There is no mercy rule in Florida high school football. This much was apparent after Estero High lost to Naples High by a score of 91-0 on Friday night.
Florida isn't alone of course. There's no mercy rule in football anywhere. Whether it is in Florida or Ohio, where Beechcroft beat Centennial 96-0 on Friday. Outside of baseball and softball in some states, the mercy rule is about as nonexistent as the compassion of high school athletic associations which have watched these blowouts go on for years in football and basketball without adjusting the rules to prevent them from happening.
There's nothing wrong with blowouts in professional sports (although I'd guess you can count on one hand the number of games that have been won by 90 points). If players are being paid to play and fans are paying to watch, anything goes. The million dollar contracts most players enjoy should be able to ease the pain of anyone on the losing team. Same goes for college sports, where most athletes are given full-ride scholarships and fans are paying to watch pro prospects play.
High school sports, however, are different. These kids, who range in age from 14-18, are simply playing for the love of the sport, in between deciding who to take to prom and studying for the SAT. They are the last true student-athletes and they are often playing in front of no more than few dozen of their peers, friends and family. They're not playing to get embarrassed and thrown out to slaughter in front of their classmates so they can be further ridiculed on Monday.
Why should a team losing 70-0 at halftime be forced to continue to play a game that was already decided in the first quarter?
There are few things in sports better than watching a great comeback, but there are few things in life worse than seeing helpless kids get humiliated and picked on. There comes a point in any blowout where the losing team stops thinking about a comeback and starts hoping the clock runs out quickly.
Some states actually institute a running clock when one team is ahead by a certain number of points, but that does nothing more than encourage the leading team to score quicker and basically proves to the losing team that the game is in hand and they are on the court or field for no other reason than to serve as the superior team's punching bag until game is officially over.
Girls' basketball has actually been the most ruthless in terms of blowouts, with the talent of teams being unevenly distributed between a handful of powerhouses and everyone else. In 1990, Lisa Leslie famously scored 101 points in the first half for Morningside High in Inglewood, Calif. The score at halftime of that game was 102-24 and Leslie was unable to surpass the girls' national record, which was 105 points, because the opposing coach refused to let his team play the second half. Not only was that coach right in not sending his team out for the second half, but the fact is, he shouldn't even have had to make that call. The game should have been called a long time ago.
High school athletic associations across the country need to institute a "golden rule" in football and basketball beginning immediately. If a team, at any point in a game, leads by 50 or more points, the game should be stopped. This way, kids who are losing 50-0 or 64-14, can leave the game with some semblance of dignity and not have to watch the game deteriorate into a video game score that often times leaves the winning team feeling almost as mortified as the losing team. At some point, even the school bully starts to feel bad for the kid he's beating up after about the 96th punch to the face without a comeback.
The fact that high school athletic associations have been letting this go on for years without doing a thing to prevent it or at least curtail it is a disgrace. Their first priority should be towards protecting the integrity of the game and the self-esteem of the kids they are responsible for, not updating their record books with lopsided scores and inflated point totals that do nothing but bring shame upon the purest form of sports we have left.
Damaris Lewis
Brooklyn Decker
Did You See That?
Back in Time: July 3
Comments (44) Add A Comment
well...i guess its kinda funny on how bad they lose
Instead off having a mercy rule they might want to control a scholarship program for the high schools, so that only a couple of the richest schools play good
I sad that i team can even be so bad that they cant even cant a FIELD GOAL
Knicks09
Camarillo , CA
Total Comments (1101)
I totally agree. In high school sports, almost nothing is on the line. Nothing except for pride and glory. High school athletics, for the most part, aren't meant to further careers or win mega money, they are to go out and play the sport you love. If a player wants to have a future in sport, then their AAU or Club teams are more than enough. Don't subject kids to this kind of humiliation.
Redwing19: taking a…
Ottawa, ON
Total Comments (32935)
P.S. Arash you spelled "purest" wrong. You said "purist".
Redwing19: taking a…
Ottawa, ON
Total Comments (32935)
There are mercy rules in some states. I believe New Jersey's rule is that the clock keeps running after a certain gap in the score.
Anthony Verna
New York , NY
Total Comments (5975)
I must agree... being a high school athlete myself, I would be pretty pissed if my team lost by more than say, even 50. let alone 90
OM= The Franchise
San Jose, CA
Total Comments (974)
I know it's first and foremost about the kids, but it would be really annoying to travel 45 minutes or an hour or two to watch your kid play and have the game called, one way or the other, before half-time. I still feel for the kids, though... 90-0 does seem a little absurd.
