Mercy Rule?

[ParDreamer]

Had a football team once in my younger days that was bad.  Not because of coaching or hustle or attitude but lack of talent.  We were getting beat 58-0 at half by eventual state runner up.  Coach of the other team came to me at half and said " I am going to punt on first down to keep score down".  I replied" I will kick your a** after the game if you do that."  Play the game and we will get better.  Losing is losing. 1 point or 100 points same thing.

[fwoodfan]

Had a football team once in my younger days that was bad.  Not because of coaching or hustle or attitude but lack of talent.  We were getting beat 58-0 at half by eventual state runner up.  Coach of the other team came to me at half and said " I am going to punt on first down to keep score down".  I replied" I will kick your a** after the game if you do that."  Play the game and we will get better.  Losing is losing. 1 point or 100 points same thing.

I would have been against that too.  In football I think its easier for coaches to avoid the appearance of running up the score.  They can have their team run the football every down, still have their team play hard and improve, and make it clear that they are not interested in running up the score.  If you cant stop the run when you know its coming then they have done all they can do.

 

However, I would expect the team to avoid throwing deep passes on any down except 3rd and long, not to go for it on 4th down, and not to kick long field goals. Shooting 3s, getting off shots at a rate of one every 15 seconds, and continuing to run the half court trap against a team that you know cant beat it when you are when you are up by more than 100 points at half time is the basketball equivilant of those things.  Its not about feeling sorry for the team that is losing.  Its about teaching your players sportsmanship -- to have respect for your opponents.