So I heard about this on a radio broadcast of a major league game tonight. Some kind of scheduling mix up supposedly.
But 82-0. I would of gotten good at pissed at about 30-zip.
Come up with something to end the thing. Who would be party to such a thing?
I am dumbfounded.
Some adults needed their face rubbed in the dirt, maybe more than one.

While I am not a fan of mercy rules, especially at that level, there is usually a time to hit the brakes and I would say 82-0 is way past it.

But there are certain circumstances when maybe it was not too much. The football league my son played in, and I coached in, had a few cities that were not known for good sportsmanship. If a city came into our park talking shit or had some kids playing dirty or coaches who were being assholes then I had no problem piling it on them. There was no such thing as too many points.

Also, sometimes there isn't too much you can do with some teams. Some teams just suck and I am not going to tell my kids to play half ass. We would move kids around into spots they had never played, bench our starters and even make up plays that we had not practiced. But if my 9th string RB breaks a big one because their 1st string D sucks that bad I am not going to yell for him to slow down.

So, while on the surface this seems shitty, without knowing about the other team it is hard to say if it was excessive or not.

The story I read said the coach for the winning team tried to stop the game but the officials wouldn’t let him. He told his players to just bunt and not take extra bases but the losing team committtd 22 errors and their pitcher gave up 92 hits.

No Pale Horse, that is in excess, no matter what. At least in my book. Waaaaayyyy in excess.

Batters had like 17 at bats.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
No Pale Horse, that is in excess, no matter what. At least in my book. Waaaaayyyy in excess.

Batters had like 17 at bats.

Yeah I get it, but if Dusty is right then I don't see what they could have done. Asking the officials to quit and being denied and then asking your players to only bunt is about all a guy can do.

The only thing I can think of is move the free throw line back 50 yards, only let the goalie do slapshots with a 2 foot oar at the 7 pin while on the balance beam.

That would be fair.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
No Pale Horse, that is in excess, no matter what. At least in my book. Waaaaayyyy in excess.

Batters had like 17 at bats.

Yeah I get it, but if Dusty is right then I don't see what they could have done. Asking the officials to quit and being denied and then asking your players to only bunt is about all a guy can do.

Then just take three strikes every time. Game is over in just a few minutes.

Sportsmanship is knowing when it’s over. This game was over at 15-0, or earlier.

Thx mkey, but it is not everyone gets a trophy thing. Most of us have been on the wrong side of a drubbing and are better off for it.

This on the other hand seem crazy for a bb game

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
No Pale Horse, that is in excess, no matter what. At least in my book. Waaaaayyyy in excess.

Batters had like 17 at bats.

Yeah I get it, but if Dusty is right then I don't see what they could have done. Asking the officials to quit and being denied and then asking your players to only bunt is about all a guy can do.

Then just take three strikes every time. Game is over in just a few minutes.

Sportsmanship is knowing when it’s over. This game was over at 15-0, or earlier.

I guess. Again I was never willing to tell my kids to go half ass. I'd tell them to run some cray plays but neither team is going to learn shit if they aren't trying.

Personally I would rather lose 82-0 to a team that beat me fair and square than 15-0 to a team who wasn't trying. I guess I am in the minority.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
No Pale Horse, that is in excess, no matter what. At least in my book. Waaaaayyyy in excess.

Batters had like 17 at bats.

Yeah I get it, but if Dusty is right then I don't see what they could have done. Asking the officials to quit and being denied and then asking your players to only bunt is about all a guy can do.

Then just take three strikes every time. Game is over in just a few minutes.

Sportsmanship is knowing when it’s over. This game was over at 15-0, or earlier.

I guess. Again I was never willing to tell my kids to go half ass. I'd tell them to run some cray plays but neither team is going to learn shit if they aren't trying.

Personally I would rather lose 82-0 to a team that beat me fair and square than 15-0 to a team who wasn't trying. I guess I am in the minority.

Yes, but if it’s not even close in terms of teams... by the coaches own admission, he booked the wrong team.

The enrollment disparity between the schools is gigantic. You are a coach, imagine if you brought a city high school football team (enrollment of 5k+) and played against my old boarding school (50 male students). I know your 9th string RB is probably bigger than both DT’s combined... what would you do?

From the winning coach “I’m sick to my stomach over this,” Carvalho said. “We really tried everything possible. We told the kids don’t take extra bases, no sprinting – we even had kids bunting and they couldn’t make the routine plays. We had kids hitting balls 300 feet and jogging to first.

“We even asked that they stop the game after four innings and they said no. Believe me, we exhausted all options in our power.”

My 14 year old son was playing in a tourney in San Antonio last month. In the top of the 1st we got them out 3 up 3 down. We scored 16 runs in the bottom of the 1st and only had 1 out. The umpire just stopped the inning and let them bat to start the 2nd inning. We put our weakest pitcher in and he gave up a walk but only had to face 4 batters to record 3 outs. The umpire called the game without having us bat again. It was clear that the game was not competitive and our kids were smashing the baseball which can be dangerous. The umpire in our game could give some lessons to the umpire in the OP story.

Yeah after reading the article I have no issue with this.

I have been on both sides of a blowout both as a player and as a coach. It sucks being blown out but if you don't want to get beat like that then you have to take a little responsibility and play better.

