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Parent: Blowout loss was bullying

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by HanSenSE, Oct 22, 2013.

  1. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    What about the schools who routinely get beat bad (we're talking decades worth of lopsided scores) and continue to field teams with 30 or less players? Should there come a point where the administration should step in and get the school out of the football business?
     
  2. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Ohio (twice) has rejected class designations that take into effect "tradition factor" (like English soccer -- win a lot and you move up, lose a lot and you move down), as well as the economic status of your student body. The issue isn't that a school is fielding 30 kids -- it's that a school is fielding 30 players and playing in the same class/division as the one fielding 70. It sounds like a lot of the Fort Worth schools in 4A are really, for football purposes, more the equivalent of a 2A, or single A.
     
  3. doctorquant

    doctorquant Well-Known Member

    Along those lines, a story from my past ...

    Back in my sportswriter days, one of my stops was in Columbus, Ga. Back then, because Muscogee County was relatively isolated, to save on travel expenses every school there played at the same level. Because the level would therefore be set by the largest school in the county, several schools wound up playing one or even two levels above their enrollment. Georgia set playoff brackets in advance, so whichever school won the district/conference/whatever would automatically have to face Valdosta (or Lowndes County). Either way, almost certainly a loss.

    I had a college beat back then but was called on to cover the ritual loss in the first-round of the playoffs. So, natch, in the freakiest damn game I have ever seen, the team I was covering up and beat Valdosta. Absolutely a stunner; the news desk made over 1A so my story could go over the damn banner!
     
  4. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    yup
     
  5. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    There's a program in Georgia -- several of them, but this one in particular -- that you do wonder why on earth they continue. Week before last, they snapped a 53-game losing streak, which began the game after they snapped a 43-game losing streak. So after that win, they were 2 for their last 98. They're back on a losing streak again, having allowed all the points in the first half of a 68-0 loss. A lot of socioeconomic and other factors at play there, but it's hard to imagine, albeit from a distance, that that program is paying any bills for the rest of the athletic department.

    I also once covered a team, though thankfully did not cover the actual game, that lost 63-0 having trailed 50-0 after the first quarter. Thing is, this was before the mandatory running clock, so they ran the clock in the second quarter and then shortened the third and fourth quarters to 4 1/2 minutes each. If the mandatory running clock rule had been in place, it wouldn't have taken effect until after halftime, and the score might well have been 125-0.
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    IMO, the NFHSA should institute a rule for 11-man football that if you don't have 22 players, in uniform, who can run once across the field from sideline to sideline without an apparent limp or other injury situation, at game time, there's no game.

    When teams play with 20 and fewer players, every time anybody sprains an ankle, pulls a muscle or gets dinged in the head, they gotta gimp it out for the rest of the game. Which means half of them end up gimping it out for 2/3 of the season.

    Players on these 'ironman' teams get so caught up in 'toughness' they won't leave the field unless it's on a stretcher.
     
  7. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    If you have a good coach running a solid program at an economically disadvantaged school, they are going to use the guts of the yuppie kids to grease the treads on their cleats. (e.g. Varina, Aliquippa and Farrell back in the day)

    But, if you have a weak program or a weak coach overseeing an economically disadvantaged school, they will be awful. (Richmond City Schools have a handful like this)
     
  8. mb

    mb Active Member

    I saw Refugio mentioned earlier, and I'll apologize if this was already touched on. And folks that are still in South Texas, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. It's been awhile since I lived there ...

    Refugio is about 1,000 times better than every team in its district. And every year it beats the everlovingyouknowwhat out of its district teams, pulling starters around halftime. And every year they lose deep in the playoffs when somebody finally punches them in the mouth. They pretty much always fell apart late in those games.

    So finally coach says "eff it" and decided he's going to start playing his guys longer in games. Extreme beatings are the result. With guys conditioned to going longer in games, I think they ended up winning a state title finally.
     
  9. NDJournalist

    NDJournalist Active Member

    Outside the Lines did a story on Refugio recently.



    You're right, the reason they played starters through three quarters was to be conditioned for late playoff runs. However, no, I don't think they've won a state title recently.

    They actually have an indoor practice facility, which is rare for 2A teams in Texas.
     
  10. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    1) Who the hell needs an indoor facility in Texas anyway? The temperature is in the 70s/80s until November over most of the state.

    2) If you're that concerned about conditioning, play your kids two quarters in blowouts and then run grass drills for an hour after the game. I played for a coach once who, after we won a blowout game, ran us hard for an hour before anybody was allowed to go to the locker room.
     
  11. NDJournalist

    NDJournalist Active Member

    The concern is overheating. It's 90-100 for most of the season.
     
  12. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Just wonderin' ... has anybody consulted those players on whether they just might want to keep playing despite the blowouts? You know, it's possible.

    And somehow, I see you as the guy standing out there five minutes before game time, seeing if anybody's limping.
     
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