JoeFish
Lewisburg, PA
Total Comments (37)
I once lost a soccer game 11-0 in high school, and I scored one of the goals. It was 7-0 five minutes in, and the other team played keepaway basically the whole game. Yes, it was demoralizing, but at the same time, some of my favorite memories from the soccer season came from that game. It's why losers are so lovable...as much as we try to preach the "winning isn't everything" philosophy to young athletes, a demoralizing defeat can actually be good because the game is no longer about who wins and who loses, and you're able to just have fun. So I don't know, maybe these can be some of our better teaching moments.
JayhawkRock
Lawrence, KS
Total Comments (245)
Here's the problem...LIFE'S NOT FAIR! As a society we have been babying kids into thinking that everything has to be equal and fair. When they get out of school and have to get a real job...they will see that their parents, school, and community has handicapped them. HOWEVER...the coaches that are running up these scores have no class! For football...after a 28-0 score, bring in the second team. After 42-0...third string should be playing. If the score gets into the +50 range...the coach should bring in the water boy, ball boy, and the cheerleaders. Sometimes, how we win is more important than if we win.
robois
Washington, DC
Total Comments (96)
i would say at least three of these responses did read the article about the game being mentioned. the team in question didn't even play some of their starters at all.
Shane Hood
Tulsa , OK
Total Comments (9)
i meant did not
Shane Hood
Tulsa , OK
Total Comments (9)
I was on a hockey team that one year was on the bad side of a 27-1 loss (I scored the lone goal with about 3 minutes remaining), and the next year was on the good side of a 23-0 victory. I honestly have no problem with high scores. When I played at the 13-14 year old level, there was a 10 goal mercy rule, and I personally could think of nothing more humiliating than being forced to pack it in. It's emasculating.
Nikolai
Total Comments (491)
Perhaps instead of a mandatory mercy rule, a mercy option should be extended to the losing coach once the score passes a certain point. They can throw in the towel at any point after that.
Nikolai
Total Comments (491)
This isn't Pop Warner, When I was in High School, football was very serious. If my team was losing I would rather have taken my beating instead of the insult they call the mercy rule.
Hank Hill
Arlen, TX
Total Comments (7657)
I don't have much compassion for high school jocks, least of all for high school football players. I'd also be very surprised if Estero HS (the 91-0 losers) didn't run up the score on a weaker team if given the chance.
karaokegoalie
Total Comments (20)
So what Arash is saying is why finish the game when we are losing and instead let's raise losers?!? No I want my team to show me something in that game. I agree with Hank Hill. I want to find out who my leaders are and how my team responds the second half of the game. I understand you don't want to hurt their feelings but the mercy rule will have the same effect and they are being ranked so no matter what eventually they will have to come to terms with the fact that their team is bad because if they don't this world will eat them alive. The question I asked to all is when you are wrestling with someone and they have you stuck in a move that you possible could get out would you fight back or tap out? Your choice dictates your reaction to this. Oh well GO REDSKINS!
DCan
Hyattsville , MD
Total Comments (74)
AMEN!!!!
Having a mercy rule is worse than participation trophies.
In many of the recreational leagues here, a mercy rule is instituted in little league football and, I believe, little league baseball. That's enough.
SoBeGaPe
Total Comments (4788)
I know in minor hockey and high school hockey where I live they run the clock when a team is ahead by 5 goals, and it really does end the game quicker because the highest score our team has ever got was 9 and thats because the 15 minute period turned into a 8 minute period after all the whistles.
Canadian Eh : RIP MJ
Total Comments (985)
I'm familiar with the SW florida area, Naples high is head and shoulders above Estero in many ways and the two teams playing is like (insert any NCAA top 5 team here) vs local High School--just unfair before the kick.
With that said, here in Va they use the "fast clock" after 35 pts and our Coach uses very generous substitution(s) to bring things back to normalcy. Once the 2nd stringers get in there things turn rapidly; offense sputters, defense becomes porous and special teams are pretty poor, next thing you know the other teams gets some points and everyone gets to PLAY. If there is a problem here it may be poor sportsmanship on the Coaches? Don't tell me that 2-3rd stringers from Naples (in this example) are that much better than Estero 1st stringers?!!
+40yrCowboyFan
Total Comments (1893)
Games matter to a high school student and their coaches. Allot of states have a mercy rule and it should be nation wide. Running a score up over 50 teaches nothing.
drj0514
Total Comments (4375)
The opportunity to teach is huge in this situation. For the winners, a lesson in humility, respect for your opponents and how to win with grace would be very valuable. And for the losers, how to play with pride and fight until the end. Most of the ire for this seems to be due to parents and outsiders whereas both coaches seem to be handling the situation appropriately. Holding starters out and running only 31 plays doesn't sound like running up the score and the embarrassment of stopping the game or standing around while your opponent takes a knee on every series from the 2nd qtr on is more than the final number on the scoreboard.
athausch
Charlotte, NC
Total Comments (18)
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