Let’s be reasonable here. The boys were celebrating the breaking of a HUGE record. IN all of football history, they were part of setting a very large record. I cannot blame them for getting a little excited. It was, likely IMHO, a dance of celebration, not of mockery.
On a side note, my hubby just told me a story about his HS football days. His team was up by three touchdowns early in the 3rd quarter. Although the coach kept most of his first string defensive players in, they played Iron Man, so he subbed out the offensive team to give some PT to the other kids. Soon after, two of the players from the other team decided to start kicking one of hubby’s players while he was on the ground. They received a penalty. As he was trained, the kid who kicking kicked only got up. He did not mouth off, or retaliate. (Personal foul penalties, mouthing off, celebrating in the endzone or taunting was punished with “favors” that usually included running till you puked).
The players were not ejected and their coach did not pull them off the field which is considered courtesy in HS football (at least according to Hubby’s coach). So, the coach sent in first string and let them run up the score.
They were celebrating a BOGUS record, which, in all of football history, is a minor footnote. Whose record did he break? You don’t know? Neither do I. Not one in a hundred thousand sports fans can name the previous record holder. Burch had not even scored aqgainst Matewan in seven years. They were no competition at all.
True records are a result of particpation in normal competition. They are not the point of the compeition. Teams compete to win, to improve their technique, to learn about team play, to gain respect for the opponent, and to learn to repect the game, among other things.
Did you read the article? Let me quote this from it. – *In the last 25 years, the high school record book has ballooned from about 100 pages to almost 500. The intensifying competitiveness that has made over high school sports in recent years has also changed its record-keeping process. Gillis receives more than 300 record submissions each year, and he requires documented proof and a handful of signatures for each one. Records that have not been officially verified – like a 739-yard rushing game in 1950 in New Jersey – don’t count.
Gillis includes a sportsmanship statement on each record submission form, reading in part: “Embarrassing an opponent for the primary purpose of inclusion in the record book is not consistent with the ideals of good sportsmanship.” But inside the book, Gillis said, many records are founded on lopsided games.* My bolding.
This team was not playing football. Refusing to field punts? No-huddle oggense with a 35 point lead? Not playing the second team when the game was no no longer in doubt? Unheard of. It absolutely violated the spirit of the guidelines set forth in the national high school records book. McCoy should be ashamed of this record, not proud of it.
I agree with you that they were just celebrating the record. But a little perspective here: it’s not a huge record. Nobody knows what the fuck the single-game high school rushing record is or who has it aside from a few coaches and high school football fanatics. I would bet you money that a week before the game, nobody on the team knew what that record was. When the controversy from this game dies down, nobody will know who has it now.
This sounds to me like you’re saying it’s ok to be an asshole so long as it’s part of a viable strategy to win. Baybe I’m misinterpreting you, but I don’t buy that. I understand it, and I know that it happens and it even works, but I don’t see that as a justification. “Win by any means necessary” is not an acceptable philosophy.
Of course, I’m getting pretty far afield from the OP here, since they were doing what amounts to “CRUSH by any means available.”
I think “win by any means necessary within the rules of th game” is more than acceptable. The rules are there to spell out what is not acceptable.
Running up a score is a wholly different matter, you aren’t trying to “win” since the game’s outcome has already been guaranteed. Running up the score is both stupid and small and serves typically no purpose, and in college athletics especially it can be incredibly dumb and risky to risk your star players in such a venture.
My assertion was simply about the motivation of the kids celebrating. They were given a goal by their coach (right or wrong, good/bad etc…) and they accomplished the goal. So they celebrated. They also got National media attention so obviously it seems to matter to many. Thus, I am not saying what the coach did was right, rather I am saying that assertions these kids were wrong for celebrating after breaking the record and that they did it to mock the other team are not necessarily founded.
So I did read the article. Criticize the coach, the leader, but if kids are given a goal and encouraged to do so, then they will act in accordance with their leadership.
I still say it is a significant record, although I also agree with you that if the “spirit” of achieveing those records entails the tactics utilized by this coach, then it negates many records since it seems the more sportspersonlike records only get set when in the course of competition, not routing.
Have you played competitive sports? Motivation be damned. They had thoroughly embarassed an opponent who had no chance to win the game, and they were celebrating onfield. Celebrate in the locker room all you want, but show some class on the field of play. It was a punk thing to do, and they were punks for doing it.
