Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How an 8-year-old's first touchdown resulted in a $500 fine, coach suspension
Post Standard, Syracuse NY ^ | October 26, 2014 at 11:02 AM | By Allie Healy

Posted on 10/26/2014 9:03:23 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines

Elijah Burrell did what he was taught to do if he intercepted the football -- score a touchdown. But the 8-year-old's pick-six play wasn't much to celebrate after the team was fined $500 for violating the Gwinnett Football League's mercy rule...

the Lawrenceville Black Knights were winning against their opponents, 32-0, in the fourth quarter. Burrell then intercepted a pass and went through with the touchdown, failing to comply with the league's mercy rule.

That six-point score caused the Georgia-based team to surpass the 33-point rule, which earned the coach a week-long suspension and the team a $500 fine.

(Excerpt) Read more at syracuse.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: burrell; lawrenceville; mercy; touchdown
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-126 next last
To: GeronL
insanity is running the world these days

Wikipedia gave me the following stats.

It's my belief that the insanity was always there. We just didn't have the media shoving it down our throats 24/7.
Also we have 7.125 billion (2013) people today.

The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Great Famine and the Black Death in 1350, when it was near 370 million.

Imagine, only 370 million people...only slightly more than the U.S.A. today: 316.1 million (2013).

21 posted on 10/26/2014 9:23:15 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: CodeToad
Liberals are morons

Then every adult in this story must be liberal

22 posted on 10/26/2014 9:23:48 AM PDT by Poison Pill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ontap

The game should have been over if another touch down was going result in a fine.


23 posted on 10/26/2014 9:24:00 AM PDT by Eva
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines
If there is a mercy rule, then the game should end. It's ludicrous to teach kids to point shave.
24 posted on 10/26/2014 9:24:30 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
If the NFL had a mercy rule, Oakland would never play a game.

Lol. The owners get what they pay for, don't they?
I wonder how many of the Raider players actually live in Oakland.

25 posted on 10/26/2014 9:24:35 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: cloudmountain

>>I wonder how many of the Raider players actually live in Oakland.<<

With SF across the bay? Zero.


26 posted on 10/26/2014 9:25:47 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (Zimmerman, Brown, Fast & Furious, IRS harassment, Philly ignorance: holdering in 1st degree)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines

Liberalism IS a mental disorder.


27 posted on 10/26/2014 9:25:50 AM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76
Bobby Orr was one of those rare super-nova cum comets that BLAZE through our lives EVERY SO OFTEN.
28 posted on 10/26/2014 9:26:32 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
With SF across the bay? Zero.

The Oakland Hills are gorgeous too. Oakland's wealthy live there.

29 posted on 10/26/2014 9:28:39 AM PDT by cloudmountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Yo-Yo

Point shaving is what they are teaching. And it is a form of match fixing. Useful if you want to basically cheat at gambling, but not usually considered part of good sportsmanship.


30 posted on 10/26/2014 9:29:02 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Democrats have a lynch mob mentality. They always have.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines

I don’t understand how this insane rule is called the “mercy” rule. 33 points! So this rule says that it’s okay to humiliate them as long as it isn’t too humiliating?????

I say good for the kid who kept running even when folks were telling him to stop. If he continues to do that, he’ll have a good life (MUCH better than if he changes to please the fools who think the “mercy” rule makes sense).


31 posted on 10/26/2014 9:29:02 AM PDT by irv (Live Tea or die!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
Good point. I wasn't a great soccer player, but I attribute what little success I had through U19/high school to the pickup games among friends. 2 v 2 against a brick wall and juggling practice opened up the game. Organized, coached practice sessions were dull and unpleasant in comparison, which I guess plays into your point.

That said, there are fundamental rules of discipline (run 4 miles today for fitness....nah, there's no coach, not today), positioning (I like to play center forward...but so do most of the other players. Who wants to be a midfielder that runs miles every game?), and team management (pick a starting lineup. Decide on substitutions) that just can't be performed by children.

