

The coach left after that year to become head coach at one of the California State Colleges and eventually became head coach at a major west coast football power. Without our super-coach, and having lost players who got football scholarships to most of the big California footbal powers, the team was 1-9 the following year. After 4-5 years of humiliation against the bigger schools the school was dropped back again.

well... my alma mater women's team is currently #1, has a record unbeaten streak, sells out every game, and has every game televised here but you know what?

I couldn't care less. I can't stand watching the UConn women play, much less deal with the idiotic fans, who don't know a thing about sports, state things like, "the women's team can beat the men's," etc.

They routinely destroy every team (in the Big East, no less) and its so boring I can't even tell you. They have no concept of graciously winning (bombing 3's with minutes to go, up by 40, uneducated crowd going wild) and I guess its learned at highschools like the article is about.

sigh... I guess I just have sour grapes because the men's team is so inconsistent this year.

Lakeshore Public Academy in Hart, Mich., has only 50 students and just a handful of sports teams. The Lakeshore girls' basketball team lost to Walkerville High School early this season. Lost badly, in fact, 115-2.

The author forgot to note that Lakeshore Public Academy is the only school in the country specifically created for girls born without torsos.

How they got those two points, I’ll never know.

Melissa Hawley, 15, who scored the only basket for Lakeshore on a 10-foot jumper — nothing but net — said, "We never gave up, but they were just a lot better than we were."

That says it all. If you play these games, do your best and play them. What kind of message would it be to these kids to say, "You know that idea about never giving up? We just decided that you are going to give up."

Yeah!..lets do away with keeping score!...Do away with any form of competition...Lets give those kids that are losing a whole bunch of FALSE self esteem so when they go out in the real world... the real competitors that have worked hard to learn their skills and concepts of the game can be blamed for their competitors failures!...What a bunch of liberal garbage!...Its a Damn game!!!!...Wish I had more time.. but I've got to go get my girls ready for the tourney!...*VBG*

We had a super coach who was way ahead of his time in distance running. He had us train many miles a day while the rest of the schools with equally skilled runners only trained a mile or two each day.

We had one meet where all 29 of our runners finished ahead of the first runner from the other school. The other coaches started a campaign to oust our coach. Eventually he gave them an excuse to be asked to resign. (He had a student who was late for practice run laps for four hours.) He later changed the penalty for lateness but it was too late. But for a while there those of us who came to practice on time had great self esteme.

PS, this coach also tried to date a high school girl and was fired for this, but thats another story.

I agree High school should have competition not humiliation.
115 to 2? the winning coach sucks- they could pass and dribble to set up layups -ONCE EVERY MINUTE-and not embarrass the other TEENAGERS.My daughters hockey team
played a team that had not scored A GOAL through the first 15 games- we played them and scored 6 goals in the first period- the coach switched positions demanded the players
pass to everyone before a shot could be taken -it turned into
a fun game myself seeing if we could pass the puck, the other team if they could break up the play. The other team
knew they would not win a game-so what, THEY wanted to be
better players/students and our coach tried to help -I think that is the way children's sports should be played.

The Cincinnati Enquirer could have reported that more than 80 percent of more than 500 girls' basketball games in Cincinnati this season have not been blowouts, with the victors scoring less than 30 points more than the losers.

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