They had the chance to ignore the record, and refused. From the article – Early in the second half, the coach gathered his starting offense and asked a question that shocked them: How do you feel about going with a no-huddle offense? Do you want to go after this record for Paul?(Bolding mine.)
Please tell me you are kidding. Paris Hilton gets national media attention, and whether or not she “matters to many,” her antics are about as significant as pigeon shit.
There is a saying in sports – “Act like you’ve been there before.” Celebrating in the endzone after a 64-0 blowout is bush league bullshit.
I believe I am criticizing the coach. Note the title of the OP.
Lissa, you are simply wrong about the record being significant. These kinds of records are, in almost every case, set against significantly inferior competition. McCoy rushed for 500 yards in his first game. He rushed for 300 yards in the first half of this game. 800 yards would be a good season for some backs, yet he was told by college scouts that he was not good enough to play college ball. Plenty of high school players have career records that are equivalent to what he did in one year, yet they get college scholarships. The further down you go in high school level competition, the more disparity you see in individual and team records. Players who set these kind of records, in almost every case, rarely excel at the college level, and even more rarely excel in the pros.
The Burch team had not even scored against the Matewan team in seven years! The talent difference between the two teams was huge. There is an axiom in team sports (very non PC) – don’t pick on the pygmies. That means play hard, and play fair, but don’t rub it in. No player or team is larger than the game.
Look, at the highest levels of competition, sometimes a player will do something shady (but within the rules) in order to set a record. Like deliberately miss a shot in basketball so he can get a rebound. Or pass up a sure layup so he can get an assist. Ted Williams, on the othern hand, is famous for playing in the last game of the season when sitting out would have assured him a batting average of .400, which is a mythical mark in pro baseball. Instead of sitting out, he played, went 4 for 6 in two games, and finished at .406. This a man playing against the best players in the world who are trying their best to stop him. That .406 was set in 1941, and no one has approached it since. That is a HUGE record. That is significant record. Pissing on the pygmies? Definition of punk.
Maybe they should set up standards asserting that only records count when a game is within a certain point margin then. That would make them far more meaningful and prevent coaches from pulling stunts like this.
Say the coach pulls the starters after running up a 35 point lead. Is it OK if the 2nd stringers add on another 35 points? Even if it further humiliates the weaker team? Just curious. It’s always a good idea to bring in 2nd stringers in a blow-out to give them experience and maybe boost their confidence.
IMO, the job of the offense is try to score points within the rules. It’s the defense’s job to stop them. It does not fall to the offense to stop themselve’s from playing too well against a weaker team.
I will concede that celebrating after doing the job seems a bit excessive and jerkish, as does employing the no-huddle offense. I will also concede that no one should be caring about this ‘record’. Single game records usually mean that one team was up against a far weaker team, so they don’t mean anything. The only record the coach should care about is the win/loss record.
If the outcome is not in doubt, the game should serve as a teaching experience for the second string. They should concentrate on areas where they are weakest. Play hard, play fair, learn to execute.
That is a gross over simplification of the ‘job’ of the offense. Their job is to put themselves in a position to score. There are all sorts of intricracies entailed in that. Not every play is designed as a scoring play. Think of it as a glorified scrimmage. The coach has a chance to use players in real game situations. By no means should they not try. However, if it’s third and short on the fifty, there is no reason to air it out. (Trying to score, in your scenario.) It is much better to practice their third and short offense. These guys were doing the equivalent of running trick plays with a 50 point lead. Poor form all arond.
We are in agreement on this.
Then why does the quarterback ‘take a knee’ on 4 consecutive plays when the clock is under two minutes and the lead is insurmountable? Why not throw 4 hail mary’s? That is certainly passing up an opportunity to score as many points as possible. Why not kick a field goal when you are on the 15 yard line and the clock is at 00:05? That’s a gimme, and if the sole job of the offense is to score points, teams would do it every time. But they don’t, because it’s called running up the score, and it is an unwritten rule that to do so is to violate the code of fair play.
You have a very over-simplified understanding of the ‘job of the offense.’
Because passes can be intercepted, allowing the other team to score more points and get in the game, which they certainly would try to do. Taking a knee is a smart move to run out the clock and win the game . They do not do it to make the other team feel any better.
You’re moving the goalpost. He was refuting your specific assertion that the job of the offense is to score points within the rules. He did so. You’re now implying that the job of the offense is to win the game.
So what? It is still “trying not to score,” which according to you is antithetical to the purpose of offense. Who cares if there is an interception? The game is out of reach anyway.