Ideally, kids would like the game enough to want to play it on their own.

32 posted on 10/26/2014 9:29:54 AM PDT by Textide (Lord, grant that I may always be right, for thou knowest I am hard to turn. ~ Scotch-Irish prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines

Don’t keep score and give everyone a particiation ribbon. This is why America is losing it’s standing as a world leader. You can’t have leaders in a PC world.


33 posted on 10/26/2014 9:30:01 AM PDT by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines; GeronL; Eva; cloudmountain; Slyfox; KarlInOhio; Alberta's Child; SZonian; ...
This is not a true application of the mercy rule as I have observed it in the past. With a mercy rule in place, once a certain level is reached, the game is over. An example of the mercy rule would be in a BB league that plays seven innings. If a team is ten runs ahead at the end of the fifth inning, the game ends. In this case, because there is no one point rule in American football other than a PAT, this game was effectively over. By setting the rule at 32 points, it requires the team that is ahead to refrain from scoring, and it must stop at the 1 yard line of the opponent and turn the ball over.

The rule applied to these kids was poorly thought out. Once the score went ABOVE 32, the mercy rule would be applied and the game ends.

34 posted on 10/26/2014 9:30:11 AM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76
I once played on a youth soccer team that went 0-15 in a season. We scored all of about 5-6 goals in 15 games, and gave up an average of 7-8 goals per game. I was 11 years old at the time.

The following season, as a 12 year-old, we got a few new players in a group of new players who moved up from the younger division. We went 15-0 and won our league championship. Four of the new players went on to become All-State high school soccer players, and one of them later played on the first U.S. World Cup soccer team in 1990.

As I looked back on that situation years later as a baseball coach, what I remember most is that I was playing on two teams in an organized league whose players had no business being on the same field together. The only thing we had in common was: (1) our parents wanted us to play youth soccer, and (2) we were in the same 11-12 age group.

I never had that problem as a kid playing baseball because I didn't play in Little League. We played baseball in the schoolyard every day, all summer long, with a group of kids whose similar skills made them "natural" teammates and opponents. We never needed a "mercy rule" because we never would have played in a group where one team could dominate another so badly.

35 posted on 10/26/2014 9:31:00 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("The ship be sinking.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines; All

Why are we discussing the mercy rule? It’s a liberal fantasy forced upon our reality. When you play the game, or when you accept the challenge you are then obligated to do your utmost to win the game, or succeed in the challenge. YOU DEFEAT THE OTHER GUY IS THE POINT OF THE GAME, OR THE CHALLENGE. Same in war. Same in politics.

Mercy my a$$!


36 posted on 10/26/2014 9:31:58 AM PDT by rockinqsranch ((Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will. They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Behind Liberal Lines

Is the EU running school sports in the US?


37 posted on 10/26/2014 9:32:04 AM PDT by samtheman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Eva

Telling eight year olds not to do what they have been coached to do is stupid. It defeats the purpose of sport which is to practice hard and perform at ones best. I don’t participate in a sport that caters to the idea that there are no losers....when one loses he should work harder and always attempt to improve. Protecting kids from disappointment does not prepare them for life, it sets them up to fail.


38 posted on 10/26/2014 9:32:06 AM PDT by ontap
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003

“If the NFL had a mercy rule, Oakland would never play a game.”

I would argue the NFL does have a mercy rule, but imposed by the refs. The timing of bad calls, non-call calls, and spotting the ball are all ways the refs ‘keep the game fair and interesting’ to the fans; as they are unofficially told by the higher ups.


39 posted on 10/26/2014 9:33:32 AM PDT by Paulie (Get off the grid.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: ontap
Although apocryphal, this quote attributed to Duke of Wellington is still true:

The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.

40 posted on 10/26/2014 9:33:46 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Democrats have a lynch mob mentality. They always have.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 121-126 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson