Girls basketball team in Minnesota loses 65-0

t's a fucking joke and the game should have ended at the half. Simple. No fun for either team unless you're a dickhead coach who thinks humiliating the other team builds "character" or some other bullshit

There's this sentiment floating around here that if the other team does the Little Engine That Could routine, they would have a fighting chance.

My point is (and I don't care about the REASONS why they have to play each other), those two teams have no business on the court together.

I have three sons. All played high school football, two played high school football and baseball and my eldest, who plays in the CFL, played high school hockey, football and baseball so I have a little experience with this kinda thing.

I'll ask them what they think.

 

I kept stats for the boys basketball team at my high school. During my senior year of high school, the girls team made it to the state championship game in Texas. The girls team was playing the smallest school in their district (Class 3A in Texas), which meant the enrollment of my school was probably about 675 and the other school 350. Anyways, with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter, with the team ahead 98-31, their coach called timeout to run a play for 100 points. They scored. During the postgame handshake line, a girl from the losing team pulled the hair of the top player of my school's team (she ended up playing at Louisiana Tech). A semi-brawl involving parents from both sides broke out. The mom of the girl that got her hair pulled immediately ran out of the stands. There weren't any punches thrown, but a lot of pushing and a few open hand slaps.

 

If you have a problem with any of that, it's because you are a sexist who hates when women play rough.

 

As far as the Minnesota game, the area doesn't have the population base of Toronto, for example. Google it up.

Is it better to eliminate the sport, even if the kids want to play?

 

How is he a sexist?

 

And most of us have experience with these things, too, either in our own athletic careers or as journalists covering high school sports. Sorry, but your experience with your three boys is not the be-all and end-all that you think it is.

Bottom line is there are often good reasons that these mismatches get played and it is better to play those than not play at all.

 

Didn't say my opinion was the be all and end all. Don't be so defensive. I thought I'd point out that I do have some experience and wasn't just talking out of my ass.

I never said that that mismatches don't occur and yes, I understand that a lot of it has to do sometimes with Podunk High playing a bigger school. What I did say was that some sort of mercy rule should have been invoked and this game ended probably at half time. It's still only high school sports.

What I objected to originally was some poster pulling out a cliche about "getting better" which is all very well and good, except in this case, the talent level appeared to be so disparate that all the practice and Horatio Alger effort wouldn't amount to a hill of beans.

And, to repeat what I said, you could have a Midget AAA hockey team play a house league Midget team and the house league team would get the absolute crap beaten out of them. And the house league team could put on a brave face, "try harder", practice four hours a day for the next three months and still get the crap beaten out of them next time around.

Yes, sometimes there are reasons high school games like this have to be played but I'm not necessarily convinced that it's better they be played than not at all.

 

It's not a matter of defensive, JR, but I do think that you could use the occasional reminder that others here have every bit as much experience to draw upon regarding these matters as you do. I have a great deal of experience with high school sports. I know at least one of the posters who is disagreeing with you probably has just as much in terms of his own personal experience and his reporting work.

I have no problem with mercy rules, but when you say such mismatches should never happen at all, that just isn't realistic. And I don't see how it is better to not play at all than to get beaten badly, or to deliver the beating because then you are talking about some kids not getting the experience of competing at all.

 

Never said anyone here, including you, didn't have any experience in these matters. If you want to infer that, go ahead. I wasn't implying it.

In a 65-0 basketball game or a 15-0 hockey game, there may be a lot of scoring but there's certainly no competition. I suspect both teams just want to get the damn thing over with.

The basic premise of competition is that in terms of skill the two teams (or individuals) are relatively evenly matched.

If you have a team playing at a AAA level and one at an intramural level, there's essentially no competition.

 

As STG said earlier, this team made state two seasons ago. Here are a couple of articles I thought were worth passing along:

March 14: You see the sisterhood in the game
Laura Griffiths is not a teammate, but she was very much on the minds of Wrenshall players during the school's first trip to state.


http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/16662416.html

http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/17281629.html

 

Never said you meant to infer it. It's just how you come across sometimes.

And I agree that there is very little competition in such games, but they still have to be played. I have seen teams that were a disaster, but sometimes it is just a bad cycle of talent through the program.

 

I imply, you infer.

So other than you don't like my attitude, we mostly agree.

You're right. It's HS sports.