How about my field goal scenario? Or the other examples I provided for running a particular offense? Methinks you are grasping at straws here, or you completely misunderstand the concept of sportsmanship.
Lissa, one problem with high school records is that the different levels of competition are not taken into account. In my state there is 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A, based on the number of students in the school. Each division plays members of its own level, and there are play-offs which determine 4 different state champions. Other states have similar systems. However, a high school record is a high school record, no matter what level of play was involved. In the lower levels, it is possible for a team with one or two really good players to dominate, because there simply are not enough skilled athletes on the other team to stop them. That’s why you will see an inordinate number of records set by teams from the lower levels.
Matewn lost the game before the Burch game 8-7. I have no idea how many yards McCoy gained, but he damn sure didn’t score ten TD’s.
Colleges have different divisions for different levels of play, but each division keeps its own records. The pros, for all practical purposes, only have one level.
Well, there’s the other goal, which is ‘trying to keep the other team from scoring’. You accomplish this by the offense keeping ball (no turnovers) and by the defense. We all know what their job is.
My point is that in athletic competition, you are to your best. I don’t see ‘stop trying because the other team isn’t up to the task’ as falling in with ‘doing your best’. And I do not feel that it is at all ‘sportsman-like’. In fact, as I said before, I find it condesending and insulting. Every bit as insulting as gratuitous celebration in a blow-out. Because it doesn’t treat them like ‘sportsman’. It treats them like wussies.
Hey, the other team got beat. That happens at all levels. They got beat huge. That happens at levels, too. But as long as they did they did their best, they got nothing to be ashamed of.
Bullshit. **Ellis Dee **nailed you. You are moving the goalpots. Throwing a hail mary with no time on the clock is trying to score, with absolutely no risk of the other team scoring, and if they do, so what? You win by 50-7 instead of 50-0.
Who said stop trying? This is entirely your invention. The goal of the whole team is to get better very game. If the scrubs come in and run plays that they need work on, and try their best to execute them, who has stopped trying? If as a result of this, the overall team improves, then the team goals have been met. That second string running back just might be an important player if the star gets hurt. All players are important, and deserve playing time if the situation permits it. All football teams do this. Do you watch any football? The scenario you are defending never happens above the high school level, and raely then. For the eleventy-seventh time, it’s called running up the score, and it is very poor from.
Educate yourself about football. Watch the next time Duke plays Miami. See how long the Miami starters are in.
So why don’t you kick a 15 yard field goal with a 50 point lead and 5 seconds on the clock? Why don’t you give the ball to some other back? Why do you refuse to field punts? You are either being deliberately argumentative or you don’t know jack shit about football. What Matewan did was called running up the score.
I wouldn’t attempt a field goal with a 50 point lead with only 5 seconds to play. No point to it. You take a knee. The game is over.
But I would with 2 minutes to play. And so would any coach in the country above Pee Wee level, even with a 50 point lead. Even with a 60 point lead. And you know it. Because if it’s 4th down and you are in range, you still run a play. What, are you gonna go for the 1st down? Or kick the field goal? Or just give other team the ball back? Those are your only options. The first 2 are football options. The 3rd is not a football option. It simply isn’t done. You can only take a knee when you can run out the clock.
Now you can bring in 2nd or 3rd stringers to try score the points. But every coach is gonna try to score when there is still game time. Regardless of their lead.
Here’s where you’re wrong. I have never seen a field goal attempted in such a situation. You just run a play. You either get the first down or the other team takes over. If you can cite one example of a football team kicking a 15 yard field goal on 4th down with a 50 point lead and less than two minutes to go that is not a deliberate atempt to run up the score, I’ll eat your hat.
The second string is already going to be in. And they’ll still run a straight hand-off up the middle. So what if the other team gets the ball back? They’d get it back anyway if you kicked a field goal, only the ensuing kickoff puts more players at risk for injury. What’s the fucking point?
I can live with a field goal if there are 2 minutes left, and it’s fairly close. It’s basically a wash, yes they get points, but there’s a guaranteed change of possession. If they run a play on 4th down, what do you think the chances are that they’d make it? I’d say the chances are pretty damn good, they’re already walking all over the defense, so they’re setting themselves up for a touchdown, and keeping the ball the rest of the game.
What sportsmanship means in this case is respecting your opponent. It’s not giving up, or not playing hard, or pretending the other team is just as good as you, it’s being respectful and courteous.
I find it difficult to understand what a hard time some of you are having with this concept, as if it is impossible to play your best and be sportsmanlike at the same time.