Just make a mercy rule

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference is implementing a new rule to curb blowouts. Now, coaches of teams that win by more than 50 points will be suspended for the next game. This rule is ludicrous. What happens if you insert your third-string guys when you're up 30 and they keep racking up points? If you happen to be up by more than 50 late in a game, are you supposed to tell the kids to just let the other team score? That would be even more embarrassing to the losing team than losing by 55, 60, or even 90 points. Obviously, it's not necessary to "pile on", but what if it just happens that a team gets blown out. Sometimes it happens. The University of Oklahoma beat Texas A&M 77-0 a few years ago. OU was really good and A&M was a little bit down, but OU wasn't 77 points better ... things just spiralled out of control for the Aggies. Should Bob Stoops have punted on 1st down every time the Sooners got the ball in the 2nd half? No one is forcing high schoolers to play footballl (or at least they shouldn't be). High school athletics are competitive. At some point, you have to take the training wheels off and let kids ride or crash!

My first experience with adults trying to shield children from winning and losing in sports was when I heard about my cousin's tee-ball league in Bellevue, WA. They didn't keep score. As Herm Edwards said, "You play to win the game!" Instead of just playing for fun, all the kids kept score themselves. They still knew if they played bad, played well, lost, won, etc. If a kid grounds out 3 times and they get slaughtered, does it really matter if no one was keeping an official score? I don't think so. Parents might feel better about it, though.

Now, officials in Connecticut are making absurd rules that aren't necessary. The world doesn't need more rules, especially bad ones that are reactions to something (New London winning 4 games last year by more than 50, including one 90-0) that has happened recently. Even more ludicrous is the rationale for not having a "mercy rule": they don't want to cut into playing time for back-ups. Let the coaches manage their own teams. If players, coaches, parents and fans aren't happy about getting blown out, find a better coach, prepare better, work harder, etc. Or, find a new sport to play. Not everyone is good at football (insert just about anything here). The sooner kids learn to deal with both success and failure, the better off they'll be. And, if coaches don't have to worry about stupid rules, they'll be able to focus on coaching the kids and helping them improve ... doing what they are supposed to be doing!