My very first playoff game as a head coach was against a team that should not have been in our division. They should have been in the higher division as they were stacked with talent and our division was a beginners division. They beat the shit out of us 35-7 and this was one of those games where the score doesn't tell the whole story. They flat out owned that game. With less than 10 seconds left and up 28-7 they lined up on our 4 and ran a play and scored. It was a pretty shitbag move from a team that was essentially cheating to even be in the division but when my parents came to bitch about it my only response was that if we had played better D they could not have scored.

The next season they got called on their bullshit and moved up to the proper division. I also moved up a division, as an assistant coach, and when we met we laid the wood to them. That coach and that team showed that they wanted to play the full 40 (our league was 10 minute quarters) so we played the full 40. Hopefully those kids learned the same lesson my kids did the year before. Be willing to play or be willing to lose.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:

Yes, but if it’s not even close in terms of teams... by the coaches own admission, he booked the wrong team.

The enrollment disparity between the schools is gigantic. You are a coach, imagine if you brought a city high school football team (enrollment of 5k+) and played against my old boarding school (50 male students). I know your 9th string RB is probably bigger than both DT’s combined... what would you do?

The other coach accepted right?

I mean the coach says he thought he was booking another team by the same name. He screwed up but the other team accepted anyway. He tried to get the officials to let him end them game and they wouldn't.

What you guys want is for him to tell his team to quit. Something that according to the article the team that got beat wasn't even asking for. I am all about good sportsmanship but I will never ask my kids to quit. I will try to give every advantage I can to the opposing team but I won't ask my kids to quit. Not ever.

Pale, you are on your high horse. Remember these are kids. I understand what your point is. But some times you dismount and walk the horse.
I get it.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

What you guys want is for him to tell his team to quit. Something that according to the article the team that got beat wasn't even asking for. I am all about good sportsmanship but I will never ask my kids to quit. I will try to give every advantage I can to the opposing team but I won't ask my kids to quit. Not ever.

Quitting is giving up before something is accomplished.

Sportmanship is knowing when to stop, acknowledge your victory, and respect your fallen opponent.

Baseball and football are dangerous sports, if there is a massive talent disparity. The outcome has been determined, and I am fine with giving it your all at the beginning, until there is a certainty of victory.

That point came well before 82-0.

Part of coaching others is raising them to never give up, but also to understand when to extend a hand and amicably end a contest. There is a clear winner and a loser, but there is also respect and honor between the opponents.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Pale, you are on your high horse. Remember these are kids. I understand what your point is. But some times you dismount and walk the horse.
I get it.

Well, they are high school kids. Closer to adults than kids.

Hey look I am not trying to be an asshole here and I totally see your side. It sounds shitty. I am just providing my perspective as someone who has coached kids from 4 to 18 across multiple sports and as someone who played multiple sports into my 20's.

In this case it sounds to me like it was a fairly honest mistake by the head coach of the winning team and that the losing team in't all that upset by it. And the officials on the field don't set policy, they are simply there to enforce it. So if league policy doesn't have a mercy rule then the officials couldn't do much.

I have no ill will towards anyone who disagrees with me here. Like I said I am only trying to provide input from someone who has been involved with team and individual sports for a long time.

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

What you guys want is for him to tell his team to quit. Something that according to the article the team that got beat wasn't even asking for. I am all about good sportsmanship but I will never ask my kids to quit. I will try to give every advantage I can to the opposing team but I won't ask my kids to quit. Not ever.

Quitting is giving up before something is accomplished.

Sportmanship is knowing when to stop, acknowledge your victory, and respect your fallen opponent.

Baseball and football are dangerous sports, if there is a massive talent disparity. The outcome has been determined, and I am fine with giving it your all at the beginning, until there is a certainty of victory.

That point came well before 82-0.

Part of coaching others is raising them to never give up, but also to understand when to extend a hand and amicably end a contest. There is a clear winner and a loser, but there is also respect and honor between the opponents.

What should the guy have done?

He asked the officials to stop the game. They said no.

He told his players to swing at anything even close to strikes. I assume they did since there is no rebuttal to that.

He told the players to not to run as hard as they could. He told them to not take extra bases.

IMO he did pretty much everything he could have short of walking off the field. You can't stand there and take three strikes if they can't throw three strikes.

Personally if I was a player and saw the opposing team swing at total garbage I'd be a lot more humiliated than if they beat me by 82 points.

So what should they have done? What do you think would have been the proper way to handle the game?

quote:

Originally posted by Dusty78:
The story I read said the coach for the winning team tried to stop the game but the officials wouldn’t let him. He told his players to just bunt and not take extra bases but the losing team committtd 22 errors and their pitcher gave up 92 hits.

Somebody is not telling the truth here. Years ago, one of my travel baseball teams faced a completely stacked team with a few players that everyone knew were too old for our division, but couldn't prove definitively Saturday. After the first inning with that team putting up 12 or so runs, I warned the other coach I'd pull my team off the field if he continued to run up the score. He let his team hit away and steal in the second inning, and with no outs on the board, I pulled my kids and ended the game with a forfeit. Nothing is accomplished when vastly superior (and in this case illegitimate) teams attempt to demoralize another team. 'Real' coaches on both sides of one of these games won't let that happen.